South Indian Inscriptions

BOMBAY KARNATAKA INSCRIPTIONS

VOLUME III

FEUDATORY DYNASTIES

The Kadambas of Hangal | The Guttas of Guttavolal | The Pandya chiefs of Nurumbada | The Khacharas of Basavur | Geographical Divisions

The Kadambas

The house of the Kamabas of Hangal is one of the great feudatory families represented in this volume.

The earliest member of this family is Toyiladeva, who has been identified already (p. viii) with Toyimadeva, the son of Akkadevi.  He was governing Banavasi Twelve-thousand and Panungal Five-hundred in A.D. 1062 as a Mahamandalesvara of theChalukya king Somesvara I (No. 66).

The next name occurring in this volume is that of Tailapadeva or Tailahadevai In A.D. 1127, he was governing the above-named divisions as also “all the country between the mount Sahya and the western ocean” and many coastal towns and agraharas, with his capital at Pannungal, as a subordinate of Somesvara III (No. 133).  At this time, Machana was holding the office of nadadhikara, which had been conferred upon him by Tailapa.  Mahasamanta Bammarasa of the Chikkam-anvaya was the nalgamunda of Sattalige Seventy and Barma of the Asvara-kula was the gavunda of Hasundi.  According to another inscription (No. 142) of the same reign, the date of which is lost, Tailapa was governing Santalige Thousand besides Banavase Twelve-thousand and Panungal Five hundred.  His minister (amatya) Pergade Nargadeva and Duggaraja were the officers in charge of the tolls and taxes of perjumka, vaddaravula and bilkode of Banavasi-nadu.  In yet another record (No. 134) dated the Chalukya-Vikrama year 53 (A.D. 1128) a Mahamandalesvara Tailahadeva is mentioned. The name of his family is not specified, but since have a date for Kadamba Tailapa in A.D. 1127, Tailaha of the present record also may be of the Kadamba family.

For his son Mallikarjuna, we have two dates, viz., A.D. 1134 and A.D. 1137-38.  On the former date he was governing Sattalige Thousand, and Pannungal Five hundred and made a gift of a tank at Haveri at the request of Mahapradhana Padmanabharasa (No. 136).  In A.D 1137-38 he is stated to have laid siege to Lokkigundi (No. 136).  In A.D. 1137-38 he is stated to have laid siege to Lokkigundi (No. 140).  The reason for this military operation is not given in the record but probably it was undertaken in order to quell a local rebellion.

In an undated inscription (No. 154) of Pratapachakravarti Jagadekamalla(II) a Mahamandalesvara Tailapadeva whose family is not specified figues as the governor of Banavasi Twelve-thousand.  We know that Tailama or Tailaha of the Kadamba family flourished as the king’s feudatory in A.D. 1147.  So it is quite likely that Tailapa of the present record is identical with Tailama.

Of Tailama’s son Kirtideva, we have two epigraphs.  One of them (No. 290) is dated in the 2^nd regnal year of the Kalachurya king Sankamadeva (i.e., A.D. 1178) and the other (No. 291) is undated.  Both of them mention the chief’s wife Kalaladevi who does not seems to have been known hitherto.  The undated record refers to Mahapradhana Kumara-Mallarasa as a subordinate of this prince.

Two more persons of this family whose place in the genealogy of the family cannot be determined at present are Maira and Ketarasa.  Maira appears in a damaged Chalukya record (No. 166) as governing banavasi from Ommoradi.  As the date of this record is lost, the period in which this chief flourished can be fixed only approximately on palaeographic grounds; and the characters in which it is engraved, may be assigned to the 11^th century A.D. However, there seems to be a clue to the period of this chieftain furnished by a supplementary grant engraved at the top of the main inscription.  It is stated to have been made by the illustrious Mayuravarmadeva in the cyclic year Prabhava.  This Mayuravarma is apparently the same as Maira which is a shortened form of Mayuravarma.  In the 11^th century A.D. to which the record is assignable, the details of the date given in the record work out correctly for Prabhava in the reign of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI, i.e., A.D. 1087 August 1.  Consequently Maira may be placed in A.D. 1087.  This inscription gives the genealogy of this chief for five generations, though it is not fully preserved.  From the preserved portion the following list of the chiefs can be made out:-

Ketarasa, who is styled Mahamandalesvara, specifically calls himself a scion of the Kadamba family.  He was holding the manneya of the division of Nurumdada with his capital at Rattapalli in A.D. 1144 (No. 149).  This record shows him as a subordinate of Kannada-Sandhivigrahi Bammadevarasa,  a well-known general of Jagadekamalla II.  A Ketarasa of this very family is referred to in a record of A.D. 1170-71, of the time of the Chalukya king Taila III.

No. 290

(B.K. No. 2 of 1933-34)

Bankapur, Bankapur Taluk, Dharwar District

Slab lying in front of the Government Farm Office

Kirtideva II – A.D. 1178

This inscription referring itself to the reign of Mahamandalesvara Kirtideva is dated in the 2^nd regnal year of Nissamkamalla Samkamadeva, Vilambi, Ashadha su. Ashtami, Monday, Samkranti.  The date is irregular.  But for the week-day the details correspond to A.D. 1178, June 24.  The week-day however was Saturday and not Monday as stated in the record.

\D7