Rajaraja III

Who he is

Name

Rajaraja III (Rajaraja Deva III)

Title

Maharajadhiraja, lord of the three Kalingas

Since

1198 (English Wikipedia: "succeeded his father in 1198")

Born

not known

Family

Son of Anangabhima II (c. 1190 to 1198), grandson of Rajaraja II (c. 1170 to 1190), great-grandson of Anantavarman Chodaganga on the usual list; his son Anangabhima III succeeds him in 1211. No queen is named in the pages we opened.

Confidence

medium

English Wikipedia: Eastern Ganga dynasty (king list), Anangabhima III, Jagannath Temple and Lingaraja Temple. Rajaraja II's gold gifts to Lingaraja are recorded on an inscription of Saka 1094 (1172 CE). The Dasgoba plate of 1198/99 is the nearest dated record we know of for this reign.

Overlord

None. The Gangas rule as servants of Purushottama (Jagannatha); the formal Rauta title comes only under Anangabhima III.

What it holds

• The royal domain in each of Utkala and Kalinga (crown villages, tolls on the Mahanadi and the coast road)
• Puri and the temple of Purushottama (the largest endowment in the land), Bhubaneswar and its temples, Jajpur
• The ports of the Chilika coast (Manikpatna, Palur) and the salt pans
• The hill and forest chiefs as feudatories (see Ganga hill feudatories)

How it was acquired

Succeeded his father in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the Kalachuris of Ratnapura on the Kosala border; the Senas on the Subarnarekha (Lakshmanasena claims a victory pillar at Puri); the Telugu Chodas and Kakatiyas to the south; the Cholas, weak. No alliance is recorded.

How things stand that morning

Newly seated, with the court and the temple intact. The capital is not pinned: Kalinganagara (the Southern India map's ground) or Kataka. Nothing from the Ghurids or the Senas has been felt.

Wealth

Rice of the coastal plain, salt of the Chilika pans, iron of Keonjhar, elephants of the Kalinga forests, the offerings of Puri, and the Chilika and Manikpatna ports; gold coins with a bull and a regnal year (English Wikipedia).

Military

Maha Senapati, Senapati, Dalapati and Nayaka ranks; hill and forest levies; elephants; river and coastal craft. No numbers.

Threats

• Kalachuri raids in Kosala
• Sena claims on the north
• A short reign or a disputed succession

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1205 to 1206After Bakhtiyar takes Lakhnauti, his captain Muhammad Shiran is sent toward Jajnagar (Odisha) and goes back; Bakhtiyar dies in 1206.Depends on: The Ghurids hold Lakhnauti. Stopped by: A stronger Ghurid push; or a Ganga guard on the Subarnarekha.
2. 1211Rajaraja III dies; Anangabhima III succeeds and later beats the Kalachuris at Seori Narayana and the Bengal governor Iwaz's armies and river fleet.Depends on: The reign runs thirteen years. Stopped by: Earlier death.

Places of note

• Cuttack: Northern seat.
• Puri: Temple town.

Where the sources disagree

• The brief says "from about 1198". English Wikipedia's Eastern Ganga page says 1198; the Anangabhima III page says Rajaraja II (an error for III) came to power in 1198. We follow the king list.

Evidence: A king list and one plate; the personality of the reign is unknown.

On the map: Two core patches; the realm record draws the whole corridor.

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