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No. 22.]
FIVE BANA INSCRIPTIONS FROM GUDIMALLAM.
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As the last of them, Vikramaditya II., is said to have been the "dear friend of Kộishṇarāja," who is no doubt identical with the Rashtrakūta king Krishna II. (A.D. 883 to 911-12), we may assign him roughly to the beginning of the 10th century A.D. This would carry Jayanandirarman, the earliest known member of the family, to about the end of the 7th century A.D. But the Udayéndiram plates tell us that Jayanandivarman came to the throne after "many" Bāna princes had passed away. The antiquity of the family is carried farther by the Talgunda inscription of Kākusthavarman, which, as I have already noted, reports that Mayūruśarman, the first Kadamba king, levied tribute from the great Bapa." Thus the history of the family is carried back to the 5th century A.D.
According to the Tamil poem Manimegalai, the queen of the Chola king Nedumudikkilli was Sirtti, daughter of a descendant of Māvali. This is apparently a reference to the Bana family. Sirtti was also called Rājamādēvi and she had a son named Udayakumara. The time when the Bana father-in-law of the Chola king flourished, cannot be made out satisfactorily at prosent. But it may be presumed that the former is earlier than Jayanandivarman, the first Baņa king mentioned in the Udayendiram plates.
No authentic records of the earlier kings of the family have come down to us. Of Konganivarman, the progenitor of the Gangas of Kölār, it is said that he was anointed to conquer the Bāņa-mandala. It may be presumed that this statement gives pointed expression to the hostility which generally existed between the Gongas aud Baras in their later history, particularly during the period of supremacy of the Rashtrakūtas of Malkhed who were the suzerain lords of the Western Gangas.
A stone inscription of the Ganga king sri-Madhava-Muttarasa at Tallapalli' which Mr. Rice assigns approximately to A.D. 725,6 refers to his expedition against Mahāvali-Bānarasa and to a battle at Köyāttur, i.e. the modern Laddigam in the Panganur Zamindari. At Kendatti-Madivāla in the Kolár District is a stone inscription of Nitimärga-Kongonivarman (KI. 79) wbich Mr. Rice assigas to about A.D. 890. The Ganga king's feudatory Nolambadhi. rāja of the Pallava family is here said to have ordered a general of his to fight against the Bapa
South-Ind. Ingers., Vol. III. p. 92. ? Above, Vol. VIII. pp. 24 ff.
: He also bore the otber names Killi-Valavan, Marankilli, Vadivārkilli and Venrörkilli and is said to have wedded Näga princess named Pilivaļai. It is believed that he fought a battle on the bank of the river Kiri against the Chēras and Pandyas. The Chola king als overcame the former by besieging. Karavür. It was apparently during his reign that Kavirippumpattinam, the Chla capital, was destroyed by a tidal wave. The king is said to have died at a place called Kulamurram and he was known in later times as "Killivalavan, who died at Kulamurram." In the Tamil anthology known as Puranānāru, there are 18 pieces in his honour composed by ten poets. In the note appended to each of these poems is mentioned this name of the king which does not figure in the body of the poen. Consequently, the assumption that these ten poets were contemporaries of the king is based on tradition current at the time when the notes were added. In the absence of definite information as to the authenticity of the tradition on which the notes are based, it is safer to abstnin from drawing any historical conclusions from them. The anthology in which these 18 poems are included is believed to have been compiled by & port named Perandovanar, who probably flourished in the 8th or 9th century A.D. (Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1898-99, paragraph 16). The date A.D. 105-120 for KilliValavan assigned by the late Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai is based on the Singbalese chronicles, whose chronology in far from satisfactory. Without being dogmatic on the point, I would leave the chronology of early Tamil literature an open question until indisputable evidence is available on the point. For a tentative date of the Chola king Karikals, who was the grandfather of Killi-Valavan according to Mr. Kanakasabbai, see the Director-General's Annual for 1906-7, Part II, p. 224, note 1 ; and p. 225, Dote 10.
• South-Ind. Interr., Vol. II. p. 897, verse 13. Ep. Carw. Vol. X. Kõlar, Bp. 13.
En Carn. Vol. X. Introduction, p. vi. The date given for the same record on p. 137 of the Translation is "about 890 A.D."
