The Kadambas of Goa were a dynasty during the Late Classical period on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, who ruled

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

from the 10th to the 14th century CE. They took over the territories of the

Shilahara Shilahara was a royal dynasty that established itself in northern and southern Konkan in 8th century CE, present-day Mumbai and Southern Maharashtra ( Kolhapur) during the Rashtrakuta period. The founder of the Shilahara dynasty, Sanaphulla, ...

s and ruled them at first from

Chandor Chandor is a village in Salcete sub-district of South Goa, in the Indian state of Goa. It lies on the southern bank of the Zuari River and western bank of the Kushavati River. History The ancient city of Chandrapura, where Chandor now stands, ...

, later making Gopakapattana their capital.

Origins

According to the '' Talagunda'' inscription found in

Shimoga Shimoga, officially Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the Karnataka state of India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of the Western Ghats, the city ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, the Kadambas are descended from

Mayurasharma Mayurasharma or Mayuravarma (reigned 345–365 CE), a native of Talagunda (in modern Shimoga district), was the founder of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnatak ...

.George M. Moares (1931), The Kadamba Kula, A History of Ancient and Medieval Karnataka, Asian Educational Services, 1990, p10

Establishment of a separate dynasty

As a feudatory of the

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

s, Kadamba Shasthadeva was appointed as the '' Mahamandaleshwar'' of Goa by the Chalukya king,

Tailapa II Tailapa II (r. c. 973-997) also known as Taila II and by his title ''Ahavamalla'', was the founder of the Western Chalukyas, Western Chalukya Empire in peninsular India. Tailapa claimed descent from the earlier imperial Chalukyas of Vatapi (Bad ...

.Moraes (1931), pp.88–93 According to the Savai vere inscription, the Kadambas were allies of the Chalukyas, whom they helped to defeat the

Rashtrakutas The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian polity ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta Indian inscriptions, inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing th ...

. Shashthadeva later conquered the city of Chandrapur from the

s and established the Goan Kadamba dynasty in 960 CE.

Gopakapattana

King Shashthadeva conquered Goa, Port Gopakapattana and Kapardikadvipa and annexed a large part of South Konkan to his kingdom, making Gopakpattana his subsidiary capital. The next King, Jayakeshi I, further expanded the Goan kingdom. A Jain

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

text, mentions the extension of his capital and that Port Gopakapattna had trade contacts with

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Gopakapattana was a pleasant commercial city, well connected with

Old Goa Old Goa (Konkani: ; ) is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. The city was established by the Bijapur ...

and a trading hub for over 300 years. In the 1320s it was looted by Khalji general

Malik Kafur Malik Kafur (died February 1316), also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan Jalesari, Nusrat Khan during the Alauddin Khalji's co ...

. The Kadambas went back to Chandor, but returned to Gopakapattana when

Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (; ; 1290 – 20 March 1351), or Muhammad II, also named Jauna Khan as Crown Prince, further known by his epithets, The Eccentric Prince, or The Mad Sultan, was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from 4 February 1 ...

overcame

Administration

During the rule of the Kadambas, the name and fame of ''Goapuri'' reached its zenith. Goa's religion, culture, trade and arts flourished and the dynasty built many ''

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

'' temples. They assumed titles like ''Konkanadhipati'', ''Saptakotisha Ladbha Varaveera'', ''Gopakapura varadhishva'', ''Konkanmahacharavarti'' and ''Panchamahashabda''. They married the royalty of

Saurashtra Saurashtra, Sourashtra, or variants may refer to: ** Kathiawar, also called Saurashtra Peninsula, a peninsula in western India ** Saurashtra (state), alias United State of Kathiawar, a former Indian state, merged into Bombay State and since its d ...

and even local chieftains. The kings patronized the Vedic religion and performed major fire sacrifices (''

yagna In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, ɐd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature called Brahmanas, as well a ...

'') and Ashvamedha yagna. They popularized

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and patronized

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

. The languages of Kadamba administration were

and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

. They introduced the Kannada language to Goa, where it exercised a profound influence on the local language. The Nagari, Kadamba, Halekannada and

Goykanadi or Kandavī is a Brahmic script that was once used in the territory of Goa to write Konkani and sometimes Marathi in the Konkan coast. Similarly, it was used by the trading Saraswat and Daivajna families along with the Modi script to maint ...

scripts were very popular. It is known from another inscription that Tribhuvanamalla established a ''Brahmapuri'' at Gopaka. Brahmapuris were ancient universities run by Brahmins, where

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, and other subjects were taught. They were found in Goa, Savoi verem, Gauli moula, and elsewhere. Kadambas ruled Goa for more than 400 years. until 1345 CE.

In popular culture

Goa Government-owned bus service is named after the Kadambas Dynasty and is known as

Kadamba Transport Corporation Kadamba Transport Corporation (Konkani language, Konkani: कदंब येरादारी म्हामंडळ), abbreviated as KTC, is a Government of Goa road transport undertaking. It was set up in 1980 by then Chief Minister Pratap ...

. The royal lion emblem of the Kadambas is used a logo on its buses. The logo has been used since the corporation's inception in 1980. On 31 May 2005 Defence minister of India

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

commissioned India's most advanced and first dedicated military naval base named INS Kadamba in

Karwar Karwar is a coastal City and the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district, formerly part of the Bombay Presidency, located at the mouth of the Kali River (Karnataka), Kali river along the Konkan Coast in the present-day state of Ka ...

.Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the first phase of India's giant western naval base INS Kadamba in

, Karnataka state, on 31 May.

External links

Coins of the Kadambas of Goa

References

{{reflist History of Goa Hindu dynasties Kadambas Dynasties of India Former countries in South Asia