Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s8: 8. Ganga-Pallavas
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s8
- Language
- English
8. Ganga-Pallavas
c8.s8.1
But while the Noṇambas or Noḷambas thus continued to represent the old Pallava dynasty, there was another branch of the Pallavas which had its origin in perhaps the eighth century. This branch has been designated the Ganga-Pallavas. For Nandivarmma from whom they descended, a contemporary of the Chalukya king Vikramāditya (reigned 733-746), though a Pallava in name, was a Ganga by descent (EI. iv. 182). They would seem later to call themselves the Nṛipatunga-kula, from their Rāṣṭrakūṭa connection. Nṛipatungavarmma was a Pallava, the grandson of Dantivarmma and the son of Nandivarmma, but his mother was Śaṅkhā, daughter of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Nṛipatunga-Amōghavarsha, after whom he was probably named. At the same time he also claims to be descended from Koṅgaṇi, the ancestor of the Gangas. The territory of these Ganga-Pallavas lay in the east of Mysore, in the North Arcot, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly districts. Their inscriptions are in Vaṭṭeluttu and archaic Tamil characters, and their names generally have the prefix Vijaya, or, in Tamil, Ko-viśaiya.
c8.s8.2
The kings of this line of whom records have been obtained are Narasimhavarmma (about 800), his son Nandivarmma (about 820), and the latter's sons Nṛipatungavarmma or Nṛipatungavikramavarmma and Kampavarmma. Also Aparājitavikramavarmma. In Mysore we have two inscriptions of the time of these kings in the Mulbāgal tāluq (Mb 227, 211). One is of the 24th year of Narasimhavikramavarmma, and the other of the 12th year of Iśvaravarmma. As these contain references to Bānarasa and Mahēndra, they belong to about 880. Five centuries later we have representatives of perhaps the same family in the Chik-Ballāpur tāluq (CB 41, 14), who describe themselves as of the Nṛipatunga-kula and have the Ganga title Lord of Nandagiri (or Nandigiri). Vembi-Dēva was ruling in 1267 and 1270 (Dv 79, CB 14). In 1283 he has the second name Nandi-Dēva (Dv 28).