Musunuri Nayakas

01The Vilasa grant

After Warangal fell in 1323, Prolaya Nayaka of the Musunuri family gathered the Nayakas of the coast against the Tughluq garrisons. His Vilasa copper-plate grant describes the country under occupation: temples broken, Brahmin lands taken, cultivators tortured for taxes. It then records how Prolaya freed the land and restored the grants. It is one of the few documents of its time written from the side of those who suffered the conquest.

02Kapaya takes Warangal

Prolaya’s cousin Kapaya Nayaka carried on. In 1336, with the help of the Hoysala Ballala III, he took Warangal and drove out the Tughluq governor, who fled to Delhi. Kapaya took the titles of the Kakatiyas, Andhra Suratrana, and ruled Telangana. He even sent help to the nobles who revolted against Muhammad bin Tughluq in the Deccan in 1347 and set up the Bahmani kingdom, a decision that soon turned against him.

Person · ruled c. 1333–1368 CEMusunuri Kapaya NayakaKapaya Nayaka took up the leadership of the Telugu Nayakas after his cousin Prolaya Nayaka, drove the Tughlaq governor out of Warangal around 1336, and ruled Telangana until he fell fighting the Recherla Velamas in 1368.Read →

03War with the Bahmanis

The Bahmani sultans demanded tribute and land. Kapaya’s son Vinayaka Deva was captured by Muhammad Shah I and put to death, as Firishta records. Kapaya had to cede Golconda in the treaty that followed. In 1368 the Recherla Velama chiefs, allied with the Bahmanis, defeated and killed him at Bhimavaram. The Telugu country then split between the Velamas, the Reddis and the Bahmanis.

The rulers

1. 1Prolaya NayakaLed the rising; Vilasa grantc. 1323–1333
2. 2Kapaya NayakaTook Warangal, 1336; killed 1368c. 1333–1368
3. 3Vinayaka DevaKapaya’s son and heir; executed by the Bahmanisd. c. 1362

What they left

• The Vilasa copper-plate grant of Prolaya Nayaka
• Warangal freed from Tughluq rule in 1336, the same year Vijayanagara was founded
• Restoration of temple and Brahmin grants across the Telugu country