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Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s5: 5. Gangas

Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s5

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5. Gangas

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The Gangas ruled over the greater part of Mysore from the second to the eleventh century. Their grants have been found in all parts, from Coorg in the west to North Arcot and Tanjore in the east, and from the extreme south of the Mysore State in the south to the Belgaum District of Bombay in the north. To the time of Śivamāra I (680) these are mostly on copper plates, though a few, such as Mb 263 and Cm 50, are on stone. From his time stone inscriptions are the most numerous. The Ganga territory was known as Gangavāḍi, a Ninety-six Thousand province, and the existing Gangadikāras, who form the largest section of the agricultural population of Mysore, represent its former subjects, their name being a contraction from Gangavāḍikāra. At the time of the foundation of the Ganga kingdom its chief city was Kuvalāla (Kolar), but the capital was removed in the third century to Talakāḍ on the Kāvēri, in the south-east of the Mysore District. This remained the permanent capital, although the royal residence was fixed at Mankunda (west of Channapatna) in the seventh century, and at Mānya-pura (Maṇṇe, north of Nelamangala) in the eighth century.

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The name, Ganga, of the dynasty is not an ordinary one, and the only other occurrence of such a name in history is in the Greek and Roman accounts relating to the times of Alexander the Great and Seleucus. Chandra Gupta, and the Nandas before him, are described as ruling over the Prasii and the Gangaridæ. The latter, the people of the Ganges valley, are mentioned by Ptolemy; and the Latin authors Virgil, Valerius Flaccus, and Curtius also make reference to them. Pliny writes of the Gangaridæ Calingæ, or Gangas of Kalinga, who, as he terms them *gens novissima*, were not so ancient. We know from inscriptions that there was an important line of Ganga kings in Kalinga in the seventh and eighth centuries, and Ganga kings continued there down to as late a period as the sixteenth century. But the Gangas in Mysore were the main line, as the Kalinga Gangas admit. Both branches trace their name to the river Gaṅgā or Ganges.

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Although Ganga inscriptions professing to be of the third century have been found, the earliest which contain a detailed account of the origin of the family are stone inscriptions of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the Nagar and Shimoga tāluqs (the chief being Nr 35, Sh 10, 4, 64). If any such of older date existed, which is not improbable, they have been lost or destroyed. According to the above records—which were inscribed in the time of the great Chalukya king Vikramāditya or Vikramāṅka, the son of a Ganga princess—the Gangas were of the Ikshvāku and therefore Solar race. They were descended from Dhananjaya, whose son was Hariśchandra, of whom the first two say Daḍiga and Mādhava were the sons. The other two make them the sons of Padmanābha descended from Hariśchandra, and interpose a number of steps. Thus Hariśchandra's son was Bharata, whose wife was Vijayamahādēvi. At the time of conception she bathed in the Gaṅgā or Ganges to remove her languor, and the son born in consequence was named Gaṅgādatta, whence his descendants were called the Gangas.¹ After a time there was Vishnuguptā, who, by performing a certain sacrifice, pleased the god Indra and received from him an elephant. Vishnugupta had two sons, Bhagadatta and Śrīdatta, between whom he divided his dominions. To Bhagadatta was given Kalinga, and he ruled as Kalinga Ganga. Śrīdatta had the ancestral kingdom, together with the elephant, which thus became the Ganga crest. Later on there was Priyabandhu, to whom the god Indra gave five tokens, with a warning that they would disappear if the kings adopted any other faith. At length arose Padmanābha, who by his penance obtained two sons. When, some time after, Mahīpāla, the ruler of Ujjayini, suddenly attacked him, demanding the five tokens, Padmanābha refused to surrender them and prepared for war. But first sent them away, along with his two sons, to the South, accompanied by their sister and attendant Brāhmans. At the time of their departure he gave his sons the names Daḍiga and Mādhava, and the history continues only in connection with them. Their line was the Ganga line—*tad anvayō Gaṅgānvayaḥ* (Nr 35).

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¹ The Kalinga account (*IA*. xiii. 275) is that Turvasu, the son of Yayāti, being without sons, practised self-restraint and propitiated the river Gaṅgā, the bestower of boons, by which means he obtained a son, the unconquerable Gāṅgēya, whose descendants were victorious in the world as the Ganga line.

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When they arrived at Perūr, which is still distinguished from other Perūrs as Ganga-Perūr (in Kadapa District), they met there the Jain āchārya Simhanandi. He was interested in the story of these Ganga princes, and taking them by the hand, gave them instruction and training, and eventually procured for them a kingdom.¹

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¹ He is named as a great poēt by Indrabhūti, in his *Samayabhūshana*, along with Ēlāchārya (Padmanandi, the guru of Śākaṭāyana) and Pūjyapāda (*IA*. xii. 20). In SB 54 he is mentioned next to Samantabhadra, who belongs to the second century; and the Bāṇa plates (*SII*. ii. 387) say the Ganga dynasty obtained increase from the great Simhanandi (*yas Simhanandi-mahima-pratilabdha-vṛiddhir Gaṅgānvayō*). In Nr 35 and 36 he is described as *Ganga-rājyamam māḍida Simhanandy-āchāryya*—the āchāryya Simhanandi who made the Ganga kingdom.

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This was obtained as a boon from the goddess Padmāvatī, who confirmed it with the gift of a sword. Mādhava, who is said to have been but a boy at the time,² seizing the sword with a shout, struck with it a stone pillar, which broke in two. So favourable as an omen, this feat is mentioned in nearly all the inscriptions that refer to him. What the pillar was it is difficult to say, but one account describes it as an obstacle in the way of his gaining the throne (SB 54). The kingdom thus founded was named Gangavāḍi, a Ninety-six Thousand country. Its boundaries were—north, Marandale (not identified); east, Toṇḍa-nāḍ (the Madras country east from Mysore); west, the ocean in the direction of Chēra (Cochin and Travancore); south, Kongu (Coimbatore and Salem Districts). Its chief city was Kuvalāla¹ (Kolar), and its stronghold Nandagiri (Nandidroog).

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² A little boy playing at big boys' games (*prabala-śiśu-līlena śiśunā*).

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¹ This name appears later as Kovalāla, and then Kōlāla.

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The first king was Mādhava, who was called Konguṇivarmma,² a title used for all the subsequent kings of the line, and they are styled dharmma-mahādhirājah or dharmma-mahārājādhirājah. They are said to be of the Kānvāyana-gōtra, and some records trace them back to Kanva. A line of Kanva kings ruled immediately before the Śātavāhanas. Konguṇivarmma would naturally be brought into conflict with the Bāṇas, who were in power to the east and north of Kolar. He is accordingly said to have been consecrated to conquer the Bāṇa-maṇḍala, and to be a wild-fire in consuming the stubble of the forest called Bāṇa. Towards the west, Daḍiga and Mādhava are said to have erected a chaityālaya at Mandali near Shimoga, when on their way to subdue Konkaṇa. The date 103 is given for Konguṇivarmma in Nj 110, in which he is called the first Ganga, and is said to have made a grant then of Kuḍiyāla (in the Nanjangūḍ tāluq). If reliable, the date must have been very early in his reign. The Tamil chronicle called Kongudēśa-rājakkal gives 189 as a date in the first king's reign, and he is said to have reigned for fifty-one years. In either case the rise of the Gangas falls in the second century.

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² A common form is Kongaṇivarmma, and in rare cases Konguḷivarmma, Kongoṇivarmma and Kongiṇivarmma.

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He was succeeded by Kiṟiya Mādhava, the son of Daḍiga, born in Kōlāla, who seems to have been not at all eager to fill a throne, as he is said to have assumed the honours of the kingdom only for the sake of the good government of his subjects. He was of a literary turn of mind, a touchstone for (testing) gold—the learned and poets, was proficient in the nīti-śāstra or science of politics, and wrote a treatise on the dattaka-sūtra or law of adoption.

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Harivarmma, his son, next came to the throne, and he removed the capital to Taḷekkāḍ or Talakāḍ (Talavana-pura in Sanskrit), situated on the river Kāvērī in the south-east of the Mysore District. He is commonly described as having employed elephants in war, and having gained great wealth by the use of the bow. Two grants of his time have been found. The first (*IA.* viii. 212), obtained in Tanjore, gives his name in the Tamil form Arivarmma. It records a gift by him, in 247, of the Orekōḍu village in the Maisu-nāḍ Seventy (now Varakōḍu in the east of Mysore tāluq¹) under somewhat interesting circumstances. A Bauddha disputant named Vādimadagajēndra (a rutting elephant as an orator) in the pride of his learning affixed to the main door of the palace at Talavana-pura a *patra*² (as a challenge) in which he asserted the claim that he was the foremost scholar in logic, grammar, and all other branches of knowledge.³ Whereupon a Brāhman named Mādhava-bhaṭṭa put his pretensions to the proof (before the Court), and when the opponent speaker denied the existence of the soul, established its existence, and with the elephant-goad his speech forced him to crouch down (like a vanquished elephant). The king being pleased, gave the Brāhman the title Vādibhasimha (a lion to the elephant disputant) and with it the Orekōḍu village. Whatever objection may be taken to this inscription on palæographical or other grounds, it must be confessed that the details related in it are singularly in keeping with its professed period. The other grant of this king is in the Tagaḍūr plates (Nj 122) of the date 266. In this, a Gāvuṇḍa or farmer who had made important captures in a battle at Henjeṛu (now Hemāvati, on the northern border of Sīra tāluq) received as a reward the Appogāl village. Yet another record may be mentioned. This is Mb 157, the Muḍiyanūr Bāṇa plates of 338. On the back of the first plate is an erased Ganga grant, which, as far as it is legible, goes down to the time of Harivarmma, but no fresh information regarding him is to be obtained from it.

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¹ Hancha, one of the boundary villages, still exists. The inscriptions at Varakōḍu appear in My 46 to 49, one of which is in Tamil. Near to Varakōḍu is the ancient village of Varuṇa (for inscriptions there see My 34-45 and 55) connected with a Chālukyan family of the name of Goggi.

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² The palmyra leaf commonly used for writing upon.

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³ One is reminded of Martin Luther affixing his theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg.

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His son Viṣṇugōpa next became king. He is said to have been devoted to the worship of gurus, cows, and Brāhmans, and seems to have set aside the Jain faith for that of Nārāyaṇa (Viṣṇu), for the five tokens before mentioned now vanished. In one place (DB 67) his mental energy is said to have been unimpaired to the end of life, implying that he lived to a great age. In kingly policy he was the equal of Bṛihaspati, and in valour equal to Śakra (Indra).

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His son, or grandson, Taḍangāla Mādhava, followed.¹ Of him it is said (DB 68) that his two arms were grown stout and hard with athletic exercises, and that he had purchased his kingdom by his personal strength and valour. He favoured the worship of Tryambaka (Śiva), and revived the donations for long-ceased festivals of the gods and Brāhman endowments, being daily eager to extricate the ox of merit from the thick mire of the Kali-yuga in which it had sunk. He married the sister of the Kadamba king Krishnavarmma, and she, as above shown, must have been a daughter of the famous Kākustha. There are two grants of this reign. One (Sh 52 ; *IA*. vii. 172), of apparently the date 357, is on plates engraved in a curious jumble of alphabets,² and records a grant of land to a Gavuḍa or farmer who forced his way into Henjeṛu (see above) and rescued Rājamalla's wife and guards. The other is Mr 73, of his 13th year, about 370. In this he makes a grant, on the advice of the āchārya Vīradēva, for the Arhad temple in the Perbbolal village of the Mudukottūr district. The fragmentary stone inscription Mb 263 also stops at this reign.

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¹ According to Sh 4 he was the son of Pṛithivī-Ganga, who was the son of Viṣṇugōpa, and his father cannot have come to the throne.

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² Other instances of plates engraved in a similar mixed fashion are the Kalinga Ganga inscriptions in *IA*. xiv. 10 and *EI*. iii. 220.

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The son born to Mādhava by the Kadamba princess is known as Avinīta. Several inscriptions state that he was crowned when an infant on his mother's lap. He may therefore have been a posthumous son, and his father evidently had a very long reign. Avinīta was brought up as a Jain, the learned Vijayakīrtti being his preceptor (Mr 72). The king himself is described as being the first among the learned, of unstinted liberality, and devoted to protecting the South in the maintenance of castes and religious orders (DB 68). The grant of his first year (Mr 72), which from DB 67 we can assign to 430, was made to two Arhad or Jain temples, one at Uranūr and the other at Perūr. In the latter case the grant consisted of a fourth part of the *karshāpana*¹ levied as outside customs. In DB 67, which is of his 29th year, 459, a Brāhman of Tippūr (in Doḍ-Ballāpur tāluq) was given a village called Mēlūr (perhaps the one in Sidlaghaṭṭa tāluq), with freedom from all the eighteen castes. This is an interesting allusion, as evidence of the antiquity of these *paṇas*, composed of the agricultural, artisan, and trading classes, who form the Right-hand and Left-hand factions. The king, it says, at this time held Brāhmans as supreme, and was devoted to the worship of Hara (Śiva). Still, in 466 he made a grant to a Jain, as recorded in the Mercara plates (Cg 1). From DB 68 we arrive at 482 for the termination of his reign, and seeing that he was crowned at or soon after his birth, this is not allowing an unreasonable time for him.

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¹ Copper coins of 80 *ratis* weight, belonging to the earliest native coinage (Rapson, *Indian Coins*)

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Durvvinīta, his son, thus succeeded him in 482. His tutor is described (Tm 23) as “the divine who was the author of the *Śabdāvatāra*,” that is, the celebrated Jain grammarian Pūjyapāda, and he is said (Mi 110) to have walked according to the example of his guru. He thereby acquired a taste for literature, and wrote a commentary on fifteen sargas of the *Kirātārjunīya*, a Sanskrit poem by Bhāravi. He is also no doubt the Durvvinīta named in Nṛipatunga’s *Kavirājamārgga* as one of the distinguished early Kannaḍa authors. He married the daughter of Skandavarmma, the Rāja of Punnāḍ, who, as a royal princess, claimed the privilege of *svayamvara* by choosing him for herself, though from her birth she had been intended by her father, on the advice of his own guru, for the son of another (DB 68). Punnāḍ is of course the Punnāṭa in the south-west of Mysore to which reference has been made before, in connection with the Jain migration under Bhadrabāhu. Many inscriptions state that Durvvinīta waged sanguinary wars for the possession of Andari, Ālattūr (in Coimbatore District), Porulare (? in Chingleput District), Pennagaram (in Salem District), and other places. He thus considerably extended the limits of the kingdom to the east and south. He seems also to have annexed the whole of Pānnāḍ and Punnāḍ (Tm 23). Another inscription (Nr 35) says that he captured Kāḍuveṭṭi on the field of battle, and placed his own daughter's son on the throne in Jayasimha's hereditary kingdom (that of the Pallavas). And this is confirmed by the interesting old Siragunda stone inscription (Cm 50), in which he is called Nirvvinīta. Nr 35 indulges in puns on the Vinīta names, and says that these kings were like avi-nītar (riders on the ram, that is, Agni or fire) to the forest the army of avinīta (wicked) hostile kings, and a-vinītar (unbending) in successful and severe battles,—such being their reputation in avanī (the world). The Vinītēśvara temple mentioned in Ch 63 may have been a memorial of them. The first grant we have of this king's time is Bn 141, of his 3rd year, 485, recording a donation to a Brāhman named Vasaśarmma, but the details are missing. Then, after those relating to him above referred to, we have DB 68, of his 35th year, 517, making a grant at Bempūr (Bēgūr in the Bangalore tāluq) to a Brāhman named Dēvaśarmma, who was called Mahadēva. This inscription attributes to the king, as in the case of his father, the maintenance of the castes and religious orders which prevailed in the South. He appears to have favoured the religion of Vishnu. How much longer he ruled we do not know.

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But he was followed by his son Mushkara or Mokkara, of whom little is known. Savage kings are said to have rubbed against one another in paying homage at his feet. From the inscription published in *IA.* xiv. 229, we learn that he married the daughter of the Sindhu Rāja. The Mokkara-vasati mentioned in the Lakshmēśvara inscription in Dharwar (*IA.* vii. 101) must be a memorial of him, and points to an extension of the Ganga kingdom in that direction. From this time the State seems to have adhered to the Jain religion.

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Of Śrīvikrama, son by the Sindhu princess, who came next, no particulars are recorded, except that he was the abode of fourteen branches of learning, and well versed in the science of politics in all its branches.

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He had two sons, who in turn succeeded to the throne. The elder, Bhūvikrama, was a great warrior, whose chest was marked with the scars of wounds inflicted in battle by the tusks of elephants. He defeated the Pallava king (Narasimha-pōtavarmma) in a great battle at Vilanda, and is said to have captured the whole of the Pallava dominions. Some other details are given in Md 113 and Tm 23. On account of his successes in war he received the title Śrīvallabha, and in Sr 160 is called Dugga. He made Mankunda (Channapaṭṇa tāluq) the royal residence. From Md 113 we obtain the date 670 for the end of his reign.

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His younger brother Śivamāra followed, and ruled to at least 713. The Ereganga of *IA.* xiv. 229, who was governing the Toṛe-nāḍ Five Hundred, the Kongal-nāḍ Two Thousand, and the Male Thousand, and who made a grant to Vinadi and Keśadi, the chief temple priests of Panekoḍupāḍi, may have been his son (though not so stated) who is unnamed in the genealogical lists. Śivamāra was also known as Nava Kāma, and as Śiṣṭa-priyaḥ (beloved by the good), the name by which he describes and signs himself (Md 113). He is moreover styled Pṛithivī-Kongaṇi. He had two Pallava princes in his charge (Md 113), perhaps as hostages, or as their guardian, which goes to confirm the account of his elder brother’s conquests. They were the sons of the Pallava yuvarāja, who is not named, and are called Pallavādhirājas. Beginning with Nj 26 of this reign, which records a grant in the Punnāḍ Six Thousand, stone inscriptions become the general rule.

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It was during the sixth and seventh centuries, while the Gangas were thus engaged in conquests to the east and south, that we hear of attacks on them in the north-west. The Kadamba king Mṛigēśavarmma claims (*IA.* vi. 24) to have overthrown (*utsādī*) the lofty (*tunga*) Gangas, which apparently indicates no more than some encroachment on their territory, as they were certainly not overthrown in the usual sense of that word. The more powerful Chalukyas, who were invading the South and subdued the Kadambas in the sixth century, naturally came into contact with the Gangas. Thus Kīrttivarmma, who reigned from 566 to 597, is said (*IA.* xix. 17) to have inflicted damage (*avamardda*) on them as well as on a number of other kings. And in about 608 the Ganga and Ālupa kings (the latter belonging to South Kanara) are said (*EI.* vi. 10) to have felt the highest pleasure in attending on Pulikēśi. In 694 they are said (Dg 66) to have been, along with the other principal kings of the South, brought into his service by Vinayāditya. But in this passage the Ālupas and Gangas are distinguished by the epithet *maula*, which means ancient, of long standing, of original unmixed descent,—unimpeachable testimony to their having been long established in their kingdoms, and that their ancestry could be traced back for a considerable period. It also seems to show that they were entitled to special consideration.

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The Gangas may be said to have reached the height of prosperity during the long reign of Śrīpurusha, who came next, and in whose time the kingdom was called the Śrī-rājya or fortunate kingdom. He was the grandson of Śivamāra, whose son is not named and had therefore probably died before his father. This son may have been the prince Eṛeganga above noted, as the heir-apparent seems often to have been a governor of Kongal-nāḍ, along with other western provinces. Śrīpurusha's personal name was Muttarasa, and he is also called Pṛithivī-Kongaṇi. His date is fixed by Mg 36 of 750, [Figure: GANGA STONE, TALAKĀD.

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his 25th year, Gd 47 of 762, and Ng 85 of 776, his 50th year. TN 1 is of his 1st year, Kl 78 of his 26th year, Mb 80 of his 42nd year. There are numerous other records of his time without dates. One has recently been found of his 7th year.

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Bannūr seems to be called his town in TN 115, and his house was apparently situated there. Perhaps to the time before he came to the throne belong Ht 86, in which he appears as ruling the Kerekunda Three Hundred, and Bp 13, in which he is ruling the Eienagar-nāḍ Seventy, the Āvanya-nāḍ Thirty, and the Ponkunda Twelve. The latter calls him Mādhava Muttarasa, and speaks of the army marching against Mahāvali Bāṇarasa. Mi 99 says that while Śrīpurusha was ruling, the Raṭṭas rose up against Gaṅgavāḍi. But the chief military exploit of his reign was a crushing defeat of the Pallavas in a battle at Vilarde. Nr 35 says that he slew the valiant Kāḍuveṭṭi of Kāñchī, captured the Pallava state umbrella, and took away from him the title Permmānaḍi, which is always afterwards assumed by the Gangas, and is often used alone to designate them. He is said to have written a work on elephants, called Gaja-śāstra. He removed the royal residence to Mānyapura (Maṇṇe, Nelamangala tāluq), and this was before 733.

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The details of the grant in Mg 36, of his 25th year, point to the east of the Bellary District as being within the limits of his kingdom northwards. Ng 85, of his 50th year, shows him making a grant for a Jain temple erected by Kandāchchi, granddaughter of Pallavādhirāja and wife of Parama Gula, the Nirggunda Rāja, whose father Duṇḍu is described as a confounder of the Bāṇa family. In Kl 6, of Śrīpurusha’s 28th year, we have (his son) Śivamāra ruling Kadambūr. In Kd 145 we have his son Vijayāditya ruling Āsandi-nāḍ. In Sp 65 we have his son Duggamāra Ereyappa ruling Kovalāla-nāḍ; in Mb 80, of the king’s 42nd year, the same prince was ruling the Kuvalāla-nāḍ Three Hundred and the Ganga Six Thousand, while his queen was ruling Āgali; in Mb 255 he was ruling the same provinces, and the army was sent against Kampili (on the Tungabhadrā in the north of the Bellary District); in Sp 57, besides the above two provinces, he was ruling Panne-nāḍ, Belattūr-nāḍ, the Pulvaki-nāḍ Thousand, the Mu..-nāḍ Sixty, and one or two others whose names are not clear.

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Śrīpurusha’s son Śivamāra Saigoṭṭa came to the throne in the latter part of the eighth century.¹ In his reign the prosperity of the Gangas underwent a reverse, and they became subject to calamities which threatened the extinction of the Ganga power altogether. These arose from the Rāshṭrakūṭas, who had recently, under their king Krishna I, ousted the Western Chālukyas and established their own supremacy. Krishna’s son Dhōra, also called Dhruva, Nirupama, and Dhārāvarsha, who had superseded his elder brother (owing to the latter’s addiction to pleasure and indifference to his royal duties, *EI*. iv. 287), seized and imprisoned the king of the Gangas, who are expressly said (Nl 61; *EI*. vi. 248) never to have been conquered by others. The motive for this harsh step may possibly have been that Dhārāvarsha, having determined to set aside his elder son Kambha or Stambha in favour of a younger son Gōvinda,—whom he appointed yuvarāja or heir-apparent, and to ensure whose succession to the throne he even offered to abdicate,—had it in his mind to compensate the former by giving him the Ganga kingdom. But another account (*EI*. iii. 104) states that Ganga was one of the hostile kings whom Gōvinda brought into the country as an aid to himself. Hence the resentment against Ganga. In any case, we find Kambharasa in Hg 93 governing the Ninety-six Thousand (a common designation of the Ganga territory) under his father. In SB 24, where he is called Raṇāvalōka Kambaiya, he is said to be ruling the kingdom of the world; and in 802 was still in power (Nl 61). After him, in 812, when his younger brother Gōvinda Prabhūtavarsha was on the throne, we find (Gb 61) Chāki Rāja was chief ruler (*adhirāja*) of the entire (*aśēsha*) Gaṅga-maṇḍala. This is the latest date we have for the Rāshṭrakūṭa occupation.

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¹ From Cl 8 it appears that Duggamāra attempted to dispute the succession, but was opposed by Singapōta, the Nolamba king.

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Gōvinda, either, as seems likely, on the death of his elder brother, or moved by reasons of compassion or policy, released Gaṅga from his “long and painful confinement,” but owing to his hostility had again to confine him (*EI.* vi. 249). During this period of release may have occurred the victorious attack he made at Muḍuguṇdūr (Maṇḍya tāluq) on the Vallabha (or Rāshṭrakūṭa) army encamped there, which may have been the cause of his being again consigned to prison. Eventually, however, Gōvinda not only reinstated him in his kingdom, but took part in his coronation, he and the Pallava (or Gaṅga-Pallava) king Nandivarmma binding the diadem on his brow with their own hands (Yd 60, Nl 60¹). The actual ceremony may perhaps not have been performed before. Kl 231 and Gd 54 show that Śivamāra was ruling. According to *IA.* xviii. 309, his reign extended into that of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Amōghavarsha, who came to the throne in 814. Śivamāra Saigotta is there presented as his feudatory (the solitary instance in which the Gaṅgas acknowledge an overlord); the crowning is mentioned; and Śivamāra is said to be ruling the Gaṅgavāḍi Ninety-six Thousand up to Marandale as his boundary (see above, p. 31). He erected a Jain temple in Kummadavāḍa (now Kalbhāvi, in Belgaum District).

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¹ It was no doubt Nandivarmma’s claim to Gaṅga descent which led to his being invited to join in the performance of this important act of State.

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Of Śivamāra himself, besides what is said in other places, a lengthy account is given in Nl 60. He is said, here and in Kl 90, to have been brought into a world of mingled troubles, or placed in a world of endless calamities, like matted pairs of top-knots or twisted top-knots. But he seems to have been a learned and accomplished man, supporter of the fine arts, builder of an ornamental bridge (see Md 113), esteemed as a poet, proficient in logic and philosophy, skilled in all matters connected with the stage and drama, and a special authority on the treatment of elephants and horses. He wrote an important work on elephants, called *Gajāṣṭakam*, expounding his system (Nr 35).

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During his detention as a prisoner, his son Mārasimha claims to represent the Ganga rule. Sr 160 shows him as the Yuvarāja, under the name Mārasing-Ereyappa and with the title Lōka Trinētra. Two Pallava princes, father and son, obtained permission from him to make a grant. The father's name was Kolliyarasa, and from Sb 10 it would seem that the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Gōvinda Prabhūtavarṣa took Kolli into his service. Nl 60, dated in 797, describes Mārasimha, though only Yuvarāja, as ruling the entire (*akhaṇḍa*) Ganga-maṇḍala, and decorating all the feudatories. But he must have died while his father was still in captivity. For Nj 269 contains the important statement that Śivamāra gave charge of his kingdom to his own younger brother Vijayāditya, who, like Bharata, knowing the earth (or land) to be his elder brother's wife, refrained from enjoying her (as his own).

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Śivamāra had a second son, who is called Pṛthivīpati (or Piḷduvipati). He gave shelter to refugees from Amōghavarṣa, and defeated the Pāṇḍya king Varaguna at Śrī-Purambiyam (near Kumbhakōṇam¹). But no more is heard of him, so both he and Vijayāditya probably died before Śivamāra. For the latter was succeeded on the throne by Vijayāditya's son, called Rājamalla (or Rāchamalla) Satyavākya, which are titles borne by all the Ganga kings who came after. Rājamalla is said (Yd 60) to have rescued from the Rāṣṭrakūṭas his country, which they had held too long, as Vishnu in the form of a Boar rescued the Earth from the infernal regions. He thus established his independence. He also married Singapōta's granddaughter, Pallavādhirāja's daughter, the younger sister of Nolambādhirāja. But he was not suffered to remain unmolested. For the inscription at *EI*. vi. 25 informs us that a chief named Bankēśa was ordered by Amōghavarṣa to uproot the lofty forest of fig trees—Gangavāḍi, difficult to be cut down. He accordingly captured Kedala (Kaidala near Tumkur), which was strongly fortified and defended. Having occupied that part of the country, he drove away the hostile lord of Talavana-pura (the Ganga king of Talakāḍ). He then sprang like a lion across the Kāvēri, and shook the dominion of him who was even able to shake the world (meaning the Ganga). But at this point he was recalled by Amōghavarsha on account of some rebellion at home, which looks like an excuse for his having been forced to retire. But that he took Kaidala may be true, as Tm 9 and Nl 84 show us a line of chiefs established there and at Śivaganga who claimed to be lords of Mānyakhēṭa, the Rāshṭrakūṭa capital.

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¹ Salem Manual, ii. 387.

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Rājamalla was succeeded by his son styled Nitimārgga, a title also used by the subsequent kings of this line. His real name was Ereyanga, but he is mentioned as Raṇa Vikramayya in Yd 60. He gained a great victory (Kl 90, Nj 269) over the Vallabha army at Rājārāmuḍu, which is to the north of the Kolar District. Besides this, he captured Bāṇarasa’s Mahārājara-nāḍ (Mb 228). This is called in Ct 30 the Mārājavāḍi Seven Thousand, with Vallūr as its capital. It was chiefly in the Kadapa District. Kl 79 shows that under Nitimārgga the Pallava king Nolambādhirāja was ruling the Ganga Six Thousand, and sent against Bāṇarasa a chief named Pompalla, who was killed in a battle at Murggepāḍi. At the head of the Doḍḍahuṇḍi stone (TN 91) is a rude but interesting bas-relief depicting Nitimārgga’s death, the exact date of which event is not known, but his eldest son Satyavākya was present. One of the king’s followers evinced his fidelity by being buried under him. Nitimārgga’s younger sister Jāyabbe was married to the Pallava king Nolambādhirāja (Si 24, 38), who was Pōlalchōra Nolamba.

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Rājamalla Satyavākya (II), the eldest son of Nitimārgga, was his successor on the throne, and distinguished himself in a battle at Rēmiya (Nj 269). An inscription of his occurs in North Arcot District (EI. iv. 140). His younger brother named Būtugēndra or Būtarasa was Yuvarāja in 870 (Nj 75), and governing Kongal-nāḍ and Pūnāḍ. Būtarasa is said (Nj 269) to have defeated Rājarāja (which is a Chōla name), and in Hiriyūr (Chitaldroog District) and other places was victorious over Mahēndra, the Pallava Nolamba king. Five times he overcame in fight the Kongas (Tamil people of Coimbatore and Salem), who resisted his tying up elephants, and he captured many herds according to old custom. He married the daughter of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Amōghavarsha I.

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He must have died before his elder brother the king, as Ereganga, his son by the Rāshṭrakūṭa princess, became Yuvarāja (Sr 147). This prince his uncle Rājamalla Satyavākya associated with himself in the government, and crowned under the name of Ereyappa (Nj 269). The date of which act must have been about 886, as Ag 70 makes Satyavākya’s 37th year correspond with Ereyappa’s 21st year, and the former’s 18th year was 887 (Cg 2). In Hg 103 Ereyappa appears governing Nugu-nāḍ and Navale-nāḍ. In Hs 92 he is ruling the Kongal-nāḍ Eight Thousand, and Būtuga’s queen ruling Kūrgal. In Nj 130 we have Permmāḍi (the supreme king), the Queen, and Ereyappa acting together. In other cases we have Permmāḍi and Ereyappa acting together, as in Nj 139, which is of Satyavākya’s 22nd year. Perhaps the queen was now dead. In Satyavākya’s 29th year we have mention of Ereyappa’s son (Kn 48).

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Sh 96 shows Ereyappa reigning as supreme, and Būtuga under him governing the Maṇḍali-nāḍ. Bn 83 and Kn 52 are also of his reign; Cp 48 may be, and Cp 161, which is dated in 913. Ereyappa is often distinguished by a special set of epithets not used of any other kings of the Ganga line, as in Sr 134, Kr 38, Bn 83. He is called in some cases Nitimārgga (II), as in Ag 26, 61, and in others Satyavākya, as in Cn 251. But being engaged in hostilities with Mahēndra, whom he eventually slew in battle, perhaps at Penjeru, he obtained the distinctive title Mahēndrāntaka. From Md 13 of 895, Mi 52 of 897, Md 14 of 907, and Kd 6 it would appear as if Mahēndra and his son Ayyapa, both styled Nolambādhirāja, exercised some authority in the Ganga kingdom. But Cm 129 describes an attack upon the latter. At about this period the Chōlas having suddenly uprooted the Bāṇas, the Chōla king Parāntaka claims in 921 (*SII.* ii. 387) to have conferred the Bāṇa sovereignty on the Ganga prince Prithivīpati, grandson of the Prithivīpati before mentioned, giving him the name Hastimalla (see also *EI.* iv. 225).

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Ag 5 and 27 record the death of a king who in the former is called Rāchamalla Permmānaḍi, and in the latter Nītimārgga Permmānaḍi, but they seem to refer to the same person. The second says that his death was caused by hiccough, owing to phlegm sticking in his throat; and the first says that it occurred at Kombāle. Both relate how certain men committed themselves to death in the fire through sorrow for his decease. The wording makes the identification difficult, but it seems probable that the king Satyavākya Rāchamalla II is intended in both, unless only the first refers to him and the second to Ereyappa, who is mentioned in the other in such a way as to exclude him.

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Ereyappa left two sons, Rāchamalla and Būtuga. The former appears in Ag 61 making a grant in 920. HN 14 may possibly refer to his queen and Tp 10 of Kachcheya Ganga's 3rd year may also be of his time. But his reign must have been a short one. Hg 116 apparently refers to a proposed division of the kingdom between the brothers. But Md 41 informs us that Būtuga slew Rāchamalla and took possession of the whole. He was a close friend of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Baddega or Amōghavarsha II, who gave him his daughter Rēvaka to wife (*EI.* iv. 350), with the dowry of the Beligere Three Hundred, the Belvola Three Hundred, the Kisukāḍ Seventy, and the Bagenāḍ Seventy (provinces in the Dharwar, Belgaum, and Bijāpur Districts). On the death of Baddega, Būtuga assisted his son Krishna or Kannara III in securing the throne from an usurper named Lalliya. And when Kannara was at war with the Chōla king Rājāditya, Būtuga rendered him a great service by slaying the Chōla king at Takkolam (near Arkōnam), and was rewarded with the Banavase Twelve Thousand province (Md 41). This was in 949 (EI. vii. 194). He may have been assisted in gaining his own throne by Kannara, who (EI. iv. 249) claims to have planted in Gangapāṭi, as in a garden, the pure tree Bhūtārya, having uprooted the poisonous tree Rāchyamalla. Būtuga has the distinctive titles Nanniya Ganga and Ganga Gāngēya. Among other exploits, he is said (Nr 35) to have taken Chitrakūṭa by assault, and conquered the Seven Mālavas, the boundaries of which he marked out with stones, and gave the country the name Mālava Ganga.

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His son by the Rāshṭrakūṭa princess was Marula Dēva, and a daughter, married to the son of Krishna III, became the mother of Indra Rāja, the last of the Rāshṭrakūṭas. Mj 67 may be a memorial of her. If so, her name was Kundana-Sōmidēvi. But Būtuga was succeeded on the Ganga throne by Mārasimha, his son by another wife. Of him a long account is contained in SB 38 of 973. He led an expedition against Gurjjara or Gujarat on behalf of Kannara or Akālavarsha III (who had made extensive conquests in the South as far as Tanjore, EI. iv. 280), fought against the Western Chālukya prince Rājāditya, put down a dangerous chief named Naraga (in the Chitaldroog District), and brought the Nolamba family to an end. On account of this last he has the special title Nolambakulāntaka. He is also styled Guttiya Ganga and Pallava-malla. He made grants in the Dharwar District in 968 (IA. vii. 101, 112). He appears to have promoted the coronation of Indra Rāja in an attempt to maintain the Rāshṭrakūṭa power. But this was shattered by the Chālukyas beyond recovery in 973, and Indra Rāja starved himself to death by the Jaina rite of sallēkhana at Śravaṇa-Belgoḷa in 982 (SB 57). Mārasimha had retired to Bankāpura in 973 to end his days in religious exercises at the feet of Ajitasēna, and died in 974. The kingdom in his reign extended as far as the great river, the Kṛṣṇā, and included the Nolambavāḍi Thirty-two Thousand, the Gangavāḍi Ninety-six Thousand, the Banavase Twelve Thousand, the Śantalige Thousand, and other provinces whose names are gone (*EI.* iv. 352).

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FACE OF GOMATA. Colossal Jain image at Śravaṇa Belgola, 57½ ft. high.

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INSCRIPTIONS AT FOOT, TO THE RIGHT AND LEFT.

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His son Rāchamalla Satyavākya (IV) then came to the throne.¹ There is an inscription of his time in Cg 4, dated in 977. In this his younger brother Rakkasa appears as governing a province on the bank of the Bedḍore, here the Lakshmantīrtha, which is still called the Doḍḍa-hole in Coorg. For some time past there seem to have been efforts to revive the influence of the Jain religion, of which the expiring Rāshṭrakūṭa and Ganga dynasties were the principal mainstay. And under Rāchamalla was erected at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, by his minister and general Chāmuṇḍa Rāya,—who is said in TN 69 to have performed many works of merit in the land he governed,—that remarkable Jain monument and object of worship, the colossal statue of Gomaṭa. The date of its execution was about 983, and in daring conception and gigantic dimensions it is without a rival in India.

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¹ A certain Panchala-Dēva, with the Ganga titles, set himself up as independent in 975, but was killed in battle by the Chālukya king Taila (*EI.* v. 372). In Hr 1 he is called a *mahā-sāmantādhipati* or great feudal chief. An attempt was also made by a Ganga named Muḍu-Rāchayya, who took the titles Chaḷadanka-Ganga and Gangara-baṇṭa, to seize the Ganga throne, but he was slain by Chāmuṇḍa-Rāya (SB 109), who thus avenged the death of his younger brother Nāgavarmma. Before the battle, the prince Rakkasa’s guardian, Bāyiga of the Kakka (or Rāshṭrakūṭa) family, sent the prince away to a place of safety and rushed in to meet his own death (SB 60, 61).

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Rakkasa-Ganga Rāchamalla succeeded his elder brother, and we have a record of his reign in Sp 59. In this a chief subordinate to him is ruling the Nolambavāḍi Thirty-two Thousand. From Nr 35 it would appear that Rakkasa adopted his younger brother’s daughters and son. The latter was named Rāja Vidyādhara, but may have died, as the king is represented as taking special interest in the daughters.

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The only later Ganga king of whom we have certain knowledge is the Nītimārgga of Ch 10, dated in 999, in which he makes a grant along with a Pallava princess, the elder sister of Nolamba. It is possible that Cm 3, which is of the 6th year of a Nitimārgga Rāchamalla, is of his time, as the date with a slight correction will work out, according to Dr. Kielhorn, as either 989 or 992. Then we have Md 78, in which a king called only Ganga Permmānaḍi is described as ruling Karṇṇāṭa. There are discrepancies in the date, which probably corresponds with 996. He may be the Ganga Rāja under whom Talakāḍ was lost, as SB 45, which relates how the Hoysala general Ganga Rāja in 1116 recovered Talakāḍ from the Chōlas, says he was a hundred times more fortunate than that former Ganga Rāya.

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The Chōlas, who had been victorious over all the east of the peninsula, taking possession of Kāñchī, the capital of the Pallavas, and reducing to submission the Eastern Chālukyas, with whom were allied the Rāshṭrakuṭas and the Gangas, now penetrated to Mysore. Ht 111 shows the Chōla king Rājarāja-Dēva ruling in the east of the State in 997. His son Rājēndra-Chōla captured Talakāḍ by 1004, and the Ganga power, which had ruled Mysore for nine centuries, was brought to an end.

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But the Gangas do not disappear from history. A Ganga princess was married to the Western Chālukya king Sōmēśvara I (reigned 1042-1068), and became the mother of the kings Sōmēśvara II (reigned 1068-1076) and his celebrated brother Vikramāṅka (reigned 1076-1126).¹ Gangas were in authority in the Kolar District during the Chōla occupation, and were also trusted officers of the Hoysalas. It was a descendant of the Gangas, the Hoysala general Ganga Rāja, that recovered Talakāḍ from the Chōlas (Ml 31) in 1116 under Vishnuvarddhana, who then drove the Chōlas out of Mysore. The last Ganga representative was the Ganga Rāja of Ummattūr, who fortified himself on the island of Śivasamudram at the Kāvērī Falls, and assumed independence in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was put down by the Vijayanagar king, Krishna Rāya, in 1511 (*EI.* vii. 18).

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¹ It is curious that a Karṇāṭaka dynasty was set up even in distant Nepal, apparently in 1097, which was presumably of Ganga origin. The founder, Nānya-Dēva (perhaps ? Nanniya-Dēva), came from the South. He was succeeded by Ganga-Dēva and four others, the last of whom removed the capital to Khātmāndu, where the line came to an end (*Ins. from Nepal*, by Dr. G. Bühler).

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The Kalinga Ganga kings of Orissa, another branch of the Gangas, have a separate history, of which a summary may be seen in the Bangalore volume. They date by an era called the years of the Gāngēya family (*Gāngēya-vamśa-samvatsara*), the exact period of which has not been determined. They are also called the Gajapati or elephant kings. They ruled from the sixth century to the middle of the sixteenth, when the country fell a prey to the Muhammadans. One inscription of theirs, of about 700, has been obtained in Mysore (Bn 140).

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The following is a table of the Ganga kings of Mysore, with dates so far as known, taken entirely from inscriptions:—

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[Figure: Of the Ikshvāku or Solar race, was Dhananjaya

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Hariśchandra, king of Ayodhyā : Padmanābha

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| . . . . . | . . . . .
| |

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Dadiga 1. Mādhava I, 103 Kongunivarmma¹

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¹ This name is applied to all the kings to the end. The Tamil chronicle says that he was ruling in 189 and reigned for fifty-one years.

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2. Mādhava II, Kiriya Mādhava

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3. Harivarmma, . . 247-266 . .

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4. Vishnugōpa

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Prithivī-Ganga

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5. Mādhava III, . . 357-370 . . Tadangāla Mādhava, m. Kadamba princess

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6. Avinīta, 430-482

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7. Durvvinīta, 482-517 . . m. Punnād princess

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8. Mushkara, Mokkara, m. Sindhu princess

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|]

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9. Śrīvikrama

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10. Bhūvikrama, -670, Śrīvallabha

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11. Śivamāra I, 670-713 . . Nava Kāma, Śiṣṭa-priyaḥ, Pṛthivī-Kongaṇi I

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? Ereganga

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12. Śrīpuruṣa, 726-776 . . Muttarasa, Pṛthivī-Kongaṇi II, Permmānaḍi¹

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¹ This title is used of all the subsequent kings, often alone, without any name.

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13. Śivamāra II, -815 Saigotta

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Vijayāditya, Raṇavikrama

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Mārasimha, 797 Mārasing-Ereyappa, Lōka Trinētra

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Pṛthivīpati I, ? 815

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Mārasimha

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Pṛthivīpati II, Hastimalla, c. 910

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14. Rājamalla Satyavākya I,² m. Pallava princess

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² These names are used as titles by all the kings that come after.

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15. Nitimārgga I,³ Ereyanga, Raṇavikramayya

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³ This name is used as a title by the kings that follow.

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16. Rājamalla Satyavākya II, 870-907

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Būtugēndra, 870 Būtarasa, Guṇaduttaranga, m. Rāṣṭrakūṭa princess

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17. Ereyappa, 886-913 Ereganga, Nitimārgga II, Satyavākya, Mahēndrāntaka

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18. Rāchamalla Satyavākya III, 920, Kachcheya Ganga

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19. Būtuga, 938-953 Būtayya, Nanniya Ganga, Ganga Gāngēya, m. Rāṣṭrakūṭa princess

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Marula Dēva

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? Sōmi Dēvi m. to Rāṣṭrakūṭa prince

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20. Mārasimha, 961-974 Guttiya Ganga, Nolambakulāntaka

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21. Rāchamalla Satyavākya IV, 977

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22. Rakkasa Ganga, 984, Rāchamalla, :
23. Nitimārgga III, Rāchamalla, (?) 989 or 992, 999

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Arumuli Dēva

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Rāja Vidyādhara These annals of the Ganga kings of Mysore present a consistent and circumstantial account that goes far to disarm criticism, and they fill up what is otherwise a blank in an interesting and important period in the history of the south. Comments casting doubt upon them have been directed mainly against minor details, that hardly affect the credibility of the chronicles as a whole. Records of so remote and lengthy a period could scarcely be expected to be free from all difficulties. But though they have been discovered in so many different parts of the country, and of such various dates, covering several centuries, they agree in giving us a generally uniform narrative, the incidents of which are corroborated by testimony from other sources, while the dates tally, and they are not discredited by anachronisms. This is the best answer to all detraction.

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From one source, entitled to the highest respect,¹ an objection has been raised that the reigns of the earlier kings work out to an impossible average length for a direct succession. But it is easy to imagine that some unimportant steps may have been omitted, as occurs in other known annals. That this was actually the case appears from Sh 4, which inserts a Pṛithivī-Ganga between Nos. 4 and 5. That the Gangas were long-lived is clear from the statement that the first king reigned for 51 years, and regarding Vishṇugōpa, that his mental energy was unimpaired to the end of life, evidently meaning that he lived to a very advanced age, while Avinīta certainly reigned for 52 years. To take the particular reigns referred to by our critic:—From Harivarmma in 247 to Avinīta in 430 gives 183 years up to the fifth generation; from Avinīta in 482 to Śivamāra in 670 similarly gives 188 years up to the fifth generation. And if the first five centuries of the Ganga history were occupied by even only eleven generations, this gives an average of 45 years to each, which is about the same as the above, and though high, seems by no means impossible. At any rate, apart from all theory, there they are.

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¹ A scholar whose recent death cannot be sufficiently deplored.

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The principal opposition, however, from another source, is based upon the sweeping dictum that all the Ganga inscriptions on copper plates are spurious, and only those on stone genuine. Merely to state this is to expose the credulous nature of this paradoxical hypothesis. And it is disproved by the fact that the ancient Āvani stone fragment (Mb 263) and Sirigunda stone (Cm 50) are contemporary with and contain records similar to those on the early copper plates. At the same time they render it probable that others on stone of like nature formerly existed, as even the Lakshmēśvara stone (IA. vii. 101) may bear witness. Those have been lost or destroyed, while the metal plates have survived because they were portable and indestructible and could be hidden. In view of the general consistency and veracity of the records, errors that may be detected here and there in style or orthography are of trifling importance. And the serious allegation that they are condemned by the misuse of a more modern form of a certain letter in plates professing to be ancient has been proved to have no foundation. The persistent opponent of the Gangas here referred to has lately expressed (EI. viii. 55) his willingness, when he feels justified, to abandon his present views and cancel anything wrong that he has written against them, but not yet. The sooner the better is the only comment one can make. The truth is bound to prevail.

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