Part 37 - Gangaraju (A.D. 1427-1435)

The earliest record of Gangaraju is from Simhachalam dated A.D. 1427 mentioning king Gangaraju, son of Bhairava of Silavamsa. In the Telugu portion of the record, he is mentioned as Pratapa Gangarajungaru, the son of Bayyaraju of Nandapura and lord of Silavamsa. It registers the gifts of Singaraju, son of Jayanta of the Matsyas and maternal uncle of Gangaraju, for his own merit. Gangy’s next record is from Srikurmam dated A.D. 1435 recording his grant of Kakatapalli to Kurmesvara. Ganga’s reign was short.

His Political Relations

Unlike those of his predecessors the records of Gangaraja are at Snkurmam also. He possessed a good army and in A.D. 1427 gave lands in Bobbilidesa to the generals Yerra, Tipiri and Kurumayi. A warrior, Ganga seems to have extended the kingdom for one of his records says that he washed his sword in the ocean. It must have been that towards the close of his reign, about A.D. 1434 he led an expedition as far as the Bay of Bengal in the east, conquered some of the local rulers and thus extended his power in that direction. That his kingdom extended northwords beyond the hanguly (?) falls to ground for payorasi means ocean and not hangulya. He would not have done this independently for Bhanudeva IV, the last of the Gangas was followed by Kapilesvara in this period, who subdued all the local dynasties and the Silas were no exception. So as a feudatory of Kapilesvara, that Ganga with Gajapati support, must have achieved some victories over his enemies.

The Matsya contemporary of Gangaraja was Pratapavallabha the successor of Arjuna III. The Silas and the Matsyas were connected by alliances of marriages. For king Ganga’s mother, and queen of Bhairava was the daughter of Jayanta of the Matsyas and sister of Smgaraju. Probably the Silas were helped by the Matsyas in extending their kingdom.