Eastern Ganga dynasty
The Eastern Ganga dynasty were a large medieval era dynasty that reigned from Kalinga from as early as the 5th century to the mid 20th century. Eastern Gangas ruled much of the modern region of Odisha in three different phases by the passage of time, known as Early Eastern Gangas, Imperial Eastern Gangas and Khemundi Gangas. They are known as "Eastern Gangas" to distinguish them from the Western Gangas who ruled over Karnataka. The territory ruled by the dynasty consisted of the whole of the modern-day Indian state of Odisha, as well as major parts of north Andhra Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh and some southern districts of West Bengal. Odia language got official status in their regime following the evolution of the language from Odra Prakrit. The early rulers of the dynasty ruled from Dantapura; the capital was later moved to Kalinganagara, and ultimately to Kataka and then to Paralakhemundi.
Today, they are remembered as the builders of the world renowned Jagannath Temple of Puri and Konark Sun Temple situated in Odisha, as well as the Madhukeshwara temple of Mukhalinga, Nrusinghanath Temple at Simhachalam in Andhra Pradesh, and Ananta Vasudeva Temple at Bhubaneswar. The Gangas have constructed several temples besides the ones mentioned above.
The rulers of Eastern Ganga dynasty defended their kingdom from the constant attacks of the Muslim invaders. This kingdom prospered through trade and commerce and the wealth was mostly used in the construction of temples. The rule of the dynasty came to an end under the reign of King Bhanudeva IV, in the early 15th century and then Khemundi Ganga started ruling up to abolition of zamindari in modern India. The Eastern Ganga dynasty is said to be the longest reigning dynasty in Odisha. Their currency was called Ganga Fanams and was similar to that of the Cholas and Eastern Chalukyas of southern India.
Origin
As per B. Masthanaiah, the origin of the Eastern Gangas is not clearly established. However, renowned British scholar, artist, art critic, historian, archaeologist, and an authority on Indian art and architecture, Percy Brown, suggested that the temples of Mukhalingam predated the temples of Bhubaneswar and had been built as per the Badami Chalukya Temple Architecture originating from Karnataka since the 4th century CE. A certain temple tower in Odisha shows a combination of both Rekha and Pidha Deul decoration types which was taken from the Kadamba temples of Karnataka where it first appeared. The Mukhalingam Madhukeswara temple too resembles the Kadamba temples of Karnataka. The towns of Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal had emerged as 'The Cradle of Indian Temple Architecture and Hindu Rock Architecture, Stone Artwork and Construction Techniques' since the 4th century CE. The script used by the Eastern Ganga king Indravarma of the 7th century CE, like his predecessors, is the common Telugu-Kannada script used also by the Chalukyas of Badami and their related off shoot Vengi Chalukya branch. All these indicate a strong proof for the Eastern Gangas having originated from the earlier Western Gangas of Karnataka.According to the historian Upinder Singh, In the 4th century CE, Orissa was divided into several small principalities, some of which owed allegiance to the Guptas. Dynasties such as the Pitribhaktas, Matharas, and Vasishthas rose to power in southern Orissa. The 5th century saw the rise of the Eastern Gangas in south Kalinga. These kings were probably a branch of the Western Gangas and were migrants from Karnataka.
The Korni and Vishakhapatnam copper plates of 1113 AD and 1118/1119 AD respectively both of Anantavarman Chodaganga, the Dasgoba copper plate of Rajaraja III of 1198/99 AD and the Nagari copperplate of Anangabhima III and other such records trace the ancestry of the Eastern Gangas to Kamarnava I. The Kendupatna copper plate of Narasimhadeva II and the Puri copper plate of Narasimhadeva IV also state that Kamarnava came from Gangawadi province, now in Karnataka. The Korni copper plate mentions that Kamarnava I came to the Mahendra mountain situated to the east of Gangawadi and then onwards to Kalinga. It also states that Kamarnava I, the eldest son of Virasimha, had left Kolahalapura, the capital of Gangawadivisaya after giving up his rightful throne to his paternal uncle. He set forth eastwards along with his four brothers to establish a new kingdom, reached and ascended the mountain summit of Mahendra, worshipped Shiva as God Gokarnaswamin or Gokarneswara, obtained the bull emblem, descended to the eastern side, defeated and killed the local tribal king Sabaraditya or Baladitya in battle and acquired the whole of Kalinga with the blessings of Gokarneswara. Historian Bhairabi Prasad Sahu states that the Gangas after conquering the area south of Mahendragiri mountain around 498–500 CE, acknowledged a deity of the Saora tribe on the Mahendragiri mountain with the name of Shiva-Gokarnaswamin as the patron deity of their family.
Epigraphist, John Faithfull Fleet has identified Gangawadi and Kolahalapuram with the Ganga Dynasty and Kolar, ruled by the Western Gangas. Both the early and the later Eastern Ganga kings had close relations with the Eastern Kadambas, who functioned under them as chieftains, heads and provincial governors. Most of the early as well as the later Eastern Ganga kings of Kalinga worshipped the holy feet of Gokarneswara of Mahendragiri. This deity also has a strong Karnataka connection through the Mahabaleshwar Temple situated in Gokarna which is the only Atmalinga of God Shiva in the entire world. The Eastern Kadamba family, feudatories of the Early Gangas in the 10th and early 11th century CE, were ruling a small area in the vicinity of the Mahendra mountain.
Historian Dineshwar Singh lists several facts that point to a relationship between the Eastern and the Western Gangas. Just as the Gangas and the Kadambas of Karnataka had marital relationship with each other, so were the Gangas and the Kadambas of Kalinga. The family God of the Kadambas of Vaijayanti, Palasige and Hangal is described in their inscriptions as Jayanti Madhukeshwara of Banavasi. Historian M. Somasekhara Sarma suggests that the Kadambas brought with them their family God Madhukeshwara into their new home Kalinga. It appears that Kamarnava II built the temple of Madhukeshwara in Nagara at the instance of one of his feudatories and relatives, the Eastern Kadambas. Historian G. R. Varma further suggests that the Eastern Ganga king Kamarnava II renovated the existing temple of Gokarneshwara before renaming it as Madhukeshwara. Historian R. Subba Rao states that the God Madhukeswara of Kalinganagara was also called Jayanteswara or Gokarneshwara in some of the inscriptions found in that temple. Somasekhara Sarma states that the Eastern Kadambas probably came to Kalinga from the districts of Dharwad, Belagavi and Ratnagiri. He substantiates it by showing the presence of a village named as a crude distortion of the Kannada place name Palasige, as Palasa in the Kalinga region. Most of the early Western Gangas were Shaivas, just like the early and the later Eastern Gangas of Kalinga were.
Also, while the bardic traditions of the Western Ganga dynasty claim descent from the Sun through the Ikshavaku dynasty, the Eastern Ganga genealogies ascribe descent from the Moon; the Chandravamsa lineage. Unlike the Western Ganga Dynasty who traced their lineage to the Solar Dynasty, the Later Eastern Gangas claimed a lunar descent from Vishnu through Brahma, Atri and Chandra.
Dineshwar Singh concludes that in spite of the views and arguments against a relationship between the two Ganga dynasties - the Western and the Eastern Gangas, the similarities listed out between them strongly indicate that the founder of the Eastern Ganga dynasty travelled from the Gangawadi province of Karnataka and arrived in Trikalinga. Historians R. S. Sharma and K. M. Shrimali state that several ruling families of Kannada origin flourished and ruled Odisha like the Eastern Gangas, the Eastern Kadambas, the Rashtrakuta branch of Odisha which ruled from Vagharakotta fort probably in the Sambalpur region and the Tailapa-Vamsis who migrated during or after 973 CE on the establishment of the Kalyani Chalukya empire and were their feudatories. Some suspect them to have come along with Vikramaditya VI's campaigns across north, central, east and north east India, sometime before 1063–68 CE.
Five prominent dominions of the Kalingan Prachya Ganga family are identified from five different administrative centers namely – Kalinganagara, Svetaka Mandala, Giri Kalinga, Ambabadi Mandala and Vartanni Mandala. The heartland of the Prachya Gangas had three parts of Kalinga namely, Daksina Kalinga, Madhya Kalinga and Uttara Kalinga. The earliest known prominent king was Indravarman who is known from his Jirjingi copper plate grant. The Godavari grant of Raja Prthivimalla and the Ramatirtham grant of Vishnukundina king Indrbhattaraka refer to a war of four tusked elephants or Chaturdanta Samara in which Indravarman I the son of Mitavarman, a Ganga general of Vakataka king and a local ruler of Dantapura commanded an alliance of small South Kalingan kingdoms against the powerful Vishnukundina king Indrabhattaraka, defeated and killed him. The Vishnukundins returned with a vengeance, defeated the Vakataka King and members of the alliance while Indravarman declared himself as Tri-Kalingadhipati rising from obscurity and moving his capital northwards away from the attacking Vishnukundins. His son Hastivarman found himself stuck between two Gupta feudal dynasties of Odisha, the Vigrahas of South Toshali and Mudgalas. Joining the onslaught like his father, he commanded major battles against the Vigrahas and won territories in the northern parts of ancient Kalinga and declared himself as Sakala-Kalingadhipati. The dynasty though remaining to be a strong ruling family in ancient Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh continued to remain as vassal rulers under the central authority of the Bhauma-Kara dynasty which is proven by the fact that a smaller Eastern Ganga king belonging to the clan and named as Jayavarmadeva mentioned himself as the vassal of Sivakara Deva I in his Ganjam grant and by whose permission he gave away the grants.
It was during the rule of Anantavarman Vajrahasta V in the mid eleventh century that the clan started emerging as a major military power challenging the authority of the Somavanshi Dynasty at their northern frontiers and allying with their arch rivals the Kalchuris.
After a series of victories in battle and making land grants to three hundred Brahmin families in his kingdom, Vajrahasta V assumed the titles as Trikalingadhipati and Sakalakalingadhipati challenging the centralized authority of the Somavanshis and laying the foundation to an imperial era for the Eastern Gangas.
In the later years of the century, Devendravarman Rajaraja I defeated the Somavanshi king Mahasivagupta Janmenjaya II completely while challenging the Cholas in battle, along with establishing authority in the Vengi region.
The Cholas were defeated by Rajaraja I and Chola princess, Rajasundari, was married off to the Eastern Ganga king as a goodwill gesture for settlement of affairs between the Cholas and the Gangas.
The identification of the father of Rajasundari is a matter of great controversy and some scholars like K. A. Nilakanta Sastri identify the king as Virarajendra Chola. After the sudden death of Rajaraja I, his underage sons Chodaganga Deva ascended the throne, losing the many parts of his ancestral kingdom to the Cholas who were now in an advantageous position.
However, Ananatavarman Chodaganga Deva not only lived a young life of prolonged struggles and setbacks but finally managed to completely remove the Chola presence from the region and finally securing Utkala, Kalinga, Gauda, Radha and Vengi as one kingdom. While many of his inscriptions are found inside the limits of former Vengi kingdom, this large extent of his empire from Bengal to Vengi is clearly stated in his Korni grant inscriptions.
In the Sri Kurmam temple grant of Chodaganga, it is clearly stated that he has extended his territory from Bhagirathi Ganga to Gautami Ganga rivers which is literally the region between river Ganga and Godavari. The only front where he faced setbacks is against his western rivals the Kalachuris where he was unsuccessful. His descendant Anangabhima Deva III gradually completed the task of defeating the Kalachuris completely.
In his Korni copper plate grant he mentions himself to be the lord of 99,000 war elephants which while counting military strength according to the ancient Gulma system of military divisions, puts his strength to a million men and half a million animals employed to his command. Due to his maternal relation with the Cholas, a Chola uncle of Chodaganga by the name Virachoda had sided by him as a protective guardian against the invading Cholas since his childhood.
Chodaganga was married to the daughter of this uncle and also had Tamil officers serving him during his lifelong affairs of war and administration. Chodaganga Deva not only reunited most of ancient Kalinga stretching from the rivers Ganga to Godavari but led the foundation to the imperial hegemony of the Eastern Gangas in the Eastern coast of India.
Chodaganga Deva was a strong king and was the son of Rajaraja Devendravarman and grandson of Vajrahasta Anantavarman of the Imperial Gangas of Kalinganagara. His mother was princess Rajasundari of the Chola dynasty.