kingdom · South Asia

Velanati Chodas

1076 CE – 1216 CE (approx.) · capital Tenali

A Telugu Choda family of the Krishna delta that rose as Chola vassals and briefly dominated coastal Andhra in the 12th century.

Origins

The Velanati Chodas were a family of chiefs from Velanadu, the region around Guntur in coastal Andhra. In the late 11th century they rose as feudatories of the Chola emperor Kulottunga I, who had absorbed the lands of the Eastern Chalukyas, and governed the Vengi region on his behalf from Chandavolu, near Tenali.

Rule and society

As Chola power in Andhra weakened in the 12th century, Gonka II and his successors ruled much of the coastal region between the Krishna and the Godavari independently, though still using Chola titles. They patronised Shaiva and Vaishnava temples and Telugu inscriptions record their grants. The kingdom was drawn into the wars of local chiefs, including the conflict remembered in the Telugu epic of the battle of Palnadu around 1182.

Decline and legacy

Weakened by these wars, the Velanati Chodas were defeated in the early 13th century by the Kakatiya king Ganapati, who absorbed coastal Andhra into his kingdom around 1216.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Velanati Chodas. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/velanati-chodas
MLA
“Velanati Chodas.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/velanati-chodas. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Velanati Chodas.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/velanati-chodas.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Velanati Chodas’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/velanati-chodas (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻