"Tope" is a title given to grandfather Venkata Charya by a king of Gadwala. Gadwala was a small kingdom located on the banks of river Krishna in Mahaboobnagar District, Andhra Pradesh. Venkata Charya is father of Mrs. Karamchedu Shakuntala. Venkata Charya was one of the court pandits of Gadwala Kingdom.
HISTORY
When grandfather Venkata Charya was 5 years old, he was playing with his friends on the banks of Krishna river (outskirts of the kingdom). They saw a cannon (also known a "Tope") which was unattended by security gaurds. They were very curious about it as they have never seen one before. They went near the cannon and started playing hide-and-seek game around it, and suddenly, they saw a small hole on top of the cannon with a piece of rope hanging. They also saw a camp fire near by. Out of all kids, Venkata Charya was known for his naughty behaviour, he went and brought the fire and ignited the cannon not knowing that the cannon was fully loaded with gunpowder. At the same time, some enemy troops from neighbouring kindom were marching towards the Gadwal kingdom to attack and occupy it. By the cannon's fire, entire enemy troops were very shocked and confused, and stopped marching and were trying to find, how the information of their attack has reached Gadwal kingdom, as it is supposed to be a top secret. Meanwhile, the cannon fire has alerted all the security gaurds of Gadwal kingdom and defence troops were marched towards the incident site. Defence force saw kids playing in front of the cannon, and also saw enemy forces, they managed to drove away the enemy forces and took the kids to Kings palace and explained the incident to the King. Eventhough, cannon was fired as a child's play, it alerted the defence forces of the kingdom and helped to deal with the unexpected attact, King was very pleased with the news of winning over enemy troops. King enquired who has actually fired the cannon, and asked the boy's parents to come to palace immediately. Hearing from the King, Venkata Charya's parents came to the court not knowing why king has asked them to come to palace. When they reached the palace and saw their son, they knew they were in big trouble. King explained the entire incident to the parents and rewarded them, by giving into their position an entire village named "Agraharam" as a gift. This village is located near the banks of Krishna river and occupies around 1200 Hectare of land. King also gave the boy a title "Tope" meaning a cannon. Thus it became his surname. Venkata Charya later became a Sanskrit scholar in Gadwala Kingdom. He was married four times. Sadly, first three wives did not lived for long. His fourth wife name was Mrs. Tope Rukminamma. She was a personal assistant to the Qeen of Gadwala. They had, 6 sons and 3 daughters. Mrs Karamchedu Shakuntala is the youngest daughter, and last of the 9 ciblings. Grandfather Venkata Charya died when Mrs. Shakuntala was about 7 to 9 years of age. Grandmother Rukminamma has passed away on 24th December 1998. She was 100 years old when she died.
Electronic mail address
[email protected]
Web address
sites.netscape.net/sinduri