Kadamba Dynasty of Banavasi
State | Defunct
345 CE to 525 CE
Kadamba Dynasty, Kadambas of Banavasi (345 – 525 CE) is an ancient royal family of Karnataka, India that rules northern Karnataka and the Konkan from Banavasi in present day Uttara Kannada district.
At the peak of their power under King Kakushtavarma, the Kadambas of Banavasi ruled large parts of Karnataka state.The dynasty is founded by Mayurasharman in 345 CE which at times shows the potential of developing into imperial proportions, an indication to which is provided by the titles and epithets assumed by its rulers.
King Mayurasharman defeats the Pallavas of Kanchi, possibly with help of some native tribes.
One of his successors, Kakusthavarma, is a powerful ruler and even the kings of Gupta Dynasty of northern India cultivate marital relationships with his family, giving a fair indication of the sovereign nature of their kingdom.
Tiring of the endless battles and bloodshed, one of the later descendants, King Shivakoti, adopts Jainism.
The Kadambas are contemporaries of the Western Ganga Dynasty and together they form the earliest native kingdoms to rule the land with absolute autonomy.
The dynasty later continues to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires, for over five hundred years, during which time they branch into Goa and Hanagal.During the pre-Kadamba era, the ruling families that control led Karnataka, the Mauryas, Satavahanas and Chutus were not natives of the region and the nucleus of power resided outside present day Karnataka.
The Kadambas are the first indigenous dynasty to use Kannada, the language of the soil at an administrative level.
In the history of Karnataka, this era serves as a broad based historical starting point in the study of the development of region as an enduring geo-political entity and Kannada as an important regional language.
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Konganivarman Madhava, the founding king of the Karnataka region’s Western Ganga dynasty, makes Kolar his capital around 350.
There is controversy as to whether the Western Gangas were an independent kingdom or a feudatory to the Pallavas during the early decades of their rule from Kolar.
Like their contemporaries, the Kadambas of Banavasi, the Western Gangas also may have taken advantage of the confusion caused by the campaigns of Samudragupta in South India and created an independent kingdom.
Mayurasharma (or Mayurasharman, Mayuravarma), a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda (in modern Shimoga district), establishes the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi (near Talagunda), the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India, in 345, taking the name of Mayuravarma to emphasize his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya caste.
Until this time, the centers of power ruling the land have been outside of the Karnataka region; thus the Kadambas' ascent to power as an independent geopolitical entity, with Kannada, the indigenous tongue, as a major regional language, is a landmark event.
The earliest Kannada language inscriptions are attributed to the Kadambas of Banavasi.
Some scholars postulate that the rise of Mayurasharma against the Pallava hold over the Talagunda region was actually a successful rebellion of Brahmins against the domination of the Kshatriya power as wielded by the Pallavas of Kanchi; others believe that Mayurasharma's rebellion had been well timed to coincide with the defeat of Pallava Vishnugopa by the southern invasion of Samudragupta of northern India.
In an effort to rejuvenate the ancient Brahminic faith and to perform the royal rituals and the related functions of the government, Mayurasharma imports many learned Vaidika Brahmins from Ahichchathra in northern India.
Kakusthavarman (reigned circa 425–450) of the Kadamba family, a minor dynastic power that holds sway in an area to the northwest of Mysore between the fourth and sixth century, is a powerful ruler involved in many marriage alliances with the Guptas and other kingly families.