Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s11.17

c8.s11.17

Jayasimha’s son Sōmēśvara I next came to the throne, and is styled Trailōkyamalla and Āhavamalla. His governor of Banavase in 1046, among other titles, is called “guardian of Kollipāke, the door of the South.” This place, which is frequently referred to as a chief seat of the Lingāyit faith, has unfortunately not been identified. In 1046 Chāmuṇḍa-Rāyarasa was governor of Banavase (Sk 160), and in the following year of other provinces as well, as far as the western ocean (Sk 151). He erected the elegant monolith *gaṇḍa-bhēruṇḍa* pillar at Belgāmi, surmounted by the image of Bhēruṇḍēśvara in human form with double eagle’s head. He himself is called *gaṇḍa-bhēruṇḍa*, and a *bhēruṇḍa* pole, perhaps the length of the pillar, was established as a measure for land. In Sk 152 is the record of a man who thirteen years afterwards climbed to the top of the pillar and committed suicide by throwing himself down on to a row of spear-headed stakes. The king’s son by his Pallava wife appears as governor under him in 1048 and 1054 (Hl 107, 119). An inscription of the latter year (Sk 118) says that the Chōla king valiantly fell in a battle with him, a reference to the death of Rājādhirāja. Sb 325 says that Āhavamalla slew the warlike Chōla. In 1051 the king visited Bandanikke (Hk 65). In 1058 his son Vikramāditya, who is given all the Ganga titles, was ruling in Balligāve as viceroy over the Banavase, Sāntalige, and Nolambavāḍi provinces (Sk 83). Two years later he was ruling Gangavāḍi (Sk 152, Dg 140). In 1063 and 1065 the king’s son Vishnuvarddhana Vijayāditya was ruling the Nolambavāḍi kingdom (Si 18, Dg 111), with the seat of his government at Kampili (Mk 29). Meanwhile, in 1062, the Śāntara kings were ruling in Pomburchcha. The king also had a notable master of the robes in Lakshma or Lakshmaṇa, to whom he gave rank next to the royal princes, and entrusted him with the government of the Banavase province (Sk 136). In 1068 the king came to a tragic end by drowning himself, when smitten with deadly fever, in the Tungabhadrā at Kuruvaṭṭi (Sk 136).