Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s5.10

c8.s5.10

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.