The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.182.1

c8.s11.182.1

The fact has already been stated, that mention is made of some Gangas, as being overthrown by the early Kadamba king Mrigêsavarman.² In the Mahâkûta pillar inscription, Gangas are included among the hostile peoples whose kings were conquered by Kîrtivarman I. between A. D. 567-68 and 597-98.³ They are referred to again, in the Aihole inscription, as being subjugated, with the Âlupas, by Pulikêsin II., about A. D. 608.⁴ And the Harihar grant of Vinayâditya, dated in A. D. 694, speaks of them, again in conjunction with the Âlupas,—here called Aluvas,—as hereditary servants of the Western Chalukya kings,⁵ to whose dynasty Kîrtivarman I., Pulikêsin II., and Vinayâditya belonged. These statements cannot all refer, if any of them do so, only to the Gangas of the east coast. And they suffice to shew that, in early times, there really was a reigning Ganga family in Western India. For the period, however, with which we are at present more directly concerned, the references are all impersonal; and no individual names are forthcoming until about a century after the latest date mentioned just above. There have, indeed, been known for a long time past various copper-plate charters,⁶ which purport to give an unbroken genealogical list going back to the first century A. D., and to furnish specific early dates in connection with certain names in it; thus, they would give the names of Harivarman with a date in A. D. 248,—of Vishnugôpa, with a date in A. D.