Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s10.29

c8.s10.29

The earliest Rāṣṭrakūṭa inscriptions in Mysore are Cl 33 and 34. They are of the time of Jagattunga Prabhūtavarsha Pratāpāvalōka Śrīvallaha, which titles denote a Gōvinda. And the fact that he is called Akālavarsha’s son shows that it was Gōvinda II. The Jain *Harivamśa*, composed in 783, says that Vallabha, the son of Krishna (Akālavarsha), was then ruling over the South, and this was the same person. In the above inscriptions he has the Pallava Nolamba king Singapōta’s son and daughters as rulers under him. Singapōta, we know from Cl 8, was contemporary with the Ganga king Śivamāra Saigotta. The latter, having assisted Gōvinda, was seized and imprisoned by Gōvinda’s younger brother Dhruva Nirupama, who had ousted his elder brother. The reason of this supersession is said in certain later grants to have been that Gōvinda was addicted to sensual pleasures, and so let the kingdom slip out of his hands. But the Paithan grant of 794 (*EI*. iii. 104), nearer to his own time, says that he brought in even the hostile Mālava and other kings to help him, who were joined by the Kāñchī, Ganga, and Vengi kings. Nevertheless Dhruva defeated him, and drove these enemies away on the east and north. He then took possession of the whole kingdom, “leaping over” his elder brother.