Coorg Inscriptions - Kadambas

During the British rule, a number of inscriptions were unearthed and deciphered. The earliest express mention of the Kodavas that has been met with in inscriptions is in 1174, in the time of the Hoysala king Vira-Ballala. They are also mentioned in 1722, in the time of Chikka Deva-Raja of Mysore. But the name Kudakam (Coorg) apparently occurs in Tamil literature as far back as the 2nd century.

According to the Kaveri Purana, Kodavas are supposed to be the descendants of a Kadamba prince named Chandravarmma. The origin and rise of the Kadambas is described in the fine old inscription on a pillar at Talagunda in the Shikarpur taluq of Mysore. According to this, a Brahman student in the agrahara of Sthanakundur (Talagunda) was the progenitor of the royal line. He went to the Pallava capital (Kanchivaram) in order to complete his studies, but owing to a violent quarrel there with Pallava horsemen, he resolved, for the purpose of revenging the insults he had received as a Brahman, to become a Kshattriya. Training himself in the use of arms, he escaped to the forests leading to Sriparvata (Karnul District), where he became so powerful, levying tribute from the great Bana (or Brihad-Bana) and other kings, that the Pallavas found it impossible to put him down. They therefore resolved to recognize him as a king, and installed him in a territory extending to the Western Ocean. He is known as Mayuravarmma. Of his successors, one of the most distinguished was Kakustha, whose daughters were given in marriage to the Gupta and other kings. The reference is probably to Samudra-Gupta, who made an expedition throughout the South, as recorded on the pillar at Allahabad. Another daughter was apparently given to the Ganga king of Mysore. The Kadambas were subdued by the Chalukyas from the North in the 6th century, but held subordinate positions for several centuries later. It can be seen from the inscriptions that Kadamba states existed in the 11th century in the country now called Manjarabad, in the north of Coorg; and in the 10th to the 12th century in Bayalnad, now called Wynad, to the south of Coorg; as well as in Hangal and Goa.

Of the Kadambas of Manjarabad there is an inscription in Coorg itself dated in 1095. It relates to a king named Duddharasa, and is a vira-sasana erected to his memory by his brother Jujarasa. Duddha is described as a maha-mandalesvara, lord of Tripura, sun to the Balindra-kula, a pleasure-garden of the Malepas (or hill chiefs), his father's warrior (ayyan-ankakdra), and has other titles. He protected Maleya (Malabar), and was governing Samhutha-nad, Pakuvadi and other places; having 15 horses, 50 male servants, 250 strong men (ekkatigaru), 45 retainers of good family, and a retinue of many subjects, guards, relatives, and landholders. He was the son of Hitteyarasa and Junjala-Devi. At the request of his wife Chikkala-Devi, he had a tank made. He also endowed Brahmans, and formed rice-fields at the river. The inscription was apparently composed by Molate-Duddhamalla, his minister for peace and war, and written by the senabova's son Bamma-deva.

Source: Coorg Inscriptions, Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. I by Lewis Rice