The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s3.2

v2.c29.s3.2

The Kalacuris of Tummāṇa claim to be descended from Kokkala I, the founder of the Tripurī branch of the family. They trace their pedigree to one Kaliṅgarāja, who claimed descent from one of the 17 younger sons of Kokkala I. We are told that 'in order not to impoverish the treasury of Tritaśauryya he abandoned the ancestral land and acquired by his two arms the country of *Dakṣiṇa-Kośala*. Since *Tummāṇa* had been made a royal residence by his ancestors, therefore residing there, he increased his fortune, causing the destruction of his enemies.'³ Though Tritaśauryya has not yet been identified, there is no doubt that it was the name of a portion of the original territories of the Kalacuris round about Tripurī.⁴ Dakṣiṇa-Kośala is generally taken to represent roughly the modern division of Chhattisgarlı of the C. P., while Tummāṇa has been identified with the modern village of Tumana in the Lapha Zamindari of Bilaspur District.¹ As the earliest certain date of Pṛthvīdeva I, the great-grandson of Kaliṅgarāja, is 1079 A. D., we may fix upon the first quarter of the 11th century as the approximate date of the latter. It is likely that he was a contemporary of Vikramāditya Gāṅgeyadeva, and may have acted as his viceroy in the Dakṣiṇa-Kośala. The Kalacuris of Tripurī had already crossed over the Maikal Range into Chhattisgarh before the time of Kaliṅgarāja, for 'a Ratnapura stone-inscription tells us that Tummāṇa 'had been made a royal residence by his ancestors' before he left Tritasaurya and came to reside there. It seems likely that the family of Kaliṅgarāja remained feudatories to the Ḍāhala branch till about the seventh decade of the 11th century, which probably saw the defeat and death of Karṇa.²