The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.217

Language: English

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name, connects him with the date of the Vibhava saṁvatsara, Ś.-S. 890 (expired), = A. D. 968-69, and records a grant by him to a Jain shrine named, Gaṅgakandarpa-Jinēndramandira. An inscription at Nagarle, in Mysore,¹ dated Ś.-S. 892 (expired), = A. D. 970-71, gives one of his appellations in the form of Permāḷi. An inscription at Adaraguñchi, in the Dhârwâr District,² dated in the month Âshâḍha (June-July), falling in A. D. 971, of the Prajâpati saṁvatsara, Ś.-S. 893 (expired), mentions him as then governing the Gaṅgavâḍi ninety-six-thousand, the Puḷigere three-hundred, and the Beḷvola three-hundred, under the Râshṭrakûṭa king Khoṭṭiga. An inscription at Guṇḍûr, in the same district,³ dated in the same month, falling in A. D. 973, of the Śrîmukha saṁvatsara, Ś.-S. 896 (current), mentions him as still governing the Puḷigere three-hundred and the Beḷvola three-hundred under Khoṭṭiga's successor, Kakka II. The Hebbâḷ inscription speaks of him as having had in his hands, at some time or other,⁴ the government of a very large area, including, not only the Gaṅgavâḍi province, the Puḷigere three-hundred, and the Beḷvola three-hundred, but also the Banavâsi twelve-thousand, the Noḷambavâḍi thirty-two thousand (properly a province of the Paḷḷavas, in the direction of Beḷḷâry), and the Sântalige thousand (apparently somewhere in the west of Mysore).⁵ And an elaborate account of his achievements, given in one of the Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa records,⁶ shews that he was employed by Kṛishṇa III.

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to command an expedition into Gujarât; that he subjugated the Paḷḷavas of Noḷambavâḍi; and that he fought and conquered in battles on the banks of the Tapti, at Mânyakhêṭa (the Râshṭrakûṭa capital), and at Gônûr, Uṭchchaṅgî, and Pâriseyakôṭe, and in the Banavâsi country; and, finally, that, after the overthrow of Kakka II. and his expulsion from Mânyakhêṭa by the Western Châḷukyas under Taila II., he made an attempt to continue the Râshṭrakûṭa sovereignty by crowning Indra IV., the grandson of Kṛishṇa III.:⁷ the attempt, which was not successful, must have been made soon after June, A. D. 973, which is the latest recorded date for Kakka II.; and it is to be attributed to the close connection that existed between the two families.¹ Mârasimha must have been immediately succeeded by a certain Pañchaladêva, whom a fragment at Mulgund, in the Dhârwâr District,² describes as reigning, as paramount sovereign, in A. D. 974-75, over the whole country bounded by the eastern, western, and southern oceans. Pañchaladêva seems, then, to have taken advantage of the general confusion, that must have attended the downfall of the Râshtrakûṭas and the death of Mârasimha, to set himself up as an independent king; but he was shortly afterwards killed in battle by the Western Châlukya Taila II. Earlier facts connected with him are to be found in the Adaraguñchi inscription,³ which tells us that, in A. D.

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971, when Mârasimha was governing the Gaṅgavâḍi ninety-six-thousand, the Puḷigere three-hundred, and the Beḷvola three-hundred, under the Râshtrakûṭa king Khoṭṭiga, he himself was governing a small circle of villages which was known as the Sebbi thirty and probably took its appellation from the ancient name of Chabbi or Chebbi in the Hubḷi tâluka, Dhârwâr District; and in the Guṇḍûr inscription,⁴ which mentions him as governing a ninety-six district in A. D. 973: this ninety-six district has not been identified; but possibly the expression is an abbreviation for the Gaṅgavâḍi ninety-six thousand, which Mârasimha,—mentioned in the same record in connection with only the Puḷigere three-hundred and the Beḷvola three-hundred, — may have entrusted to Pañchaladêva. Shortly after Pañchaladêva, there was a Satyavâkya-Kôṅguṇivarma-Râchamalla-Permanadi, for whom an inscription at Kiggatnâḍ, in Coorg,⁵ furnishes a date in the month Phâlguna (Feb.-March), falling in A. D. 978, of the Îśvara saṁvatsara, Śaka-Saṁvat 899 (expired); and probably an inscription at Doḍḍa-Homma, in Mysore,⁶ furnishes a date in the preceding year;⁷ and he appears to have had a rather famous minister named Châmuṇḍarâya, who wrote the Châmuṇḍarâya-Purâṇa and set up the colossal image of Gommataêśvara at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa.⁸ And this person was probably the last of the independent or semi-independent Western Gaṅga princes.