Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s1.1

c8.s1.1

The earliest undoubted inscriptions in Mysore are the Edicts of Aśōka in the Molakālmuru tāluq (Mk 21, 14, 34), discovered by me in 1892. They belong to the first half of the third century B.C., and are unquestionable evidence that the north of the Mysore State was included in the Maurya empire. But there are inscriptions relating to a period still farther back. For the Mauryas had as their predecessors the Nandas, and one inscription (Sk 225) states that Kuntala, a province which included the western Dekhan and the north of Mysore, was ruled by the Nandas. Another (Sk 236) derives the descent of the Kadambas, the early rulers of the north-west of the country, from Nanda. But these are of comparatively modern date, the twelfth century, and need not be further noticed.