Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s11: 11. Western Chālukyas
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s11
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11. Western Chālukyas
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The Western Chālukyas, after an eclipse of 200 years by the Rāshṭrakūṭas or Raṭṭas, regained their ascendancy, as above stated, in 973. Of Taila, who restored their power, Sk 125 says: "The earth and the crown having fallen into the hands of the Raṭṭas, he drove the kings of the Raṭṭa kingdom before him, put them down and overwhelmed them, this millstone (*gharaṭṭa*) to the Raṭṭas, and took possession of the crown of the Chālukya kingdom.” But Cd 25 of 971, if it can be relied on, represents Taila’s father Vikramāditya as already an independent ruler. The inscriptions of the revived Western Chālukyas are mostly confined to the Shimoga District, where they continued to hold the Banavase and Kadambalige provinces. A complete account of the whole line, from its origin down to Vikramāditya Tribhuvanamalla in 1123, is given in Dg 1. But the following is the table of the later Western Chālukyas:—
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1. Tailapa, Nūrmmadi Taila, Āhavamalla, 973-997, m. Jakabbe, dr. of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Kakkala
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2. Satyāśraya, Iriva-bedenga, 997-1009, Daśavarmma, m. Ambikā-Dēvi m. Bhāgala-Dēvi
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3. Vikrama, Vikramāditya, 4. Jayasimha, Tribhuvanamalla, Jagadēkamalla, 1009-1018 1018-1042
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5. Sōmēśvara (I), Trailōkyamalla, Āhavamalla, 1042-1068
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6. Sōmēśvara (II) 7. Vikramāditya, Jayasimha, Vishnuvarddhana Bhuvanaikamalla, Vikramānka, Permmāḍi, Vīra-Nolamba Vijayāditya 1068-1076 Tribhuvanamalla,
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8. Sōmēśvara (III), Sarvajna, Bhūlōkamalla, 1126-1138
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9. Jagadēkamalla, Permma, 10. Tailapa, Nūrmmadi Taila, 1138-1150 Trailōkyamalla, 1150-1182
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11. Sōmēśvara (IV), Tribhuvanamalla,
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Tailapa is described in Sk 125 as eager for war with Chōla and a terror to him. In Hs 50 is an inscription of 997 ascribed to the beginning of the reign of Pampā-Dēvi, daughter of the Chālukya Permmānaḍi. But there is no further information about her. Possibly she was the daughter of Satyāśraya, said to have been married to the Pallava king Iriva-Nolambādhirāja. Satyāśraya also had a son, Kundamarasa or Kundaka-Rāja, who was viceroy and governor of Banavase in 1012 (Sk 287), with the seat of his government at Balipura or Belgāmi (Sk 125). He was still in the same position in 1025 (Sa 7). Jayasimha Jagadēkamalla, Satyāśraya’s younger brother, next came to the throne. He caused the lotus king Bhōja to shut up, and was a lion to the elephant Rājēndra Chōla. In 1032 he was enjoying sports at Etagiri (Yatagiri in the Nizam’s Dominions). In 1036 he was at Pottalakere (Sk 126), and made a grant to Vādi-Rudraguṇa or Lakulīśvara-paṇḍita for repairs to the temple of the Pancha Linga at Balligāve, which had been set up by the Pāṇḍavas when they came there after performing the Rājasūya sacrifice. This Lakulīśvara has been supposed to be the same as the founder of the Pāśupata sect, whose career it had appeared began at Mēlpāḍi in North Arcot in 1020 (SII. iii. 27). But Lakulīśa, according to Si 28, must have lived at an earlier period than 943. And it is now discovered that the original Lakulīśa (whose name means Śiva with the club) belongs to the first century.¹ The king in 1039 was at Ghaṭṭadakere (Sk 153). In 1042 an agrahāra was established at Andhāsura, the place still so called near Anantapur, but first mentioned in connection with Jinadatta-Rāya, who belongs to the eighth century. A glowing description is given in Sa 109 *bis* of the Sāntalige-nāḍ, of which Andhāsura was apparently the capital at that time. Such was its fertility that hunger was unknown there. Meanwhile, in 1042 we have notices (Si 40, 37, 25) of certain Chōla chiefs connected with Irungōla-Dēva ruling under this king in the north of Sīra tāluq.
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¹ See *JBoRAS*. xxii, 151; *JRAS*. for 1907, p. 419.
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Jayasimha’s son Sōmēśvara I next came to the throne, and is styled Trailōkyamalla and Āhavamalla. His governor of Banavase in 1046, among other titles, is called “guardian of Kollipāke, the door of the South.” This place, which is frequently referred to as a chief seat of the Lingāyit faith, has unfortunately not been identified. In 1046 Chāmuṇḍa-Rāyarasa was governor of Banavase (Sk 160), and in the following year of other provinces as well, as far as the western ocean (Sk 151). He erected the elegant monolith *gaṇḍa-bhēruṇḍa* pillar at Belgāmi, surmounted by the image of Bhēruṇḍēśvara in human form with double eagle’s head. He himself is called *gaṇḍa-bhēruṇḍa*, and a *bhēruṇḍa* pole, perhaps the length of the pillar, was established as a measure for land. In Sk 152 is the record of a man who thirteen years afterwards climbed to the top of the pillar and committed suicide by throwing himself down on to a row of spear-headed stakes. The king’s son by his Pallava wife appears as governor under him in 1048 and 1054 (Hl 107, 119). An inscription of the latter year (Sk 118) says that the Chōla king valiantly fell in a battle with him, a reference to the death of Rājādhirāja. Sb 325 says that Āhavamalla slew the warlike Chōla. In 1051 the king visited Bandanikke (Hk 65). In 1058 his son Vikramāditya, who is given all the Ganga titles, was ruling in Balligāve as viceroy over the Banavase, Sāntalige, and Nolambavāḍi provinces (Sk 83). Two years later he was ruling Gangavāḍi (Sk 152, Dg 140). In 1063 and 1065 the king’s son Vishnuvarddhana Vijayāditya was ruling the Nolambavāḍi kingdom (Si 18, Dg 111), with the seat of his government at Kampili (Mk 29). Meanwhile, in 1062, the Śāntara kings were ruling in Pomburchcha. The king also had a notable master of the robes in Lakshma or Lakshmaṇa, to whom he gave rank next to the royal princes, and entrusted him with the government of the Banavase province (Sk 136). In 1068 the king came to a tragic end by drowning himself, when smitten with deadly fever, in the Tungabhadrā at Kuruvaṭṭi (Sk 136).
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His eldest son Sōmēśvara II Bhuvanaikamalla succeeded to the throne. He was a Ganga on his mother’s side, and had as minister the powerful Ganga prince Udayāditya. The latter was governor of the Gangavāḍi, Banavase, and Sāntalige provinces from 1070 (Sk 109) to 1075, and had the seat of his government at Balligāve (Sk 130). The king himself made his chief residence at Bankāpura (Sk 129, 128). He was attacked at the beginning of his reign by the Chōla king Vīra Chōla, who was put to flight. He then formed three provinces, extending from coast to coast, to protect himself against Chōla invasions. These were Banavase, Nolamba-Sindavāḍi, and a territory beginning (it says) at Alampura. This last may be a place to the south of the mouth of the Pālār river. The three were placed respectively in charge of the viceroys Lakshmana, Vikrama-Nolamba, and the Ganga maṇḍalika, perhaps Udayāditya (Sk 136).
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His younger brother, the distinguished Vikramāditya or Vikramānka, also a Ganga on the mother’s side, next came to the throne. He set aside the Śaka era and established a new one, called the Chālukya Vikrama era, from the beginning of his rule. It is in this reign that we have the inscriptions giving an account of the origin and genealogy of the Gangas (Nr 35, Sh 64, 4, etc.). The king appointed as Yuvarāja his half-brother Jayasingha, the son of a Pallava mother, and called Vīra-Nolamba-Pallava (Sk 297). In 1074 the latter has the epithet aṇṇa-niśśīmam (Cd 82), which may mean either that his elder brother placed no restraint upon him, or that he had unbounded confidence in him. In 1080 he was on the most affectionate terms with his brother (Sk 297). He was ruling the Banavase and other provinces, all the lands as far as the southern ocean, in 1079 and 1080 (Sk 109, 293, 297). The last two contain a record of his exploits. The king was residing at Etagiri in 1077 and 1078 (Sk 124, 135), and his valour is extolled, especially in victory over Chōla and Lāla. From 1106 the Pāṇḍyas of Uchchangi became the rulers under him of the Nolambavāḍi and other provinces (Dg 139, Hl 68). Tribhuvanamalla Pāṇḍya is said in Dg 155 of 1124 to be Vīra-Nolamba’s younger brother. He may have been related by marriage. He had the seat of his government at Beltūr (Bettūr near Dāvangere) and he claims (Dg 139) to be the emperor’s right hand, and (Dg 3) to have made important conquests for him. The Hoysalas were in power in Gaṅgavāḍi, but in SB 45 and 59 a spirited account is given of a night attack made on Vikrama’s army by the Hoysala general Gaṅga Rāja, at Kannegāla, and the Hoysalas soon assumed independence. Sāntalige was being governed by the Sāntaras, and feudatory Chōla chiefs ruled the territory on the north-east (Cl 43).
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Vikrama’s son Sōmēśvara III Bhūlōkamalla was the next ruler, and was called Sarvajna, or all-wise, by other kings. In 1129 he came on an expedition to the South and encamped at Hulluni-tīrtha. Banavase in his time was ruled by Kadambas (Sb 141), while the Pāṇḍyas continued to govern Nolambavāḍi, and Chōla kings—Irungōla and others—the parts in the north-east.
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Jagadēkamalla is said (Ci 277) to have slain the generals of the hostile Chōla and Gurjjara kings, and captured their wealth and troops of horse. Of the same reign is Pg 43, in which we have Irungōla’s son ruling in the Henjeru city. The latter (in Si 23) makes a grant there in the Nonambēśvara temple, which, it is interesting to note, is called the great ghaṭika-sthāna of the city. The exact signification of this term is not known, but here it seems to indicate the chief place of assembly for Brāhmans. The word occurs in the Tālgunda inscription (Sk 176), as well as in Cn 178 and Sk 197.¹
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¹ See Dr. Kielhorn’s article on the subject (Göttingen Nachrichten for 1900, Heft 3), and foot-note to p. 8 of Introd. EC. vol. vii.
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Under Nūrmmaḍi Taila or Trailōkyamalla, the Chālukya dynasty, which had reached its zenith with Vikramāṅka, began rapidly to decline. A powerful noble named Bijjala, of the Kalachurya family, had been appointed as general and minister, and the influence thereby obtained he turned against his sovereign and expelled him from the throne. This event occurred in 1156. The Chālukya king retired south and maintained himself in the Banavase country. The religious feuds which raged at Kalyāna in connection with the establishment of the new Lingāyit creed kept the hands of the Kalachuryas fully occupied. The Chālukya influence, therefore, was not extinguished, and Sōmēśvara, the last of his race, succeeded to the fallen fortunes of his house in 1162. He seems to have had his residence at Annigeri in Dharwar, and on the extinction of the Kalachuryas in 1183 an attempt was made to recover the Chālukya power, but in vain. What ultimately became of him does not appear. The latest record of him is Hl 46, dated in 1189. The Hoysalas of Dōrasamudra from the south, and the Sēunas or Yādavas of Dēvagiri from the north, had now closed in upon the disputed dominions, and the great and powerful Chālukya name disappears from history as that of a dominant race. But certain descendants of the line appear to have ruled in some parts of the Konkan till the middle of the thirteenth century.