History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c23.37

Language: English

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of the same name, at least five of whom are mentioned in the ancestry of the Eastern Ganga kings of Kalinga or Orissa. The Vizagapatam plates of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga of Śaka 1040 contain the longest genealogy.¹ According to this inscription Kolāhala was the founder of a city after his own name, Kolāhalapura in Gaṅgavāḍi (in Mysore), then after eighty-one kings of that city was born Virasiṁha who had five sons named Kāmārṇava I, Dānārṇava I, Guṇārṇava I, Nāraṁsiṁha and Vajrahasta I, Kāmārṇava I captured Kalinga after defeating a king named Bālāditya and ruled at Jantavura (i. e., Dantapura, the ancient capital of Kalinga) for thirty-six years. He was followed by his younger brother Dānārṇava I, who ruled for forty years. He was succeeded by his son Kāmārṇava II, who ruled at Kaliṅganagara for half a century. He was succeeded by his son Raṇārṇava, who ruled for five years. and his grandson Vajrahasta II was succeeded by his younger brother Kāmārṇava III, who ruled for nineteen years and was succeeded by his son Guṇārṇava II, who ruled for twenty-seven years. This Guṇārṇava may possibly be identical with Devendravarman’s father. Devendravarman I was ruling from the Gaṅga year 183 to 195. Guṇārṇava II was succeeded by his son Jitāṅkuśa, who ruled for fifteen years. He appears to have been quite different from Devendravarman I, son of Guṇārṇava, who also ruled over Kalinga.

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Jitāṅkuśa was succeeded by his nephew Kaligalāṅkuśa, who ruled for twelve years and was succeeded by his father’s father Guṇḍama I, who ruled for seven years. He was evidently a son of Guṇārṇava II and a brother of Gitāṅkuśa. Guṇḍama was succeeded by his younger brother Kāmārṇava IV, who ruled for twenty-five years, and he by his younger brother Vinayāditya, who ruled for three years. Guṇārṇava II was thus succeeded by four of his sons and one grandson. The succession was thus carried on further by another grandson of Guṇārṇava II, Vajrahasta IV, a son of Kāmārṇava IV, who ruled for thirty-five years. He was succeeded by his son Kāmārṇava V, who ruled for six months only. Guṇḍama II, his younger brother, succeeded him and ruled for three years. He was succeeded by his step-brother Madhu-Kāmārṇava VI, who ruled for nineteen years. His son and successor, Vajrahasta V, was the first to assume the title of Tri-Kaling-ādhipati, and ruled for thirty years. His son Rājarāja I, who married the Chola princess Rājasundarī, a daughter of Rājendra Choḷa II of Veṅgi, i. e., Kuloṭṭuṅga I of Tanjore. Rājarāja I ruled for eight years and was succeeded by his son, Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga. A slightly different chronology is provided in the Nadagam plates, of Vajrāhasta of the Śaka year 979. In the lineage of the Gaṅgas of Tri-Kaliṅga was the Mahārāja Guṇamahārṇava. His son Vajrahasta reigned for forty-four years.

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Vajrahasta's son, Gundama I, reigned for three years, whose younger brother, Kāmārṇava, ruled for thirty-five years. Kāmārṇava was succeeded by his younger brother, Vinayāditya, who ruled for three years. Kāmārṇava's son, Vajrahasta-Aniyaṅkabhīma, ruled for thirty-five years and was succeeded by his son Kāmārṇava, who ruled for six months only. His younger brother, Guṇḍama II, ruled for three years and was succeeded by his step-brother Madhu-Kāmārṇava, who ruled for nineteen years. According to this inscription, Vajrahasta, the grandfather of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga, was the son of Kāmārṇava, the eldest son of Vajrahasta Aniyaṅkabhima. 1 This list gives a total of 142 1/2 years from the date of the accession of Vajrahasta and therefore of the death of Guṇamahārṇava. If we take this king to be the same as Guṇārṇava, father of Devendravarman I, who began to rule some time before 183 of the Gaṅga year and if we take the year 180 of the same era as the year of accession of Devendravarman I, then we find that Vajrahasta, the grandfather of Anantavarman, came to the throne in the Gaṅga year 323. But as the known date of his accession is 1038 A. D.=960 Śaka, it becomes fairly certain that the Gaṅga era began in the first or second decade of the 8th century A. D. The date given in the Vizagapatam plates can also be employed to test this result.

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According to it, from Kāmārṇava I up to the end of the reign of Rājarāja I, the Eastern Gaṅgas of that particular branch from which Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga was descended, ruled for 349 years. The total length of reigns from the beginning of the rule of Kāmārṇava I up to the end of that of Guṇārṇava II is 192 years leaving 157 years up to 1078 A. D., the year of the accession of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga. This would bring the death of Guṇārṇava to 921 A. D., as only 157 years intervene between him and the accession of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga. If this Guṇārṇava is the father of Devendravarman I, then he died approximately in the Gaṅga year 180. The initial year of the Gaṅga era, therefore, would fall in 741 A. D. This difference of 20 years can be neglected for the present when centuries are at stake in the calculation of the Gaṅga era. The most recent contribution to the subject is an elaborate article by Mr. G. Ramadas, B. A. It is based on a series of elaborate astronomical calculations and a number of assumptions. In the first place, the eclipses recorded have been sought between 624 and 961 A. D., wherein Mr. Ramadas has sought to place the 127th 251st. 304th, 351st and 91st years of the Gaṅga era. In the next place the writer makes certain untenable assumptions, e. g., "The Kaliṅga ruled over by the Gaṅgas was quite different from the Kaliṅga of Asokan times.

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The Kaliṅga of the Gaṅgas being connected with the Mountain Mahendra was quite different from that subdued by the Great Mauryan Emperor, which was not mentioned to have included the mountain." ¹ The next wrong assumption is based on paleography :