Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c9.s2.1

c9.s2.1

The earliest mention of these kings is in the time of (the Chalukya) Vinayāditya, the end of the seventh century.¹ With the approval of the brother's son of the Chānta king Jayasangraha, who was lord of the city of Madhura encircled by the Kālindī, and of the Ugra-vamśa but connected with the Yadu-vamśa by marriage, a grant was then made by the wife of the Pāṇḍi yuvarāja; and it is said to be under the protection of “the three hundred of the children of the house of the Chāntas.” That this was the original form of the name appears also from Sk 283 of about 830, where too the king is said to be a Chānta. According to Nr 35 and 48, the Śāntara kingdom was founded by Jinadatta-Rāya, lord of the northern Madhura (Muttra), who was of the Ugra-vamśa. The Śāntaras are identified with Paṭṭi-Pomburcha,² the modern Hombucha or Humcha in Nagar tāluq, as their capital, which may previously have been in the possession of the Āluvas. The remote progenitor of the line was Rāha, from whom was descended Sahakāra, who became a cannibal. He was the father of Jinadatta, who escaped from him in disgust and came to the South, bringing an image of the Jain goddess Padmāvatī. She bestowed on him the power to transmute iron into gold, as exemplified in his horse's bit being turned into a golden bit on touching it with her image. Thus aided, he subdued the local chiefs around, and established his capital at Pomburcha (supposed to mean golden bit) and took the name Śāntara. His descendants the Śāntaras ruled over the Sāntalige Thousand, which corresponds generally with the present Tīrthahalli tāluq and neighbouring parts. Jinadatta conquered the country southwards as far as Kalasa (Mudgere tāluq), and northwards fortified Gōvardhangiri (Sāgar tāluq), which he named after the famous hill near Muttra in the north of India. At a later period the capital was removed to Kalasa and then to Kārakala (in South Kanara). The rulers eventually became Lingāyits and adopted the title of Bhairarasa-Woḍeyars, but they probably had Jain wives. They continued beyond the fall of Vijayanagar in the sixteenth century, and were finally absorbed into the Keladi State.