Ganga governors (Kalinga south)

Who he is

Name

not known; the king is Rajaraja III (reign c.1198-1211, Wikipedia list)

Title

Governors and feudatory chiefs of the Eastern Ganga kings on the Andhra coast

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

Eastern Gangas of Kalinga: Anangabhima II (c.1190-1198), Rajaraja III (c.1198-1211), Anangabhima III (c.1211-1238)

Confidence

low

Wikipedia's Eastern Ganga, Anangabhima Deva III and Kalinganagara articles (read): the dynasty's early seat is Kalinganagara (Mukhalingam); Chodaganga's realm reached the Godavari; the Anangabhima III page confuses numbering and gives no inscriptions for 1190-1215. Wikipedia says Chodaganga moved the capital to Kataka (Cuttack) in 1122; other sources say 1230. Nothing I read names a governor for 1200.

What it holds

• Kalinganagara (Mukhalingam) and the Vamsadhara country
• Srikakulam and the Nagavali crossing
• Kalingapatnam, Salihundam
• Srikurmam and Simhachalam temple estates

Allies and rivals

King: Rajaraja III at Cuttack or Kalinganagara. Neighbours: Velanati Prithviswara (south), the Kakatiyas (south-west), the hill peoples of the Ghats.

How things stand that morning

Ruling by temples and governors; quiet.

Places of note

• Kalinganagara (Mukhalingam): Old Ganga seat.
• Srikakulam: Nagavali crossing.

Where the sources disagree

• Board 'the-godavari-frontier': 'Claiming it and holding it are different games': agreed. Board 'simhachalam' calls it 'the southernmost great Ganga foundation' with an inscription of 1098 (Chodaganga); Wikipedia's Simhachalam article gives the earliest inscription as 1087 (a Chola private gift) and the Ganga records as 1150-1430.

Evidence: Three Wikipedia articles (read); no inscription of 1190-1200 was readable.

Primary sources for Eastern Gangas

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
• Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
• Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
• Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
• The Song of Govinda, Jayadeva (late 12th century, by tradition at the court of Lakshmanasena of Bengal). A literary witness, not a chronicle. Read online