Trikalinga

The rulers of two ancient Indian dynasties - the eastern Gangas and the Somavamshis claimed the title Trikalingadhipati ("Lord of Trikalinga").

The earliest extant record to mention the term Trikalinga is the 537 CE Jirjingi inscription of the Eastern Ganga king Indra-varman I.

The 9th century Somavamshi king Maha-bhava-gupta Janamejaya I moved eastwards, from Kosala towards Kalinga, and claimed the title Trikalingadhipati in his inscriptions issued from a town called Suvarnapura.

[3] The 10th century poet Raja-shekhara uses the title Trilingadhipati ("Lord of Trilinga") for the earlier Kalachuri king Yuvaraja-deva I, in Viddha-shalabhanjika.

Mirashi speculates this to be a mistake for Trikalingadhipati, but historian A.M. Shastri disputes this pointing out that "Trilinga" is known to be a distinct geographical region.

[2] The 966 CE Parbhani inscription of the Vemulavada Chalukya chief Arikesari III states that his ancestor Yuddha-malla ruled over Vengi and the three Kalingas (sa-Kalinga-trayim Vengim), although this record does not use the exact term "Trikalinga".

For example:[1][2] The 1297 CE Rewa inscription of Kumara-pala of Kakaredika uses the title Trikalingadhipati for his overlord, the Chandela king Trailokya-varman, who did not actually rule the Trikalinga region.

For example, Alexander Cunningham identified Trikalinga with the three kingdoms referred to as "Macco-Calingae", "Gangarides-Calingae", and "Calingae" by the first century Roman author Pliny.

A.C. Burnell generally agreed with Cunningham, and interpreted the "Modogalingae" mentioned by Pliny as "Modogalingam", deriving the term from the Telugu word "Mudu" (three) and "Kalinga".