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

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

, who ruled Goa from the 10th to the 14th century CE. They took over the territories of the

Shilahara The Shilahara Kingdom (IAST: Śilāhāra; also Sinhara, Shailahara, Shrilara, and Silara) was a royal dynasty that established itself in northern and southern Konkan in 8th century CE, present-day Mumbai and Southern Maharashtra ( Kolhapur) ...

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, s ...

, later making Gopakapattana their capital.

Origins

According to the '' Talagunda'' inscription found in

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

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, the Kadambas are descended from Mayurasharma.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 dynasty in southern India. Tailapa claimed descent from the earlier Chalukyas of Vatapi, and initially ...

.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. Shashthadeva later conquered the city of

Chandrapur Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort cit ...

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 Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

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

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the 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 fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Gopakapattana was a pleasant commercial city, well connected with

Old Goa Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') 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 ...

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

Malik Kafur Malik Kafur (died 1316), also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat, and rose to promi ...

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

Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the you ...

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 (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

'' temples. They assumed titles like ''Konkanadhipati'', ''Saptakotisha Ladbha Varaveera'', ''Gopakapura varadhishva'', ''Konkanmahacharavarti'' and ''Panchamahashabda''. They married the royalty of Saurashtra and even local chieftains. The kings patronized the Vedic religion and performed major fire sacrifices ('' yagna'') and Ashvamedha yagna. They popularized

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...

and patronized

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

. The languages of Kadamba administration were

and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

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

Halekannada Old Kannada or Halegannada ( kn, ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ, Haḷegannaḍa) is the Kannada language which transformed from ''Purvada halegannada'' or ''Pre-old Kannada'' during the reign of the Kadambas of Banavasi (ancient royal dynasty of Kar ...

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 ma ...

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 upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

, philosophy,

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

, 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. 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 Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

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

Karwar Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India. Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urba ...

.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