Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c11.7

c11.7

We have seen how the river Kṛṣṇā was sometimes regarded as the south-western boundary of the ancient Kaliṅga country. But in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., the Śālaṅkāyanas ruling over the coast land between the Kṛṣṇā and the Godāvarī with their capital at the city of Veṅgī (modern Peddavegi near Elūru in the West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh) did not claim to be lords of Kaliṅga. In the sixth and seventh centuries the Viṣṇukuṇḍins were ruling over the same area. They also did not claim to be rulers of the Kaliṅga country. If the identification of the *Andhr-ādhipati*, mentioned in the Haraha inscription⁴ of the time of Maukhari Īśānavarman, dated V. S. 611 = 553-54 A.D., with a Viṣṇukuṇḍin monarch is accepted, the kingdom of the Viṣṇukuṇḍins was probably known as Andhra. During the second quarter of the seventh century, the Eastern Cālukyas established themselves at Piṣṭapura (Pithapuram in the East Godavari District) and ruled over the entire coast country from the Visakhapatnam District in the north-east to the Guntur District in the south-west for many centuries. But their kingdom became famous under the name of Veṅgī. During this period, the major portion of the Visakhapatnam District formed a part of Veṅgī, although the Yelamanchili Taluk of that District was called Elamañci-Kaliṅgadeśa. The Early Eastern Gaṅgas were ruling over the area about the Srikakulam District (Andhra Pradesh) with their capital at Kaliṅganagara, which has been identified with modern Mukhaliṅgam near Śrīkākulam, from the close of the fifth century A.D. They also enjoyed the title Kaliṅgādhipati or lord of Kaliṅga. In the early medieval period, it is only the kingdom of these Early Eastern Gaṅgas that was exclusively known as Kaliṅga, because, as will be seen below, the kingdoms in the Ganjam-Puri-Cuttack region assumed different names such as Koṅgoda, Tosalī, Uḍra, etc., since the latter part of the sixth century A.D. With the rise of the Imperial Branch of the Eastern Gaṅgas, and especially with the conquest of the coast land between the Godāvarī and the Ganges (Bhāgīrathī) by the Imperial Gaṅga monarch Anantavarman Coḍagaṅga (1078-1147 A.D.) about the beginning of the twelfth century, the major part of ancient Kaliṅga came under the Kaliṅga king. But the old name did not get time enough to become popular again as the successors of Anantavarman Coḍagaṅga soon transferred their capital to the Cuttack District (Orissa) far away from the Śrīkākulam region that had become famous under the name Kaliṅga during the many centuries’ rule of the Early Eastern Gaṅgas.¹ The Eastern Gaṅgas originally lived in the present Kannaḍa-speaking area of Mysore, whence they migrated to and settled in the present Telugu-speaking area of Śrīkākulam. The Kannaḍa origin of the Eastern Gaṅgas is not only supported by the copper-plate grants of Anantavarman Coḍagaṅga and his successors² but also by the following statement in the description of Coḍagaṅga in the Mādalā Pāñji³: