Historic region of southern India comprising the fertile deltas of the Krishna and Godavari rivers, in present-day Andhra Pradesh, sometimes also called Venginadu (vengi, uncertain origin; nadu, Tamil: ‘country’). The first historical reference to Vengi is found in a second century text by the Greco-Roman scientist Ptolemy. The region experienced shifting political rule for most of antiquity, falling under Mauryan, Satavahana, Pallava and Andhra Ikshvaku rule until the fifth century CE, when it gained political importance as the centre of the Salakayana territory. Salakayana inscriptions from Vengi show the development of rudimentary forms of Telugu as a distinct language. Vengi was then taken over by the Vishnukundina dynasty until the seventh century CE, when it became the centre of the Eastern Chalukya kingdom, also known as the Vengi Chalukyas. It later came under Chola and Kakatiya rule before becoming part of the major Vijayanagara Empire in the fifteenth century.