Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s5.1

c8.s5.1

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.