The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s12.155

c8.s12.155

An important event of the reign of Pulikêśin II. was the establishment of the Eastern Branch of the Chalukya family in the country of Veṅgî, which was probably made a part of the Chalukya dominions during the campaign that included the conquest of Piṭṭâpuram. The Sâtârâ grant, with the subsequent eastern records, shews that in A.D. 615 his younger brother Viṣṇuvardhana I., who in the Sâtârâ record is called his priyânuja or "dear younger brother," was joined with him in the government as Yuvarâja, and in A.D. 616 or 617 was administering a part of the western territory. Evidently, not long after that date it was found that the kingdom was too extensive to be managed entirely from the western capital at Bâdâmi, and Viṣṇuvardhana I. was deputed to administer the Veṅgî territory, in the same capacity of Yuvarâja. And then, whether it came to pass through a formal division of the kingdom by mutual consent, or whether there was a distinct act of rebellion on the part of the younger brother, in no great length of time, and at any rate before A.D. 632, Viṣṇuvardhana became established on the eastern coast as a sovereign in his own right; and he founded there the Eastern Branch of the family, which held that part of the country for five centuries at least and remained distinct from and independent of the Western Branch, down to the latest times of both the dynasties.²