The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s16.84

c8.s16.84

as Vallûr and Kânchî; his biruda of "taker of Kânchî" is doubtless based upon nothing but the local defeat of the Chôla feudatories Adiyama or Idiyama, Narasimha, and Dâmôdara; and it is not probable that he held, for any appreciable length of time, any of the possessions of the Kâdambas of Goa, or even of the Hângal branch of that family. But there appear no reasons for refusing to accept the successes that are claimed for him in the Gangavâdi province, and in connection with places which can be identified and located in that neighbourhood. The only title connected with his name is that of Mahâmandalesvara; and his feudatory position, first under Vikramâditya VI. and then under Sômêsvara III., is made clear, not only by this, but also by the description of him, in the Sindigere inscription of A. D. 1137, as Chalukya-mani-mandâlika-chûdâmani or "crest-jewel among the feudatory chieftains of the jewel of the Châlukyas,"—by the use, in the same record, of the feudal expression tat-pâdapadm-ôpajîvin, "subsisting like a bee on the water-lilies which are the feet (of the paramount sovereign),"—and by the formal preambles of the same record and of one of the Sravana-Belgola inscriptions,¹ which distinctly mention Vikramâditya VI. as the paramount sovereign. At the same time, the terms which were used in speaking of his rule indicate plainly, not only that, like the Silâhâras of the Konkan and of Karâd, the Rattas of Saundatti, the Kâdambas of Hângal and of Goa, the Sindas of Yelburga, and the Guttas of Guttal, the Hoysalas belonged to the class of the more powerful Mahâmandalesvaras who enjoyed a certain amount of independence and exercised much freedom of action, but also that Vishnuvardhana himself aimed at, and probably even enjoyed, still greater power than was conceded to his peers; for, while most of his records shew simply the use of the technical expression of intermediate rank and authority, belonging properly to him and to the princes of the other families mentioned above,² a few of them disclose the fact that, even though he did not assume any higher title than that of Mahâmandalesvara, he occasionally described his authority by the technical expression of paramount sovereignty.³ The records usually describe him as ruling over the Gangavâdi ninety-six-thousand province,⁴ the boundaries of which seem to be defined by the Belûr record of A. D. 1117, which says that then, at Vêlâpura, after having established the Hoysala power by marching to Talakâd and burning the capital city of the Gangas and acquiring their