Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c9.s6: 6. Sindas
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c9.s6
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6. Sindas
c9.s6.1
The Sindas gave their name to the Sindavāḍi province, which extended over parts of the Shimoga, Chitaldroog, Bellary, Dharwar, and Bijāpur Districts. The account of their origin is first related in Dg 43, and repeated in Hl 50 and 20. From the union of Śiva and Sindhu (the name of the river Indus) was born a son, to whom Bhava (Śiva) with affection gave the name Saindhava, and made the king of the serpents his guardian. Saying that unless his son drank tigress's milk he would not become brave, Śiva created a tigress, whose milk the child drank, and grew in the world. Moreover, Paramēśvara directed the goddess Mālatī to aid his son in war, and gave him a second name of Niḍudōl Sinda (the long-armed Sinda). Being told that Karahāṭa (in Satāra District) was his abode, he took possession of it, driving out the kings that were there. Among his titles are: mahā-maṇḍalēśvara, lord of Karahāṭa-pura, obtainer of a boon from the goddess Mālatī, distinguished by the blue flag (nīla-dhvaja), of the Phanirāja-vamśa (the race of the king of serpents), having the tiger and deer crest. The Sindas also had (Hl 98, 26) the titles Sinda-Gōvinda, and Pātāla-chakravartti.
c9.s6.2
The earliest reference to their country seems to be in the fifth century (Kd 162), under the name of the Sindh-uthayā-rāshṭra, an outlying portion. But in 750 the Sinda-vishaya itself is mentioned (Mg 36). The Sinda inscriptions in Mysore are principally found in the Dāvangere and Honnāli tāluqs. In 968 a Sinda appears under the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Akālavarsha (Hk 23). In 992 the Sindas had come under the Western Chālukyas (Dg 114), in 1180 were under the Kalachuryas (Hl 50), in 1189 again under the Western Chālukyas (Hl 46), in 1198 under the Hoysalas (Sk 315), and in 1215 under the Sēunas (Hl 44). Their chief city at this period was Bellagavartti or Belagavatti, now called Belagutti, in the Honnāli tāluq; but in 1164 the royal residence was at Hallavūr (Dg 43), which is on the Tungabhadrā (Hulloor in the Rāni-Bennūr tāluq in Dharwar), the city at which, soon after, the Hoysala king Ballāla II lived for a considerable time. A list of the nāḍs included in the Sinda kingdom is given in Hl 50, the principal being the Edavatte Seventy, Bellave Seventy, Muduvalla Thirty, and Narivalige Forty (Hl 26, 28).
c9.s6.3
Īśvara-Dēva I, ruling from 1166 to 1180, seems to have been of some importance. At his coronation, the sound of the drums and conchs roused up Uragēndra (the king of the serpents), who came there in haste, saying, “This is a glorification of my line; Oho! I must see this.” Śiva also came, with Gaṅgā and Pārvatī, and Gaṇēśa, to bless the king. With a signet-ring of the serpent jewel on his hand, with his powerful arms and body, his sword and beard, this Sinda king Īśvara appeared to his enemies like a terrible dragon ready to swallow them up. In 1196 and 1197 the Sindas were exposed to persistent attacks from the Hoysala forces of Umā-Dēvī, the queen of Ballāla II, and in 1245 and 1247 fought severe battles at Kūḍali and Nēmatti (Nyāmti) against the Sēuna general Śrīdhara, whom they drove off in confusion.