Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s9: 9. Chalukyas
Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s9
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9. Chalukyas
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The Chalukyas next claim our attention. They were in the ascendant throughout the north-west of Mysore, and the Bombay and Haidarabad Districts beyond, from the fifth to the eighth century, and from the latter part of the tenth to that of the twelfth. Their first appearance south of the Narmadā (Nerbudda) was in the fourth century, previous to which they profess to have had fifty-nine predecessors on the throne of Ayōdhyā, but of these nothing is known, not even their names. On their entering the Dekhan they overcame the Rāshṭrakūṭas, but the Pallavas effectually opposed them, and the invader, Jayasimha or Vijayāditya, was slain. His queen, being at the time pregnant, took refuge with a Brāhman, and gave birth to a son named Rājasimha, who eventually defeated the Pallavas, and then formed an alliance with them, confirmed by his marriage with a Pallava princess. In the sixth century, Pulikēśi, whose chief city was apparently Indukānta (supposed to be Ajantā or some neighbouring place), wrested Vātāpi (Bādāmi in the Bijāpur District) from the Pallavas and made it his capital. His son Kīrttivarmma subdued the Mauryas (descendants of the ancient Mauryas of Pāṭaliputra) ruling in the Konkan, and the Kadambas of Banavāsi. Another son, Mangalēśa, conquered the Kalachuryas. The Ālupas or Āluvas, ruling in Tuluva or South Kanara, were also at the same time overcome, and the next king, Pulikēśi II, came into contact with the Gangas. In about 617 the Chalukyas separated into two branches, of which the Eastern Chālukyas¹ made Vengi (near Ellore in the Gōdāvari District), taken from the Pallavas, and subsequently Rājamahēndri (Rājamundry), their capital, while the Western Chālukyas, with whom Mysore is chiefly concerned, continued to rule from Vātāpi, and eventually from Kalyāna (in the Nizām's Dominions, about 100 miles west by north of Haidarabad).
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¹ See note, p. 53 above.
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The Chalukyas were of the Sōma-vamśa or Lunar race.
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They profess to be of the Mānavya-gōtra and Hāritiputras, nourished by the Seven Mothers (as were the Kadambas). The Varāha or Boar was the emblem on their signet. The Western Chālukyas are styled the Satyāśraya-kula, from the name of the first king of that branch. The titles on their inscriptions are nearly invariably—Samastabhuvanāśraya, Śrī-prithvī-vallabha, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara, Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Satyāśraya-kula-tilaka, Chālukyābharaṇa.
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Though these details appear very circumstantial, the origin of the Chalukyas is far from clear.¹ The name Chalukya, as I have pointed out, bears a suggestive resemblance to Seleukia, and the Pallavas being of Parthian connection, as their name implies, we have a plausible explanation of the inveterate hatred between the two, and their prolonged struggles were thus but a sequel of the contests between Seleucidæ and Arsacidæ on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates.
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¹ They are said to have miraculously sprung from the moisture or water in the hollowed palm (chuluka, chulaka) of Hāriti's hand (see Dg 41), or, according to another account, from the libation to the gods poured from his goblet (chulka, chuluka, chaluka) by Hāriti. Dr. Hoernle (JRAS. for 1905, p. 12) says: "Despite the attempted Sanskrit derivation of the genealogists, I would suggest that the name (Chalukya) is not a Sanskritic word at all, but of foreign (Gurjara or Hunic) origin." He adds that it may be from a Turki root, chap, gallop, chāpāul, a plundering raid, a charge of cavalry (?).—Mr. V. A. Smith (EHI. 383) states: "There is some reason for believing that the Chalukyas or Solankis were connected with the Chāpas, and so with the foreign Gurjara tribe of which the Chāpas were a branch."
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The following is a table of the early Chalukyas down to the rise to power of the Rāshṭrakūṭas. A full account of the Chalukyas down to 1123, including their rise, their eclipse by the Rāshṭrakūṭas, and their revival, is given in Dg 1.
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Jayasimha
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Rājasimha, Raṇarāga
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1. Polekēsi, Pulikēśi (I), Satyāśraya, Raṇavikrama, 550
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2. Kīrttivarmma (I), Raṇaparākrama, 3. Mangalēśa, Raṇavikrānta, 566-597 597-608
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4. Polekēsi, Pulikēśi (II), Satyāśraya, Kubja-Vishnuvarddhana, 615-633, 609-642 founded the Eastern Chālukya line
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| . . . . .
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Adityavarmma Chandrāditya, 5. Vikramāditya (I), queen, Vijaya-mahādēvi, Raṇarasika, 655-680 655, 659 |
6. Vinayāditya, Rājāśraya,
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7. Vijayāditya, Samastabhuvanāśraya,
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8. Vikramāditya (II),
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9. Kīrttivarmma (II),
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Jayasimha is said to have defeated and destroyed Indra, the son of Krishna, the Rāshṭrakūṭa or Raṭṭa king. He himself, however, was slain in an encounter with Trilōchana Pallava. His queen, then pregnant, fled and took refuge with a Brāhman named Vishnu Sōmayāji, in whose house she gave birth to Rājasimha. On growing up to man's estate he renewed the contest with the Pallavas, in which he was successful, and married a princess of that race. Pulikēśi was the most powerful of the early kings, and performed the horse sacrifice. Kīrttivarmma subdued the Nalas, of whom we know no more, the Mauryas and the Kadambas. Mangalēśa conquered the island called Rēvati-dvīpa, and the Mātangas; also the Kalachurya king Buddha, son of Śankaragaṇa, the spoils taken from whom he gave to the temple of Makuṭēśvara near Bādāmi. He attempted to establish his own son in the succession, but Pulikēśi, the elder son of Kīrttivarmma, obtained the throne. Pulikēśi's younger brother Vishnuvarddhana, surnamed Kubja, on the capture of Vengi from the Pallavas, there founded the separate line of the Eastern Chālukyas, who remained in power in the Vengi and Rājamahēndri country till the eleventh century, when they were absorbed into the Chōla family.
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The earliest Chālukya inscriptions in Mysore are of the time of Pulikēśi II or Satyāśraya, the first of the Western Chālukya line, of about 640. Sh 10 is a fragment, containing only his name. But Gd 48 is on copper plates, recording a grant by him to Brāhmans in the Konikal-vishaya. It begins with the mention of Polikēśi I, surnamed Raṇavikrama, who performed the horse sacrifice. It then passes to Satyāśraya (Pulikēśi II), the conqueror of Harshavarddhana. The grant was made when the king was at the Sangama-tīrtha, and on the application of his beloved daughter, called in his or her own language (sva-bhāshayā)¹ Amberā. Sa 79 is of the time of Vikramāditya, about 680. Then we have Sh 154, of about 685, when Vinayāditya Rājaśraya was ruling, and Pogilli-Sēndraka-mahārāja was a governor under him over Nāyar-khanda (the Shikārpur tāluq). Dg 66, the Harihara plates, are of 694, the 14th year of Vinayāditya, and so far contain information similar to that in Kl 63, but with fewer details. A grant was made in the Vanayāsi country to a Brāhman while the king was in camp near Harishapura (Harihara). Then comes Sk 278, of about 700, in the reign of Vijayāditya Satyāśraya.
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¹ It is not clear what language is meant.
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But the most important of all is Kl 63, the Vokkalēri plates, dated in 757. They contain a variety of historical information of the highest value, and their publication by me in 1879 first opened the eyes of scholars to the true significance of the Pallavas, then scarcely known even by name. The plates begin with an account of the Chalukyas, and mention first Polekēśi, who performed the horse sacrifice. His son was Kīrttivarmma, who overcame the kings of Vanavāsi (the Kadambas) and others. His son Satyāśraya defeated Harshavarddhana (king of Kanyākubja or Kanōj), the warlike lord of all the north, and thus acquired the title of Paramēśvara. His son Vikramāditya Satyāśraya subdued the Pāṇḍya Chōla Kērala Kalabhra¹ and other kings, and forced the king of Kāñchī (the Pallava), who had bowed to no other, to kiss his feet with his crown. His son Vinayāditya Satyāśraya quelled the power of the three kingdoms of the South—Chōla, Pāṇḍya, and Chera—and of the king of Kāñchī, and levied tribute from the rulers of Kavēra, Pārasika, Simhala (Ceylon), and other islands. He also, by churning all the kings of the north, acquired the pāli-dhvaja and all other signs of supreme power. His son Vijayāditya Satyāśraya uprooted the enemies still left in the south, and fought for his father in the north, gaining, besides the pāli-dhvaja, the emblems of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā. He was by some means taken prisoner, but escaped, and thus averted the danger of anarchy in his own country. His son was Vikramāditya Satyāśraya, who resolved to uproot the Pallavas, by nature the enemies of his family. Marching with great speed into the Tuṇḍāka-vishaya (Toṇḍa-maṇḍala), he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pallava king Nandipōtavarmma, who fled, leaving to the conqueror his special trumpet, drum, flag, and other trophies. Vikramāditya then entered Kāñchī in triumph, but spared the city, relieved the destitute, and presented heaps of gold to the Rājasimhēśvara and other temples which Narasimhapōtavarmma had formerly erected.² He then burnt up Pāṇḍya Chōla Kērala Kalabhra and other kings, and set up a pillar of victory on the shore of the southern ocean. His son Kirttivarmma Satyāśraya, when only Yuvarāja, obtained permission to again attack the king of Kāñchī, and forced him to take refuge in a hill fort, capturing his elephants, rubies and gold, which he delivered to his father. On succeeding to the throne he made a grant to Brāhmans in the Pānungal-vishaya (Hāngal in Dharwar).
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¹ The Kalabhras are mentioned (in the Velvikudi plates) as having gained possession of the Pāṇḍya country in about the seventh century. They appear to have been Karṇāṭas (Mad. Arch. Rep. 1908).
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² A pillar with an old inscription in front of the Rājasimhēśvara temple at Kāñchī bears witness to his having visited it. And his queen, Lōkamahādēvi, of the Haihaya family, had a temple built at Paṭṭadkal in commemoration of his having three times defeated the Pallavas.
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But while thus triumphant in the south-east, the Chālukyas were overcome in the north-west by the original enemies whom they had subdued on first entering the Dekhan in the fourth century. These were the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, who retained the supremacy for 200 years, after which the Chālukyas once more recovered their power.