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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA GOKARNA PLATES OF KADAMBA KAMADEVA : SAKA 1177 with the chief of our record is found associated in administration with Shashṭhadēva II of the Goa branch.[1] But his parentage and marriage alliance with the Goa chief prove that he was not a Kadamba prince. A few more Kadamba chiefs bearing the name Kāmadēva are met with in inscriptions ; but the disparity of dates and other details stand in the way of establishing their identity with this chief. The seal our record, which is described above, lends additional support to the view that this Kāmadēva is not connected with any known families of Kadamba rulers. All the Kadamba families, as a rule, had the emblem of lion depicted on their seals (siṁha-lāñchhana).[2] None of them, on the contrary, appears to have used the bull-symbol on their seals. This indicates that he belongs to a hitherto unknown line of Kadambas. A glance at the political condition of the country during this period may help us to understand the circumstances of the rise of the new chiefdom of this Kāmadēva in the neighbourhood and at the expense of the already existing two other principalities of Goa and Hānagal in the region of the West Coast. The last quarter of the 12th century witnessed the downfall of the mighty Chālukyas of Kalyāṇa and the growth of the two power that contended for the mastery of their dominions from the north and the south, viz., the Yādavas of Dēvagiri and the Hoysaḷas. The Yādavas under their resourceful ruler Siṅghaṇa II overran the territory south of the river Kṛishṇā as far as the banks of the Kāvērī before A.D. 1237-38.[3] The Kadambas of Hānagal who were governing the strategic province of Banavāsi as semi-independent rulers had eventually to submit to the suzerainty of the Yādavas.[4] The Kadambas of Goa also were reduced to the same fate as indicated by the Haraḷahaḷḷi record which says that Vīchaṇa, the victorious general of Siṅghaṇa vanquished the Kadambas who were glorious in the Koṁkaṇa.[5] Taking advantage of this disturbed political situation in the wake of the Yādava invasion, Kāmadēva of this record seems to have carved out a small kingdom for himself. It cannot be said when exactly this event took place ; but it is clear that it must have happened sometime before A.D. 1256, the date of the present record.
Of the two ancestors in the above genealogy of Kāmadēva, the first member appears to be more or less legendary and is reminiscent of the progenitor of the later Kadamba records, who is often described as a warrior and variously styled Jayanta, Trinētra or Mukkaṇṇa.[6] The second member, Taila, is a name more than once met with in the Hānagal line and it is probable that he was in some way connected with that branch. This suggestion gains support from one of the titles borne by Kāmadēva, viz.,Kādamba-chakravartin, which is found applied to more than one ruler of the Hānagal family.[7] An inscription on stone at Kambaḷikoppa in the Sagar taluk, Shimoga District, Mysore State, refers to Kādamba-chakravartin Kāmadēva, son of Taila of Chandāvura (Kādamba-chakravarti Chandāvurada Tailapadēvana maga).[8] It is known from the present record that Taila was the father of Kāmadēva and that Chandāura was his capital (ll. 10-11 and 24-25). It appears that there were more rulers than one bearing the name Kāmadēva at the time and hence the author of the Kambaḷikoppa record distinguishes his Kāmadēva with a specific reference to the latter’s father and the place from where he hailed, which was probably his capital also. Unfortunately _______________________________________
[1]Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, p. 288. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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