Kadamba Dynasty

Kadambas of Banavasi
ಬನವಾಸಿ ಕದಂಬರು
Empire (Subordinate to Pallava until 345)
345–525
Extent of Kadamba Empire, 500 CE
Capital		Banavasi
Languages		Sanskrit Kannada
Religion		Hinduism Jainism
Government		Monarchy
Maharaja
•	345–365	Mayurasharma
		Krishna Varma II
History
•	Earliest Kadamba records	450
•	Established	345
•	Disestablished	525
Preceded by Succeeded by Pallava dynasty Chalukya dynasty
Today part of		India

Kadamba (345 – 525 CE) was an ancient royal dynasty of Karnataka, India that ruled northern Karnataka and the Konkan from Banavasi in present-day Uttara Kannada district. At the peak of their power under King Kakushtavarma, the Kadambas of Banavasi ruled large parts of modern Karnataka state.

The dynasty was founded by Mayurasharma in 345 CE which at later times showed the potential of developing into imperial proportions, an indication to which is provided by the titles and epithets assumed by its rulers. King Mayurasharma defeated the armies of Pallavas of Kanchi possibly with help of some native tribes. The Kadamba fame reached its peak during the rule of Kakusthavarma, a notable ruler with whom even the kings of Gupta Dynasty of northern India cultivated marital alliances. Tiring of the endless battles and bloodshed, one of the later descendants, King Shivakoti adopted Jainism. The Kadambas were contemporaries of the Western Ganga Dynasty and together they formed the earliest native kingdoms to rule the land with absolute autonomy. The dynasty later continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires, for over five hundred years during which time they branched into minor dynasties known as the Kadambas of Goa, Kadambas of Halasi and Kadambas of Hangal.

During the pre-Kadamba era the ruling families that controlled the Karnataka region, the Mauryas, and the Satavahanas were not natives of the region and the nucleus of power resided outside present day Karnataka. The Kadambas were the first indigenous dynasty to use Kannada, the language of the soil, at an administrative level. In the history of Karnataka, this era serves as a broad based historical starting point in the study of the development of region as an enduring geo-political entity and Kannada as an important regional language. Their legacy was so impressive that even the Vijayanagar rulers who fought Deccan Sultanates hired descendants of the Kadambas to manage their Goa military naval fleet.