Merakaveedhitelaga.org

Foreword

It is our immense pleasure and privilege to host this website on Merakaveedhitelaga community and Merakaveedhi Chandragiri Telaga Vidyabhimani Samajam, which is a unique sect among Kapu communities, having more than 300 years of history, culture, heritage, and legacy.

Though the need for this website was felt for a long time, unfortunately, the same could not be realized owing to many factors, and we are happy to bring our dream project to reality now.

Had this been done some three decades ago, we would have had the fortune of having our community elders who could authenticate our work and bring in the untold history and culture of this great community to light.

The purpose of this website is to carry on our legacy, culture, and heritage to the future generations of our community, who may not be fortunate enough to know their own history and culture, which they should be proud of.

There may be many some missing aspects and shortcomings in our efforts, but this is only the beginning, and we assure you that, with your help and cooperation, we will continue to improvise.

We thank Vogeti Rishi and our other friends who have helped us with this small compilation.

We hope everyone will show interest in this work and help us improve and overcome any shortcomings if any.

Thanking you,
Editorial Committee

Merakaveedhi telaga

Merakaveedhi Telagas are a sect of royal families who use to live in Merakaveedhi Rajahmundry, They have migrated From Chandragiri to Rajahmundry in the period of 1757.

Originally these Families were from Chandragiri and served as the military Generals (Senathipathis)

These warrior families helped the French in Anglo-French wars, and later served in the British armies holding highest Indian military posts. They worship Venugopala swamy as their family deity. Even today the idols of Sri Venugopalaswamy temple( Uhtsava Vigrahahalu) will be taken in procession through the Merakaveedhi streets.

These families follow different customs, which are unique for them, they are a close knit clan who are related to each other and live like a single elongated community. Even today one can find families with surnames and gotra in and around Chandragiri this is the ample evidence that these families have migrated from chandragiri.

Origin:

These Meraka Veedhi Telagas are descendants of the Dandanayakas and Ministers of the Vijayanagara Empire. This fact is evident from the reference of these family names in various chapters of the Vijayanagara History. There are references regarding the participation of the Dandanayakas in the second Tallikota war. The Tallikota war resulted in the defeat of Aliya Ramarayalu in the hands of Behamani Sultans, which resulted in the fall of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire. After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Dandanayakas of this clan migrated to Chandragiri (Presently in Chittoor Dist., A.P), Penukonda (Presently in Anantapur Dist., A.P) and Vellore (Presently in Tamil Nadu) and took up various military positions . Later they consolidated themselves to support Sriranga Rayalu, a descendant of Vijayanagara dynasty, to gain the throne of Chandragiri in 1639 AD. These families from then lived in and around Chandragiri for at least a century and Even today.

Oral history passed on in their families also traces their arrival in Rajahmundry during the last nawab rule, which also translates to about 270 years as on today.( i.e. around 1757 )