ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE VELAMAS.

The Velamas originally belonged to the area of Pillalamarri & Anumagallu in Nalgonda district.

The origin of the Velama caste cannot be dated with precision but the first mention of  Velamas  was made in the “Palnati Veeracharitra” of Srinatha, the court poet of Pedakomati Vema Redddy of Kondaveedu.

Srinatha lived during the years 1365-1441 when  he has written the “Palanati Veera Charitra” whereas the battle actually took place somewhere between the years 1178 and 1182. This means the poet has written about something that took place more than 200 years before his time. As per the Veeracharitra Brahma Naidu of Recherla Gotra who was one of the main characters of the Palnati battle was a Velama.

Thereafter, the Velamas emerge again in the Kakatiya Kingdom where they have been the commanders and vassals of the Kakatiyas from 1200 AD onwards.  The first known Velama in the Kakatiya Kingdom was Era Dachanayaka. Subsequent to him were Dama, Rudra and Prasadityanayakas and they were famous during Ganapati Devas  (1199-1262 AD) time.   

      

The Velamas served as the commanders of the Kakatiya empire and after its downfall they set up their own kingdoms at Rachakonda at around 1340 AD and later Devarakonda, which together ruled all the 13 districts of Telengana while the entire Coastal Andhra was under the Reddy Kings. The Velama’s supported the Bahmani’s for some time, the Vijayanagara Kings for some time and the Gajapati’s of Orissa for sometime before the kingdoms were finally extinguished in 1475 AD.

After the fall of Devarakonda in 1475 AD, they joined the court of Hampi Vijayanagar. 

Due to their influence as the vassals of the Kakatiya kingdom in many areas, and later as independent kings, they were later confirmed by the Nijam as Jagirdars and Jamindars by the British and the French of those respective areas.

This is so for the Velamas of Telengana and also of  Venkatagiri in Rayalaseema which formed a part of the Vijayanagara kingdom.

The evolution of the Velama Jamindars of the coastal area was different

Initially they must have been the vassals of the Eastern Chalukyas (Vengi Chalukyas with their capital near Eluru) who ruled till 1100 AD and later the Kakatiyas and subsequently the Reddy kings, the Bahamanis and later the Nizams.

By the time of the Bahamani kings the entire coastal Andhra areas as well as the Telengana area were united. When the British took over the area, they confirmed the Velamas as the Jamindars of their respective areas.