Epigraphia Indica Vol 10

Author(s): Sten Konow, V Venkayya
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 80

No. 14.]
Permanaḍi led an offensive campaign against the Nolamba, Rachamalla and Mayindaḍi and met them in battle at Soremați. We have already referred to the raid into Puli-nadu by the Nolamts during the reign of Baṇavidyadhara. In the reign of the Bana king Vijayadityan Virachalamani Prabhumēru, a certain Käḍuvațți Muttarasan, perhaps connected with the Nolanbas, attacked Kōyatür, the modern Laddigam near Punganur2 in the Bana territory. Thus, in these early conflicts we always see the Nolambas opposed to the Banas and it is not unlikely that herein we have to seek for the cause which led to the destruction or complete conquest of the Banas by the Nolamba king Mahendrādhiraja-Nolamba which is claimed for him in the Dharmapuri inscription A. It will also be easy, now, to see how Nolamba records came to exist in such large numbers in the Bangalore and Kolar districts of the Mysore State which apparently belonged partly to Gangavaḍi 96,0003 and partly also to Perumbaṇappāḍi*—the territory of the Bapas. Mahendra before he entered into bostilities with the Gangas and the Bapas appears to have been a subordinate of the former raling the Gangarusasira. What led to his hostilities with the Gangas it is not possible to say at present. The fact that RacheyaGanga, as stated in the Iggali inscription, died in battle against the Nolamba (i.e. Mahendradhiraja) about A.D. 891-927 and that Ereyappa (A.D. 908 to 938) "governed the Gangavaḍi province as a united whole after depriving all his enemies of their power "8 shows clearly that Mahendradhiraja, at least during his.lifetime, held under subjection a pretty large portion of the Gangavadi province. This perhaps accounts also for the existence of an intrusive record of his time at Tayalür in the Mandya taluka of the Mysore District (the very heart of the Ganga country) which gives for Mahendra the date Saka 817-the latest known for him so far. It will be enough to state before closing this paragraph, that the Nolambas started a petty state in and around Hemavati in the Tumkur District about the beginning of the 8th century A.D. and continuing to hold it as the subordinates of the Rashtrakutas and the Gangas, they fell into frequent conflicts with the Banas, the Vaidumbas and the Cholas and even with their overlords the Gangas. About the end of the 9th century A.D. they found a favourable opportunity and rose to eminence under Mahendradhiraja-Nolamba.
TWO NOLAMBA INSCRIPTIONS FROM DHARMAPURI.
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A new name in the succession list of the Nolambas which, as will be shown below, has to be placed between Mahendra and his son Ayyapa, has apparently been missed by Mr. Rice in his treatment of the chronology of that family. From an inscription at Avani in the Mulbagal taluka of the Kölär District,10 it appears as if Mahendra had a brother called Iriva-Nolamba who was born of a different mother.. The inscription states that Divabbarasi or Divaļāmbă, born of the Kadamba family, was the chief queen (agra-mahishi) of Polalchora, who, as stated
1 No. 542 of the Madras Epigraphical collection for 1906.
2 Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1906-07, Part II. paragraph 38. Bp. No. 13 of Mr. Rice's Epigraphia Carnatica Vol. X. refers to an earlier conquest of the same place and states that the conqueror Madhava-Muttarasar belonged to the Ganga race.
Kölähalapura, the modern Kölär, was built by the mythical Ganga king Kölähala in the great Gangavaḍivisbays. Bempur (Begür) twelve in the Bangalore District was granted to one of his subordinates by Ereyappa who was ruling over the Gangavadi 96,000. The large number of Ganga records on stone both in the Bangalore and Kölär districts prove that these districts were included in the Ganga dominions. In the Bangalore District a good portion of the agricultural population of the Wokkaliga sect belong to a subdivision called Gangaḍikära. This name, according to Mr. Rice, is derived from Gangavaḍi- the country of which these people were the original
inhabitants.
Mulbagal, Chintamani and Bowringpet tälukas of the Kölär District bear traces of the supremacy of the Bapa kings over these parts; Mr. Rice's Mysore Gazetteer, Vol. II. p. 105.
Nolambadhiraja, father of Mahendra, was ruling the same district as a feudatory of the Gangas; see above, p. 59, footnote 3.
It is not unlikely that, in the matter of succession to the Ganga throne after the death of Rajamalla, there were disputes between his son Nitimarga (not identified) and the yuraraja Satyavakya Bütuga I. the actual successor of Rajamalla. Perhaps Mahendra Lelped his brother-in-law Nitimärga against Būtuga I.
Above Vol. VI. p. 66. Ep. Carn. Vol. III. Md. 13.
8 Ibid. p. 49.
10 Ibid. Vol. X, Mb. 38.