Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s5.28

c8.s5.28

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.