A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c13.7

c13.7

The founder of the Chālukya line was Pulakeśin I. The name probably means ‘the great lion’. He fortified the hill near Bādāmi into a strong fortress in 543-4, and declared his independence by performing a horse sacrifice. The new fortress stood on a defensible eminence within three miles of the Malaprabhā river. Among the hills to the east is Mahākūṭa; five miles farther in the same direction and on the river is Pattadakal, and another eight miles down the river is Aihōle—all witnessing to the age of Chālukyan ascendancy by their temples and inscriptions. Pulakeśin's son Kirtivarman I (566-7) expanded the kingdom by wars against the Kadambas of Banavāsi, the Mauryas of Konkan, and the Nalas who probably ruled over a fair-sized kingdom in the region of Bastar and the Jeypore Agency. The conquest of Konkan brought the important port of Goa, then known as Revatidvipa, into the growing empire. At Kirtivarman's death (597-8), his son Pulakeśin II was too young to rule, so his uncle Mangaleśa, Kirtivarman's brother, held sway as regent. Mangaleśa continued the policy of expansion and invaded the territory of Kalachuri Buddharāja whose dominion extended over Gujarat, Khandesh and Malwa. This campaign was more of the nature of a raid, so that, while it brought in much booty, it made but little addition of territory. He suppressed a rebellion on the part of the Governor of Revatidvipa (Goa) and re-established Chālukyan power in the Konkan. Instead of surrendering the throne when Pulakeśin II came of age, Mangaleśa sought to prolong his rule with a view to handing over the kingdom to his own son in due course. Pulakeśin therefore left the court and by his own martial prowess waged war on Mangaleśa with the support of loyal friends, killed him in battle and proclaimed himself king (609-10). This civil war shook the young kingdom of the Chālukyas and enemies began to appear on all sides. Pulakeśin II soon proved himself one of the ablest monarchs of the line. He defeated the rebel Āppāyika in a battle north of the Bhimarathi river and received his confederate Govinda into favour when he offered submission. He attacked and overthrew the Kadamba capital Banavāsi, while the Ālupas of South Canara and the Gangas of Mysore were compelled to acknowledge his suzerainty. The Ganga ruler Durvinita gave one of his daughters in marriage to Pulakeśin, and she became the mother of Vikramāditya I. The Mauryas of northern Konkan were once more reduced to submission by a successful attack on their capital Puri (on the island of Elephanta), the Lakshmi of the western ocean. The fame of Pulakeśin's arms and fear of the growing power of Śri Harsha in Northern India induced the Lātas, Mālavas and Gurjaras to offer their submission one after another to Pulakeśin. The northern frontier of the Chālukyan empire was thus extended at one bound to the river Mahi. When Harsha sought to invade the Deccan, Pulakeśin met and heavily defeated him on the banks of the Narmada, capturing many elephants—the only check in Harsha's otherwise victorious career. All these achievements were in the first three or four years of Pulakeśin's reign.