History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s4.30

c15.s4.30

Evidently the new family of the Chālukyas arose in the Andhra country, in the immediate vicinity of Berar. Pulakeśin's son Kirtivarman conquered the Kadambas and the small rulers of Aparānta, and Maṅgaleśa conquered the Kāṭachchuris, before which the Vākāṭakas had evidently already disappeared. The Vākāṭakas, therefore, must have ended with the Aśvamedha of Pulakeśin I. The ‘Rājā Jayasiṃha Vallabha’ who in the Aihole inscription is said to have founded the Chālukya family (E.I., Vol. VI, p. 14) is not credited with any conquest, nor is his son Raṇarāga. After Pulakeśin I his sons and grandson established their empire over the same territories which had been under the Vākāṭakas (Lāṭa, Mālava, Gurjara, Mahārāṣṭra, Kaliṅga, etc.), which means that they were the political successors of the Vākāṭakas and were laying their claim as such. This also explains their clash with the Pallavas, and their permanent enmity with them, the Pallavas being blood-relations [a junior branch] of the Vākāṭakas. The description of the ‘Rājā Jayasiṃha Vallabha’ (E.I., VI, 4, verse 5) shows that Jayasiṃha had been a Vallabha or revenue officer of the king of the former government, i.e. the Vākāṭaka. It seems that after Harisheṇa, in the reign of one of his descendants, probably a grandson, or on the failure of the Vākāṭaka line, Pulakeśin I stepped into the shoes of the Vākāṭakas and claimed their imperial dignity and position. Their inscriptions silently pass over the Vākāṭakas.