Shivamara II was the son of Sripurusha and ruled the

Western Ganga Dynasty Western Ganga was an important ruling dynasty of ancient Karnataka in India which lasted from about 350 to 999 CE. They are known as "Western Gangas" to distinguish them from the Eastern Ganga Dynasty, Eastern Gangas who in later centuries r ...

from 788 – 816 C.E. He was also a noted scholar in

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 ...

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 ...

and

Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...

. He succeeded to the Ganga throne during a time when the Rashtrakuta were the empire on the rise in South India and the Deccan.

Conflict with Rashtrakuta

The Rashtrakuta monarch

Dhruva Dharavarsha Dhruva (r. 780 – 793 CE) was one of the most notable rulers of the Rashtrakuta Empire. He ascended the imperial throne after replacing his elder brother Govinda II. Govinda II had become unpopular among his subjects on account of his various ...

defeated Shivamara in Mudagunduru and took the Ganga king captive. The Rashtrakuta then took direct control of the Gangavadi with the appointment of Kambharasa, son of Dhruva Dharavarsha as its governor. He was later released, only to be imprisoned again during the rule of Govinda III when he refused to pay the Rashtrakuta tribute. Shivamara II again was released only to defy the Rashtrakuta yoke by waging wars. He died fighting them in 816. Manne near Bangalore was one of his capitals during this time. In spite of being imprisoned on multiple occasions and being at constant war, he found the time to write literary works, including ''Gajashtaka'' in

, ''Gajamathakalpana'' in

and ''Sethubandha'' in

. According to historian Kamath, he is considered to be one of the famous kings of the Western Ganga Dynasty.

References

* Suryanath U. Kamat, ''Concise History of Karnataka'', 2001, MCC, Bangalore (Reprint 2002)

External links

History of Karnataka by Dr.Arthikaje

816 deaths 8th-century Indian monarchs 9th-century Indian monarchs Western Ganga kings Kannada-language writers Year of birth unknown 8th-century Indian writers 9th-century Indian writers {{India-royal-stub