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Bayyaram Tank

The Bayyaram Tank is a large tank near Bayyaram, built by Ganapati Deva's sister Mailama. She named it Dharmakirti-samudra after her title. Its inscription, found in 1965, is the only record that gives a long genealogy of the early Kakatiyas.

Period
Kakatiya, reign of Ganapati Deva
Date
Early 13th century (reign of Ganapati Deva)
Commissioned by
Mailama, sister of Ganapati Deva and wife of Natavadi Rudra
Materials
Bunds of rock and earth
Location
17.6022° N, 80.1666° EWarning: approximate

Source of the position: OpenStreetMap way/112553256

Condition
The tank still exists. The inscribed pillar has fallen.

Detail

  • The tank lies about three miles from Bayyaram, within the revenue limits of Kotagadda. A ruined rampart wall and other structures stand nearby.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • The builders joined hillocks with high bunds of rock and mud where streams pass between them. Epigraphia Telanganica counts the tank among the biggest in Telangana.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • The inscription has 71 Sanskrit verses in Telugu characters of the early 13th century. Its granite pillar lies fallen on the eastern bank, about a furlong from the head sluice.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • The inscription records that Mailama built the tank and named it Dharmakirti-samudra after her title.Parabrahma Sastry 1978
  • The inscription was discovered in 1965. It is the only record that gives a long genealogy of the early Kakatiya chiefs.Parabrahma Sastry 1978
  • Mailama set up three inscriptions near the tank, and one of them names the poet Ramadeva as its composer. The editors of Epigraphia Telanganica think that Ramadeva probably wrote the whole group.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023Parabrahma Sastry 1981 (Telugu)
  • Parabrahma Sastry reads the inscription as saying that Mailama founded three villages. She named Mahadevapuram after her father, Bayyavaram after her mother and Dharmavaram after her own title Dharmakirti.Parabrahma Sastry 1981 (Telugu)

Also recorded as

  • Bayyaram
  • Bayyaram Cheruvu
  • Dharmakirti-samudra
  • Kotagadda

Sources