Mayurasharma

Mayurasharma (Kannada: ಮಯೂರಶರ್ಮ) (or Mayurasharman, Mayuravarma) (345–365 C.E.), a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda (in modern Shimoga district), was the founder of the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India. He took the name of Mayuravarma to emphasise his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya caste. Before the rise of the Kadambas, the centres of power ruling the land were outside of the Karnataka region; thus the Kadambas' ascent to power as an independent geo-political entity, with Kannada, the language of the soil as a major regional language, is a landmark event in the history of modern Karnataka with Mayurasharma as an important historical figure. The earliest Kannada language inscriptions are attributed to the Kadambas of Banavasi.