The Eastern Gangas of Kalinga

Who rules

Name

Rajaraja III

Title

Maharajadhiraja Rajaraja III (Rajaraja Deva III), lord of the three Kalingas (Trikalingadhipati)

Since

1198 (English Wikipedia, Eastern Ganga dynasty: "succeeded his father in 1198"; the Dasgoba copper plate is dated 1198/99)

Born

not known

Family

Eastern Ganga dynasty; son of Aniyankabhima (Anangabhima II, 1190-1198); grandson of Rajaraja II (1170-1190); father of Anangabhima III (reigned 1211-1238). The Gangas descend from Anantavarman Chodaganga (c. 1078-1150).

Confidence

medium

Reign dates from the English Wikipedia king list, which gives Rajaraja III as c. 1198-1211; the Dasgoba plate of 1198/99 is the only dated record of him cited. Other lists differ by a year or two (the brief says "not pinned").

Overlord

None. The Gangas hold of the god Jagannatha in the sense of legitimacy; the formal step (Anangabhima III as the deity's Rauta, dating his years by Purushottama) comes in 1238.

What the realm holds

• Utkala: the Mahanadi delta, Kataka (Cuttack), Jajpur (Viraja), Kendrapara, Bhadrak and the Vaitarani country
• The Ekamra country (Bhubaneswar with its temples) and Purushottama-kshetra (Puri, the Jagannatha temple and its estates)
• The lagoon country (Chilika, Manikpatna, Palur) and Ganjam
• Kalinga proper to the south: Mahendragiri, Paralakhemundi, Kalinganagara (Mukhalingam), the Srikakulam coast (Southern India map)
• Hill and forest feudatories: Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar (Khiching), Khondmal, Boudh, Talcher, Athagarh
• Western claims, contested with the Kalachuris of Ratanpur: Sambalpur, Sonepur, Patnagarh (Kosala) and the Kalahandi tract
• The northern frontier on the Subarnarekha with the Senas (Remuna and the Balasore country)

How it was acquired

Chodaganga united Kalinga and took Utkala in 1112 (English Wikipedia, Jagannath Temple); the line has held it since. Rajaraja III succeeded his father in 1198.

Allies and rivals

The Kalachuris of Ratnapura on the Kosala border (Kamarnava VII failed against them; Anangabhima III later takes the Sambalpur-Bolangir tract); the Senas on the Subarnarekha (Lakshmanasena claims Kalinga and a victory pillar at Puri); the Velanati Chodas and Kakatiyas in the south; the Cholas, now weak. The Ghurids are not yet within reach.

The realm that morning

A new reign, a settled coast and a famous temple. No Ghurid or Sena force is near; the frontier on the Subarnarekha has no recorded raid in the 1190s. The temple of Jagannatha at Puri stands in its main mass (begun after 1112; a gift of Chodaganga on a plate of 1134 to 1135) and feeds a great number of pilgrims; the king's claim to rule rests on it more than on any fortress, because there are almost none. Which city is the capital in 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

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

Military

Maha Senapati, Senapati, Dalapati and Nayaka ranks; a navy under Chodaganga; forest and hill levies; elephants. Provinces (maha mandala) under a Mahamandalika, then mandalas and visayas (English Wikipedia). No numbers.

Threats

• Ghurid columns reaching the Mahanadi after the fall of Lakhnauti (1205: Muhammad Shiran toward Jajnagar, withdrawn)
• Sena pressure on the Subarnarekha
• Kalachuri and Kakatiya pressure on the west and south
• A short reign and a young heir

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. 1205After Bakhtiyar's conquest of Lakhnauti, Muhammad Shiran Khalji is sent toward Jajnagar (Odisha) and withdraws after Bakhtiyar's death in 1206, without invading (English Wikipedia).Depends on: The Ghurids hold Lakhnauti; Bakhtiyar dies. Stopped by: A Ghurid advance to the Mahanadi.
2. 1211Rajaraja III dies; his son Anangabhima III succeeds (reign 1211-1238). The Dasgoba plate (1198/99) is the nearest dated record of the father.Depends on: The reign runs thirteen years. Stopped by: An earlier death or a disputed succession.
3. 1211 or 1230Kataka (Cuttack) becomes the capital: 1211 on the English Wikipedia Cuttack page, 1230 on the Anangabhima III page; Barabati fort is built there.Depends on: The northern seat is chosen over Kalinganagara. Stopped by: The move waits.
4. 1238Anangabhima III declares himself the deity's deputy (Rauta) and dates his regnal years by Purushottama. Konark is later still (about 1250).Depends on: The Jagannatha cult is complete. Stopped by: A defeat.

Places of note

• Puri (Jagannatha): Temple town; legitimacy of the dynasty.
• Kataka (Cuttack): Northern camp city.
• Kalinganagara (Mukhalingam): Southern royal city; the Southern India map's ground.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry powers blurb: "Anangabhima III moves the seat to Cuttack in 1230". English Wikipedia's Cuttack page gives 1211 for the same event, and the Anangabhima page 1230. Both are later than 1200; the capital for 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
• The campaign board entry konark-arka-kshetra: the sun temple of Konark is of about 1250; not yet in 1200. Chandrabhaga tirtha is an older bathing place.
• The campaign board entry kalinganagara-mukhalingam is N:sin; anchored only.
• The assignment lists "Chandrapur" among the towns; the campaign board has no Chandrapur on this ground (it has Chandanpur, a pilgrim halt near Puri), so we treat the name as a slip.
• English Wikipedia says the Jagannath temple was begun after 1112 and gives 1161 as completion in the infobox; the campaign board says its main mass stands by the mid-century. Anangabhima III is credited with finishing the work in the 1230s.

Evidence: Copper-plate inscriptions with regnal years exist for the dynasty (Dasgoba 1198/99, Kapilash 1246) but the order of kings is reconstructed and nothing more is dated for Rajaraja III; the Madala Panji is a late temple chronicle.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: The Ganga writ was a corridor with hill chiefs behind it; the Kosala part is held by custom, not garrison, and the western edge is guessed.

Primary sources for this realm

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