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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Anantavarman Chodaganga

Eastern Ganga king of Kalinga, crowned in 1078 and still reigning in his 72nd regnal year (1146–47). He was a son of the Ganga king Rajaraja and of Rajasundari, a daughter of Kulottunga I, so he was a grandson of the Chola-Chalukya emperor whose armies invaded Kalinga in his reign. Dozens of his Telugu and Sanskrit inscriptions survive at Mukhalingam, Srikurmam, Simhachalam, Draksharama and other places in the north of the Telugu country. His grants trace the Ganga family back to Brahma.

Anantavarman Chodaganga was a king of Kalinga whose coronation Sewell, following Fleet, dated to 17 February 1078.12 Two inscriptions of Saka 1068 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years) and 1069 at Arasavalli are dated in his seventy-second year.3 According to Sewell, his mother was a daughter of the Chola-Chalukya emperor Kulottunga I, whose armies invaded Kalinga in his reign.14

Family

Anantavarman Chodaganga was the son of the Ganga king Rajaraja and of Rajasundari, a daughter of the Chola-Chalukya emperor Kulottunga I, according to Robert Sewell.1 J. F. Fleet had thought it probable, though not quite certain, that the Rajasundari of the Ganga records was Kulottunga’s daughter.5

The Vizagapatam district gazetteer (1907) describes Chodaganga’s father, Rajaraja, as a king who “helped the Vengi kings against the Cholas”.4 It says he “afterwards defeated both of them and also the ruler of Utkala (Orissa)”.4 In G. V. Ramamurti’s reading of the Dirghasi inscription, the Chola king who fought Rajaraja was this same Kulottunga.6 So Chodaganga was the grandson of his father’s enemy.6 See the Dirghasi inscription.

Coming to the throne

Sewell, following Fleet, gave the date of Chodaganga’s coronation as 17 February 1078.12 His own stone inscriptions count his regnal years from an earlier point. E. Hultzsch noted in 1897 that the records at Mukhalingam and elsewhere are dated both in the Saka era and in regnal years.6 These records, he said, show that his accession, “or perhaps his appointment as co-regent of his predecessor, took place about three years before A.D. 1078”.6

V. Rangacharya made the same point about a Mukhalingam record of his fifty-third year, and so he dated the reign from 1075.7 Sewell found that many of the forty or so inscriptions of the reign in the Ganjam district point to the earlier date.28 But he kept Fleet’s 1078, and suggested that the scribes counted from a co-regency (joint rule) with his father.28

Vengi and Orissa

Chodaganga’s grants claim that he supported the declining Eastern Chalukya house. Fleet quoted one of them, the Vizagapatam grant of Saka 1040.9 It says that Chodaganga “replaced the waning lord of Vengi in the western region, and propped up his failing fortunes”.9

The gazetteer sums up his records.4 They “state that he replaced on their thrones the fallen kings of Vengi and Orissa”.4 He “engaged in wars extending from the Ganges in the north to the Godavari in the south”, they say, “and built the famous temple of Jagannatha at Puri”.4

On Fleet’s and Sewell’s reading, the Eastern Chalukya prince in question was Vijayaditya VII, who left Vengi in 1077–78.910 See the Eastern Chalukyas.

The Chola invasions

Kalinga was invaded during his reign by the armies of his grandfather Kulottunga I. The gazetteer says that the Cholas “seem twice to have invaded the south of Trikalinga during his reign”.4 It adds that Kulottunga’s inscriptions refer to the conquest of the kingdom before 1095 and again in 1114.4 A Tamil record of Kulottunga in the Simhachalam temple, it says, “goes to confirm the success of the former of these incursions”.4

Sewell dated the first war to about 1090, when Kulottunga’s son Vira-Choda governed Vengi with orders to conquer the north.11122 He dated the second, successful expedition under the general Karunakara Tondaman of Vandalur to about 1111–12.11122 He noted V. Venkayya’s view that this expedition was sent to help the Kalinga king against rebels in the north of his kingdom.11122 He also noted S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar’s view that its purpose was not yet clear.11122

The Tamil poem Kalingattupparani describes an expedition led by Karunakara against the king of northern Kalinga, “or the Seven Kalingas”.13 This king had failed to bring tribute for two years.13 V. Kanakasabhai Pillai translated parts of the poem in 1890.13 He pointed out that the poet “does not mention the name of the king of the seven Kalingas, or of his capital, or the place where the final battle was fought”.13

Sewell identified the defeated king with Chodaganga.122 He observed that Chodaganga went on reigning, since a record of 1113–14 is dated in his thirty-eighth year.122 See Kulottunga I.

Inscriptions in the Telugu country

Most of the known inscriptions at Mukhalingam, the old Kalinganagara, record gifts made in his reign. Ramamurti found that they record grants to the gods Madhukesvara and Aniyankabhimesvara.14 The givers were “private individuals, public officers of the state, and persons belonging to the royal family, in the reign of Anantavarma-Chodagangadeva”.14

Rangacharya’s list of 1919 summarises dozens of them, nearly all in Telugu and nearly all gifts of lamps.1516 One of 1102, in his twenty-eighth year, names his Eastern Chalukya contemporary Vira-Chodadeva.1516 Another, of 1108, records a gift by Somalamahadevi, a queen of the Ganga king.1516 See the temples of Mukhalingam.

His records reach well beyond Mukhalingam:

  • At Arasavalli near Srikakulam (then Chicacole), two inscriptions of Saka 1068 and 1069 are dated in his seventy-second year.3 Rangacharya took this to be “the last year of the king”.3
  • At Visakhapatnam, a Telugu record of Saka 1012, in his thirteenth year, calls the port “Visakhapattana alias Kulottunga-Cholapattana”.17
  • At Bhogapuram, a record of Saka 1027, in his thirty-first year, records a gift of land measured by the Jinakola rod.18 Another record there, of Saka 1109, is dated in the eleventh year of an Eastern Ganga king Anantavarmadeva whom Rangacharya did not identify.18 It tells how the merchant Kannamanayaka built a Jaina temple called the Rajaraja Jinalaya.18
  • At Draksharama, south of the Godavari, three of his queens, Lilavati, Rajaladevi and Padmaladevi, gave lamps to the temple.192021 The records of 1128 name a local ruler, Vishnuvardhana-Maharaja, reigning in his second year.192021

The genealogy of his grants

Three copper-plate grants of Chodaganga from the Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam) district, dated Saka 1003, 1040 and 1057, were known to Fleet.2223 They contain the fullest family trees of the family.2223

Fleet translated the passage of the grant of Saka 1040 that explains the family name.22 In it Turvasu, “having attained the condition of being without sons”, prayed to the river Ganga.22 He “obtained a son, the unconquerable Gangeya”.22 From that time, the grant says, “the succession of his descendants has been victorious in the world under the name of the lineage of the Ganga”.22

The gazetteer remarked that “after the manner of many who have suddenly got up in the world, he desired a lofty ancestry”.4 Ramamurti compared the same grant with the Nadagam plates of Chodaganga’s grandfather.23 He found differences in its list of earlier kings.23 These made him doubt “the memory of the scribes of Anantavarman’s reign” for events centuries before.23 See the Nadagam plates.

Puri and the Orissa chronicle

Chodaganga is remembered in Orissa as the founder of the Ganga line there. W. W. Hunter, writing in 1872 from the palm-leaf chronicle of the Jagannatha temple, called him Chor-ganga and dated his reign to 1132–1152. In Hunter’s account he came from the southern coast and took Orissa when its last king died childless.242526 He gave his name to a quarter of Puri.242526 But the present temple of Jagannatha, Hunter says, was built by a later king, Anang Bhim Deo (1175–1202).242526

The inscriptions place his reign some fifty years earlier.41 The gazetteer of 1907 credits Chodaganga himself, on the evidence of his grants, with building the Jagannatha temple.4

Queens and sons

According to the gazetteer, Chodaganga “married at least five queens and had by them four sons who ruled after him”.4 It adds: “Of them and their immediate successors little but their names is known.”4 Sewell’s genealogy lists the four as Madhu-Kamarnava, also called Anantavarman, Raghava, Anantavarman-Rajaraja II and Aniyanka-Bhima.27 See the Eastern Gangas.

Footnotes

  1. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 87 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 682, Ganjam Nos. 135–136 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 27 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  5. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 276 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. G. V. Ramamurti, “Dirghasi Inscription of Vanapati; Saka-Samvat 997”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1896–97), p. 315 and note 10 by E. Hultzsch (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. I (1919), p. 701, Ganjam No. 317 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 106 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  9. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 277 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 86 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  11. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 89 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  12. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 93 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  13. V. Kanakasabhai Pillai, “Tamil Historical Texts, No. 2: The Kalingattu Parani”, Indian Antiquary XIX (1890), p. 337 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. G. V. Ramamurti, “Nadagam Plates of Vajrahasta; Saka-Samvat 979”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1896–97), p. 188 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  15. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. I (1919), p. 699, Ganjam No. 291 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. I (1919), p. 700, Ganjam Nos. 293–306 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. III (1919), p. 1674, Vizagapatam No. 63 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. III (1919), p. 1665, Vizagapatam No. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 733, Godavari No. 217 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  20. Rangacharya, Topographical List, Vol. II (1919), p. 734, Godavari Nos. 218–222 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 100 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  22. J. F. Fleet, “Sanskrit and Old-Canarese Inscriptions” (Chicacole plates of Devendravarman), Indian Antiquary XIII (1884), pp. 275–276 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  23. Ramamurti, “Nadagam Plates of Vajrahasta” (1897), p. 187 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  24. W. W. Hunter, Orissa, Vol. I (1872), p. 278 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  25. Hunter, Orissa, Vol. I (1872), p. 279 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  26. Hunter, Orissa, Vol. II (1872), Appendix VII, p. 187 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  27. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 358, genealogical table of the Eastern Gangas (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Photos

Dynasties

Eastern Gangas of Kalinga

c. 498–1434 CE

Dynasty of Kalinga that ruled from Kalinganagara, now Mukhalingam in the Srikakulam district, and later from Orissa, from about the 6th century until 1434. Its early grants are dated in a Ganga era whose starting point is still disputed. The north of the Telugu country, the old Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts, was the heart of the kingdom. Their copper plates come from Chicacole, Achyutapuram, Jirjingi, Nadagam and Alamanda, and hundreds of their inscriptions in Telugu and Sanskrit survive at Mukhalingam, Srikurmam and Simhachalam. Anantavarman Chodaganga, a grandson of Kulottunga I, reigned from 1078 for about seventy years. The later kings fought the Kakatiyas across the Godavari, and their minister Kapilesvara founded the Gajapati dynasty in 1434.

References

Sources (11)
  1. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 27. [Public domain]
  2. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 87–94, 97, 106, 358. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. James Burgess (ed.), The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIII (1884) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1884, pp. 275–276. J. F. Fleet on the Vizagapatam grants of Anantavarman of Saka 1003, 1040 and 1057. [Public domain]
  4. J. F. Fleet and R. C. Temple (eds.), The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIX (1890) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1890, pp. 329, 337. V. Kanakasabhai Pillai, The Kalingattu Parani. [Public domain]
  5. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 276–277. J. F. Fleet, The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings. [Public domain]
  6. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 188, 315. G. V. Ramamurti on Mukhalingam (No. 24) and on the Dirghasi inscription (No. 45), with E. Hultzsch's note on the accession. [Public domain]
  7. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 682, 699–702. [Public domain]
  8. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 733–734. [Public domain]
  9. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. III (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 1665, 1674, 1686. [Public domain]
  10. W. W. Hunter, Orissa, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1872, pp. 278–279. [Public domain]
  11. W. W. Hunter, Orissa, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1872, pp. 187. [Public domain]

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