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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVII the inscription at Kambaļikoppa bears no date which would have helped to establish his identity; but as other details coincide it is tempting to identify the Kämadēva of our record with that of the Kambaļikoppa 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. Mūrür, the village granted by the chief is the same as modern Mürür about ten miles north of Kumta, in the Kumta taluk of the same district. As the chief styles himself Lord of the Western Ocean (Paschima-samulrüdhipati), 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 Kambalikoppa inscription be correct, over a part of the Shimoga District of the Mysore State.
The Saivite persuasion of Kämadēva is attested by the bull-symbol on his seal, and his epithet Mahāmāhēśvara (1. 13). This in no way conflicts with his devotion to the god Madhukėsvara (1. 14) of Jayanti, i.e., Banavāsi, who was the tutelary deity of the early Kadambas, as well as of the later branches of the family, as evidenced by the epithet, Jayanti-Madhukëśvaralabdha-vara-prasāda. The god worshipped at Banavāsi under the name of Madhukēśvara from early times is Siva in the form of a linga, said to have been installed by Vishnu after his destruction of the demon Madhu or Madhuka. It is clear from this and numerous allusions in inscriptions that the Kadambas, early as well as later, were devotees of Siva. In the light of this, the statement of the late Dr. Fleet that "their family god was Jayanti-Madhukēsvara or Vishnu under the name of Madhukēsvara" requires correction.
The phrase, Hara-Dharani-prasūta-Trilochana-Kadambarum=appa, occurring among the epithets of Kāmadēva needs explanation. The chief is here metaphorically identified with Trilochana-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. This mythological personage is represented to have been born from the union of Siva 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. This observation is substantiated by the occurrence of the expression Hara-Dharani-prasuta in some records of the Goa branch as well as in those of the Hānagal branch.
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First Plate; First Side i Sri-Gaņādhipatayē namaḥ [II] Namaḥ(s)=tunga-siras-chun2 bi-chandra-chämara-chäravē [1] trailökya-nagar-arambha3 mūla-stambhāya Sambhavē || [1*] Sa jayati Ma
1 North Kanara Gazetteer, Pt. II, p. 277. 1 Unless it be a formal title with no particular significance.
Rom. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 278, f.n.2. • Mysore and Coorg, p. 26.
Local tradition and sthala-purana. That the god Madhukēbvara of Banavasi is a linga is self-evident to those who have visited the place in person.
• Bom. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 660.
Ibid., p. 566. • Ibid. • E.g. above, Vol. XIII, p. 308. 10 From the original plates,
