Eastern Ganga dynasty

The Eastern Ganga dynasty ruled Kalinga, roughly modern Odisha, for nearly a thousand years, and its imperial phase between the late 11th and early 15th centuries is remembered as a golden age of temple building. The dynasty probably originated among the Western Gangas of Karnataka and rose in southern Kalinga in the 5th century, first from Dantapura and later from Kalinganagara, modern Mukhalingam. Under Anantavarman Chodaganga, who reigned from about 1078 to 1147, the Gangas extended their power from the Ganges delta to the Godavari and began the great Jagannath temple at Puri. His successors moved the capital to Kataka, modern Cuttack, and defended the kingdom against Muslim invasions from Bengal while fostering trade and the Odia language. The wealth of the state went into monumental temples: the Sun Temple at Konark, built by Narasimhadeva I in the 13th century, and the temples of Bhubaneswar are among the finest surviving examples of Kalinga architecture. The imperial line ended with Bhanudeva IV in the 1430s, after which Gajapati rulers and the Khemundi branch continued to hold parts of the region. The Gangas also issued distinctive gold coins known as Ganga fanams.