Reddy Dynasty - Prolaya Vema Reddy

Prolaya Vema Reddy was the first king of the Reddy dynasty. Vema assembled a large army of peasants and herdsmen, and adopted guerrilla warfare. It is said that when he attacked the Muslim army, Vema Reddy had their water supply lines contaminated with sewage leading to dysentery in their ranks. Veera Ballala III of Dwarasamudra helped the coalition of Vema Reddy and Kapaya Nayaka. Vema chased the general of the Tughlaq army, Malik Maqbul to the Warangal fort and Kapaya Nayaka then stormed it and took control. Vema then led a blitzkrieg on the Kondavidu fort and hacked off the head of Maliq Gurjar, the Muslim commander there and liberated Nidudavolu, Vundi, and Pithapuram after pitched battles. Vema then defeated an army of Jalaluddin Shah in a raid on Tondaimandalam, while Veera Ballala engaged the Sultan himself. Veera Ballala was finally defeated and skinned alive, and his dry skin was hung from the walls of Madurai where Ibn Battuta reportedly saw it later. Undaunted, Vema continued his lightning raids on the Muslim-occupied forts of Bellamkonda, Vinukonda and Nagarjunakonda and captured them all. He then declared himself Raja (king) with Kondavidu as his capital. The Kondapalli fort was built by him.

His famous inscriptions from this period state:

Prolaya Vema Reddy bestowed a number of agraharas on the Brahmins. He was revered by the title of Apratima-Bhudana-Parasurama. He commissioned major repairs to the Srisailam Mallikarjuna Swami temple, and had a flight of steps built from the Krishna river to the temple. The Narasimha Swamy temple at Ahobilam was built during his reign. He built 108 temples for Lord Shiva. The restoration of peace starting with his reign brought about a revival of literature and the arts. Errana, the translator of the Mahabharata, lived during his period.