Western Ganga dynasty of Talakad

01Kolar to Talakad

The Ganga kings trace themselves to Konganivarma Madhava, who ruled from Kuvalala, today’s Kolar, in the 4th century. Harivarma moved the seat to Talakad on the Kaveri, a town now half-buried under sand dunes that drift in from the riverbed, with its Vaidyeshvara and Kirtinarayana temples dug out of them. Durvinita in the 6th century is remembered in Ganga records as a scholar-king, credited with a commentary on Panini and with putting Gunadhya’s Brihatkatha into Sanskrit. The Gangas married into the Pallavas and Chalukyas and fought both.

02Allies of the Rashtrakutas

Shripurusha ruled for over sixty years in the 8th century, but his son Shivamara II was imprisoned by the Rashtrakuta Dhruva, and from then the Gangas were bound to Manyakheta. Under Krishna III the bond became an alliance in arms. At Takkolam in 949 the Ganga prince Butuga II, Krishna III’s brother-in-law, killed the Chola crown prince Rajaditya on his elephant with an arrow, and the battle broke Chola power for a generation. The Atakur inscription that records the victory also records Butuga’s gift to a man whose hound, Kali, died killing a wild boar; the dog is carved on the stone.

Battle · 949 CEBattle of TakkolamAt Takkolam the Rashtrakuta emperor Krishna III and his Ganga ally Butuga II broke the rising Chola power and killed its heir, a blow the Cholas took a generation to recover from.Read →

03Gommateshwara

Marasimha II fought for the Rashtrakutas to the very end and then, in 975, gave up his life by sallekhana at Bankapura in the presence of his guru. His successor Rachamalla IV’s minister and general, Chavundaraya, had the figure of Bahubali carved from the top of Vindhyagiri at Shravanabelagola, standing 57 feet, around 981–983. It is the largest free-standing monolithic statue in the world, and every twelve years or so it is anointed from scaffolds in the Mahamastakabhisheka. Chavundaraya also wrote the Chavundaraya Purana, early Kannada prose. About 1004 Rajaraja Chola’s army took Talakad and Gangavadi became Chola land.

The rulers

1. 1Konganivarma MadhavaFounder, at Kolarc. 350–370 CE
2. 2Madhava IIc. 370–390 CE
3. 3HarivarmaMoved the capital to Talakadc. 390–410 CE
4. 4Avinitac. 469–529 CE
5. 5DurvinitaScholar-king of the Ganga recordsc. 529–579 CE
6. 6Shivamara Ic. 629–679 CE
7. 7ShripurushaLong reign; fought the Pallavasc. 726–788 CE
8. 8Shivamara IIImprisoned by the Rashtrakuta Dhruvac. 788–816 CE
9. 9Rachamalla Ic. 817–853 CE
10. 10Ereganga Nitimargac. 853–869 CE
11. 11Butuga IIKilled Rajaditya at Takkolam, 949c. 938–961 CE
12. 12Marasimha IISallekhana at Bankapurac. 963–975 CE
13. 13Rachamalla IVGommateshwara raised by his ministerc. 975–986 CE
14. 14Rakkasa GangaAmong the last before the Chola conquestc. 986–999 CE

What they left

• Gommateshwara (Bahubali) at Shravanabelagola
• The Jain basadis of Chandragiri
• The Atakur inscription of 949
• Chavundaraya Purana in Kannada
• Talakad and its sand-buried temples