Aniyanka-Bhima (Eastern Ganga)

Aniyanka-Bhima was a king of the Eastern Gangas of Kalinga at the end of the 12th century.¹² He was the last of the sons of Anantavarman Chodaganga to reign.¹ Through his son Rajaraja III he was the ancestor of all the later Ganga kings.¹³

Family

R. D. Banerji, in his History of Orissa (1930), called him Anangabhima or Aniyankabhima II.¹ His family table makes him a son of Chodaganga by his queen Lakshmi, and names his wife as Baghalladevi.³ He followed his brother Rajaraja II, who handed him the kingdom in his old age.¹

Banerji noted that, unlike his father, he is not called Anantavarman in the votive records.¹ He was the only son of Chodaganga whose own son followed him on the throne.¹ That son was Rajaraja III, born of Baghalladevi.⁴

Reign

Banerji thought that Aniyanka-Bhima must have been very old when he became king, about 1190.¹ The Puri and Kenduapatna plates give him ten years.¹ Banerji counted these as ankas, which would make eight real years.¹ The records of his son show that his reign ended in Saka 1120, about 1198 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).¹ So Banerji made it a reign of nine years.¹

In his time Svapnesvaradeva, the brother-in-law of Rajaraja II, built the Meghesvara temple at Bhubaneswar.¹ His Brahman minister Govinda later built a temple at Chatesvara.¹

A record at Draksharama

V. Rangacharya listed a Telugu record on a pillar in the Bhimesvara temple at Draksharama.⁵ It is dated in the eighth year of the Ganga king Aniyanka-Bhimadeva-Ravutu.⁵ It calls him the son of Anantavarman, also called Rajarajadeva of Trikalinga, and records a gift of gold.⁵ Rangacharya took this Anantavarman to be Chodaganga.⁵

Where the sources disagree

• His name and number. Sewell’s table calls him Aniyanka-Bhima.² Banerji called him Anangabhima II.¹
• His dates. Sewell gives 1192–1202.² Banerji gives about 1190 to 1198.¹ The palm-leaf chronicle of the Puri temple, printed by W. W. Hunter in 1872, gives an Anang Bhim Deo the years 1175–1202.⁶ It also says that this king built the present temple of Jagannatha at Puri.⁶

Footnotes

1. R. D. Banerji, History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period, Vol. I (1930), p. 255 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

2. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 358, genealogical table of the Eastern Gangas (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Banerji, History of Orissa, Vol. I (1930), p. 288, genealogical table of the Eastern Gangas (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. Banerji, History of Orissa, Vol. I (1930), p. 258 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

5. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1919), p. 741, Godavari No. 313 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

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