Madanna and Akkanna

Madanna and Akkanna were born to “Pengala Banooge Timayamah” or “Banoojee puntooloo” and his wife in the town of Hanamkonda in the district of Warangal, Telangana, India. Madanna and Akkanna are popular forms of Madhava Bhanuji and Akkarasu Bhanuji respectively. They may have belonged to one of the branches of the Maharashtrian Brahmins, which is not to say that their family may not also have been based in the Telangana plateau for generations so that Madanna and Akkanna would have spoken fluent Telugu besides Marathi. According to Aiyangar, Madanna's formal name was Suryaprakasha Rao and he was fluent in Telugu, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindustani (Hindi, Urdu), and several other languages. ==Career==

There are several version of Madanna and Akkanna history found in popular media and texts of India. The variation is from which of the four sources one relies on and which one ignores: the Dutch East India Company records (also called the VOC records), the Mackenzie manuscripts, the Muslim court historians, or the evolving Hindu folklore. Of these, the VOC records were contemporaneous to the events and Dutch merchants directly interacted with Madanna, Akkanna and the Muslim elites of the Golconda Sultanate. The Mackenzie manuscripts date to over 100 years after the death of the brothers. The records of the Muslim historians as well as the Hindu folklores – or Brahmin perspectives – are largely hearsay and they vary in their dates as well as details, largely reflecting the bias of their authors. Their department collected Jizya religious tax from the Hindus. Qutb Shah did not have a son, only three daughters. After he died, the succession choice was between the three sons-in-law. The Madanna and Akkanna brothers helped Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (Tana Shah) become the next Sultan, thereby gaining their confidence and trust. They prospered and were soon responsible for the Sultanate's entire tax collection and the spending of its exchequer. This power over the purse made them very powerful. The common element in the different versions is that Madanna and Akkanna were in seats of power in 1673, and highly influential in Golconda Sultanate till they were assassinated. The caption in the miniature paintings of Madanna and Akkanna created in the 17th-century Golconda court, along with those of Tana Shah, identifies the brothers as "chief bookkeepers", not wazir or a general. Akkanna was an entrepreneur too, as his trade ships served the rising colonial era demand for international trade. ==Administration, policies==

Madanna and Akkanna began their career in tax collection. As they reached their powerful position, they made this system highly efficient by civil "revenue farming". Their system of administration was different than Jagirs in use in the Mughal Empire. In the Jagir system, Muslim officers and elites were required to serve the emperor's demand for troops along with regular tributes. Instead of paying them a salary, the Mughal administration gave them a right to collect taxes and land revenue from the rural and urban population of certain area (jagir). This separated those with military power from those with economic power, ensured a large upfront payments before rather than after a period. They thus created a new set of capitalist elites, often Brahmins, that held the power of the pen and the purse. They also issued gifts to matha (monasteries). According to a manuscript in the Mackenzie collection, Madanna and Akkanna were sponsors of classical Indian arts. For example, they financed a troupe of Yakshagana artists – a form of traditional South Indian theatre, who toured the Golconda Sultanate every year. ==Death==

The details of their death vary by the source, but the common thread is that they were brutally killed in 1685 by the Mughal forces under the command of Aurangzeb's son. Aurangzeb sent his army to attack Golconda Sultanate. After a seize and the payment of large tributes to the Mughal treasury by Madanna, soldiers led by Shah 'Alam – the son of Aurangzeb, returned to Golconda. They sought out and assassinated Akkanna and Madanna. This assassination was done, by some accounts with the knowledge of Abul Hasan Tana Shah. They were beheaded, and their heads were sent as trophies back to Aurangzeb. By other accounts, Tana Shah was unaware and the heads of Akkanna and Madanna were sent to Aurangzeb's son. ==Legacy==

Less than two years after their death, Aurangzeb dismissed the Sultan, arrested him and placed in a prison in Daulatabad. The sultanate became a part of the Mughal empire. The period led by Madanna and Akkanna was remembered as a decade of golden age by some, already by the 18th century. The brothers are remembered in today's Telangana as administrators and as martyrs. Visible reminders of their activities as politicians and religious benefactors are the Akkanna Madanna Temple in Hyderabad, Akkanna Madanna caves in Vijayawada, and the ruins marked as their offices in Golkonda fort. ==See also==