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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA the inscription at Kambaḷikoppa bears no date which would have helped to establish his identity ; but as other details coincide it is tempting to identify the Kāmadēva of our record with that of the Kamabaḷikoppa inscription. A rough idea of the extent of the territory under Kāmadēva may be formed from the geographical references occurring in this record. Chandāura, his capital should be identified with the modern Chandāvar, an old town of strategic importance, situated in the Honavar taluk and about five miles south-east of Kumta, North Kanara District.[1]Mūrūr, the village granted by the chief is the same as modern Mūrūr about ten miles north of Kumta, in the Kumta taluk of the same district. As the chief styles himself Lord of the Western Ocean (Paśchima-samudrādhipati),[2] it is likely that he held a strip of land on the west coast. It is possible to conclude from this that Kāmadēva’s principality extended over portions of the modern taluks of Kumta and Honavar including the west coast ; and, if his identity with the namesake of the Kambaḷikoppa inscription be correct, over a part of the Shimoga District of the Mysore State.
The Śaivite persuasion of Kāmadēva is attested by the bull-symbol on his seal, and his epithet Mahāmāhēśvara (l. 13). This in no way conflicts with his devotion to the god Madhukēśvara (l. 14) of Jayantī, i.e., Banavāsi,[3] who was the tutelary deity of the early Kadambas,[4] as well as of the later branches of the family, as evidenced by the epithet, Jayantī-Madhukēśvaralabdha-vara-prasāda. The god worshipped at Banavāsi under the name of Madhukēśvara from early times is Śiva in the form of a liṅga, said to have been installed by Vishṇu after his destruction of the demon Madhu or Madhuka.[5] It is clear from this and numerous allusions in inscriptions that the Kadambas, early as well as later, were devotees of Śiva. In the light of this, the statement of the late Dr. Fleet that “ their family god was Jayantī-Madhukēśvara or Vishṇu under the name of Madhukēśvara” requires correction.[6] The phrase, Hara-Dharaṇī-prasūta-Trilōchana Kadaṁbarum=appa, occurring among the epithets of Kāmadēva needs explanation. The chief is here metaphorically identified with Trilōchana-Kadamba, who, according to a legend which gained currency in the later Kadamba records of 11-12th centuries, was the first ancestor of the Kadamba family.[7] This mythological personage is represented to have been born from the union of Śiva and Earth in the records of both the branches of the Kadambas, Hānagal and Goa ; and there exists little material difference in the accounts of his origin as imagined by Dr. Fleet.[8] This observation is substantiated by the occurrence of the expression Hara-Dharaṇī-prasūta in some records of the Goa branch as well as in those of the Hānagal branch.[9] TEXT10 First Plate ; First Side
1 Śrī-Gaṇādhipatayē namaḥ [||*] Namaḥ(s)=tuṁga-śiraś-chuṁ- _______________________________________
[1]North Kanara Gazetteer, Pt. II, p. 277.
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