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ಮThe Complete History of Mysore

Chapter 3 · c. 350 – 1000 CE

The Western Gangas

From Kolar and Talakadu the Western Gangas ruled southern Karnataka for six centuries, patronised Jainism and raised the colossus of Shravanabelagola.

3.1A dynasty of the Gangavadi

The Western Ganga dynasty ruled the region called Gangavadi — broadly the modern Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru, Kolar and Bengaluru districts — from about 350 to 1000 CE, first from Kolar and then from Talakadu on the Kaveri.[1] Traditional accounts credit the founding to Konganivarma Madhava, while historians rely on the dynasty's very large corpus of Kannada and Sanskrit inscriptions for its verifiable outline.[2]

The Gangas were usually feudatories of larger powers — the Badami Chalukyas, then the Rashtrakutas — while retaining substantial autonomy. Durvinita (c. 529–579), the best-known early ruler, is remembered as a scholar-king associated with Sanskrit and Kannada letters.[1]

3.2Jainism and Shravanabelagola

Ganga patronage made southern Karnataka a heartland of Digambara Jainism. In 981 CE the Ganga minister and general Chavundaraya commissioned the 17.5-metre monolithic statue of Bahubali (Gommateshwara) at Shravanabelagola, still among the world's largest free-standing monolithic sculptures and the focus of the Mahamastakabhisheka anointing held roughly every twelve years.[3]

Ganga basadis, hero-stones and inscriptions across the region document a society in which Jain merchant and warrior patronage coexisted with Shaiva and Vaishnava temple building.

3.3Decline and legacy

Chola expansion under Rajaraja I and Rajendra I broke Ganga power around 1004 CE, and Gangavadi passed into Chola administration for most of the eleventh century, until the Hoysalas expelled them.[1] The Ganga centuries nevertheless fixed the administrative geography — nadu and vishaya divisions, tank irrigation, agrahara settlements — that later dynasties inherited.

Talakadu itself, once a great Ganga capital, was progressively buried under river sand; its excavated temples, now protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, are the most tangible remains of the dynasty in the Mysore district.[4]

References and footnotes

  1. [1]"Western Ganga dynasty", Wikipedia. Link
  2. [2]B. L. Rice, Epigraphia Carnatica, esp. vols. II–IV covering Shravanabelagola, Mysore and Hassan taluks.
  3. [3]"Gommateshwara statue" / "Shravanabelagola", Wikipedia. Link
  4. [4]Archaeological Survey of India, Bengaluru Circle: protected monuments at Talakadu. Link