Madanna and Akkanna
According to Gijs Kruijtzer – a historian specializing in Deccan Sultanates, the Madanna and Akkanna brothers can be viewed as early "nationalists" seeking the welfare of their people and the general public.
They can also be viewed as "communalists" who criticized the Muslim elites as exploitative who do not care about non-Muslims, who serve the interest of their holy land in Arabia, and seek personal gain.
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.
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.
[3][4] 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.
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.
[1] The Indologist A.H. Longhurst, relying on contemporaneous records from the 17th-century such as those of Dutch journalist Havart, states that Madanna and Akkanna became ministers in the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah, the Sultan of Golconda who ruled for nearly 45 years.
Madanna then appointed Akkanna as his military general over the Muslim army of Golconda, and his nephew Rustom Rao as the chief of all horses.
As prime minister, Madanna assured a cooperative Hindu population in Golconda, increasing trade with new colonial powers, and an alliance with Shivaji in the west.
According to Maratha records, Tana Shah entered into agreement to provide Shivaji with artillery troops for a joint campaign in exchange for lands that previously were under the control of a larger Golconda Sultanate.
[10] 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.
[10] According to Kruijtzer, there is no evidence in any source that Madanna was officially a "Peshva" or held the same title that "Mir Jumla" did before their rise to power, something that is often assumed and repeated.
[11] 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.
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).
[13] Madanna and Akkanna placed the Golconda Sultanate officials and Muslim elites at the court on salary instead, and gave civilians the responsibility and right to collect taxes for a period of time in exchange for a lump sum upfront payment for that right.
For example, they financed a troupe of Yakshagana artists – a form of traditional South Indian theatre, who toured the Golconda Sultanate every year.
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.
[7] According to the Dutch India company records, on the day the brothers were murdered, "many" Brahmins were hunted down in Hyderabad and other parts of the Golconda Sultanate and they were also killed, their homes plundered.
