Kadamba

The Kadambas were an ancient royal family of Karnataka who ruled the northern Deccan and the Konkan from Banavasi. Founded around 345 by Mayurasharma after he defeated the Pallavas of Kanchi, the kingdom reached its peak under Kakusthavarma and was the first native dynasty to use Kannada in administration.

From the mid-sixth century the Kadambas continued as feudatories of the Chalukyas and then the Rashtrakutas, splitting into lesser branches. The Goa branch was set up in 960 by Shashthadeva, a Chalukya feudatory who took Chandrapur from the Shilaharas and ruled from Chandor and then the wealthy port of Gopakapattana.

The Kadambas of Goa built Shiva temples and ran their courts in Sanskrit and Kannada. In the 1320s Khalji general Malik Kafur sacked Gopakapattana, and the line came to an end around 1345.