A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.82

c11.82

Later legend credited Mayūravarman, as he then came to be called, with the performance of eighteen horse-sacrifices and the distribution of many villages among Brahmins, but the early inscriptions of the dynasty say nothing about this. Vākāṭaka Vindhyasena of the Bāsim branch is said to have conquered Kuntala, and his invasion was resisted with a fair measure of success by Kangavarman. Vaijayanti (Banavāsi) was the capital of the Kadambas, and Pālāśikā (Hālsi) a secondary capital. Kakusthavarman was one of the great rulers of the line. He had a prosperous reign and his daughters married into many important royal families, including the Guptas. His son Śantivarman was a ruler of great fame and much personal charm. He is said to have worn three crowns and ‘attracted to himself the prosperity of his enemies’. During his reign danger threatened from the Pallavas; and the situation was met by transferring control in the southern districts to his younger brother, Krishnavarman. This amounted to a virtual division of the kingdom, as is seen from the latter's performance of a horse-sacrifice—never undertaken by a subordinate ruler. The war with the Pallavas cost Krishnavarman his life, besides ruining the principality of the Kekayas, the homeland of his queen. His son Vishnuvarman had to accept investiture from the Pallavas. The Pallava rulers concerned were Nānakāsa and Śāntivara, names otherwise unknown. Mrigeśavarman, the son and successor of Śāntivarman, fought successful wars against the Gangas and Pallavas. Besides being an expert rider of horses and elephants, he was a scholar who built and endowed liberally a Jain temple in Pālāsikā to the memory of his father.