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.
