An indication of their imperial ambitions is provided by the titles and epithets assumed by its rulers, and the marital relations they kept with other kingdoms and empires, such as the Vakatakas and Guptas of northern India.

Historians Chopra et al. claim the Kadambas were none other than the Kadambu tribe who were in conflict with the Chera kingdom (of modern Kerala) during the Sangam era.

Nandi, since the inscription states the family got its name by tending to the totem tree that bore the beautiful Kadamba flowers, it is an indication of their tribal origin.

According to the Talagunda and the Gudnapur inscriptions, they belonged to the Manavya Gotra and were Haritiputrās ("descendants of Hariti lineage"), which connected them to the native Chutus of Banavasi, a vassal of the Satavahana empire and the Chalukyas who succeeded them.

He collected a faithful group of followers, routed the Pallava armies and Antarapalas (frontier guards) and firmly rooted himself in the dense forests of the modern Srisailam (Sriparvata) region.

After a prolonged period of low intensity warfare against the Pallavas and other smaller kings such as the Brihad-Banas of Kolar region, he was able to levy tributes from the Banas and other kingdoms and finally proclaimed independence.

[18][19][20] The inscription gives a graphic description of the happenings after the Kanchi incident: That the hand dexterous in grasping the Kusha grass, fuel and stones, ladle, melted butter and the oblation vessel, unsheathed a flaming sword, eager to conquer the earth[15]Thus, according to Ramesh, in an act of righteous indignation was born the first native kingdom of Karnataka, and the Pallava King Skandavarman condescended to recognize the growing might of the Kadambas south of the Malaprabha river as a sovereign power.

Majumdar considers Krishnavarma's rule as somewhat obscure due to lack of his inscriptions though the records issued by his sons credit him with efficient administration and an ashvamedha (horse sacrifice).

[28][20] Numerous inscriptions from his rule, starting from fifth up to the thirty-fifth regnal years give a vivid picture of his successes which was marked by a series of clashes within the family, and also against the Pallavas and the Gangas.

[43] That the Kadambas of Banavasi were a prosperous kingdom is attested to by the famous Aihole inscription of the Chalukyas which describes Banavasi in these terms: Resembling the city of gods and a girdle of swans playing on the high waves of the river Varada[44]The Kadamba kings, like their predecessors the Satavahanas, called themselves Dharmamaharajas (lit, "Virtuous kings") and followed them closely in their administrative procedures.

The Gavundas formed the elite land owners who were the intermediaries between the king and the farmers collecting taxes, maintaining revenue records and providing military support to the royal family.

[55] Numerous inscriptions, mainly from the modern Shimoga, Bijapur, Belgaum, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada regions (the ancient divisions of Belvola-300, Puligere-300, Banavasi-12,000) mention cattle raids, cowherds and shepherds.

[56] Mixed farming, a combination of grazing and cultivation, mostly controlled by the wealthy Gavunda peasantry (today's Gowdas), seems to be the thing to do, for both the quantum of grain produced and number of cattle head determined opulence.

Other crops that were also cultivated were barley (yava), areca nut (kramuka), fallow millet (joladakey), wheat (godhuma), pulses (radaka), flowers were mostly for temple use and such lands called pundota, fruits such as plantains (kadali) and coconuts are also mentioned.

[61] Functioning purely on the excess produce of the rural hinterland were the urban centers, the cities and towns (mahanagara, pura, and Polal) that often find mention in Kannada classics such as Vaddaradhane (c. 900) and Pampa Bharata (c. 940).

[64] However, from the seventh century onward, the growing popularity of Jainism and Buddhism became a cause for concern to the Hindu saints who saw the growth of these new faiths as heretic to mainstream Hinduism.

Their main purpose was to energize and revive Hindu Bhakti among the masses and bring back followers of sects considered primitive, such as the Kalamukhas, Kapalikas and Pasupatas, into mainstream Hinduism.

[68] The founding king Mayurasharma was, according to the Talagunda inscription, a Brahmin by birth though his successors may have assumed the surnameVarma to indicate their change to Kshatriya (warrior) status.

According to Sircar, some fifth and sixth century inscriptions have an invocation of Hari-Hara-Hiranyagarbha and Hara-Narayana Brahman (Hari and Hara are another name of the Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva).

Installation of images of Jain monks (Jaina) in temples and a steady move toward ritualistic worship among the laymen undermined the concept of "quest for salvation" and the ascetic vigor of the religion.

In the seventh century, the Chinese embassy Xuanzang described Banavasi as a place of one hundred Sangharamas where ten thousand scholars of both the Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism lived.

Jinasena's classic Adipurana counts purity of ancestry, physical health and soundness of mind as the main attributes that made a person worthy of such initiation.

According to Upendra Singh, The largest concentration of such stones, numbering about 2650 and dated to between the fifth and thirteenth centuries, are found in the modern Karnataka region of India.

The Gollarahatti and the Atakur inscription are in memory of a dog that died fighting wild boar, and the Tambur inscription of a Kadamba king of the Goa branch describes his death from sorrow of losing his pet parrot to a cat,[77] and the Kuppatur stone was in memory of a bonded servant who was given the honorific "slayer of the enemy" (ripu-mari) for bravely fighting and killing a man-eater Tiger with his club before succumbing to his injuries.

According to him, even in the Atharva Veda, there is only a passing reference of widow being required to lie by the side of her husband's corpse on the funeral pyre, then alight from it before it was lit, for the chanting of hymns to commence that blessed her with future wealth and children.

Medieval sculptures depict youth in physical combat training, doing gymnastics such as lifting the weight of the body with both hands, and doing muscular exercises such as bending a crowbar.

It mentions a special breed of hunting dogs chosen from places such as the modern Jalandhar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha which were preferred for their stamina in chasing and cornering the prey.

Further, according to Adiga, the pillar inscription supports the claim that the earliest structure existed there as early as the third century and was under the patronage of the Chutu Satakarnis of Banavasi.

Soudara Rajan, the Kadambas created three rock-cut Vedic cave temples cut out of laterite at Arvalem in Goa.

Like their temples, the caves too have an Ardhamantapa ("half mantapa") with plain pillars and a sanctum which contain images of Surya (the sun god), Shiva and Skanda.