History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s8.3

v3.c34.s8.3

In the Deccan ruled in this sub-period the later Chālukyas who became as powerful as the earlier Chālukyas of Badāmi in the first sub-period described in our first volume or the Rāshṭrakūṭas of Malkhed in the second. Both Rāshṭrakūṭas and Chālukyas were Maratha Kshatriyas. The former were the most ancient inhabitants of the Deccan of the Aryan race. They were supplanted by the early Chālukyas and these in their turn were conquered by the Rāshṭrakūṭas. These Rāshṭrakūṭas were again conquered and supplanted by the later Chālukyas who in their Yevur inscription (I. A. VIII p. 19) have given the whole genealogy from the earlier Chālukyas down to Tailapa the conqueror of the Rāshṭrakūṭa last king Kakkala. It is sometimes doubted if the later Chālukyas are really descendants of the earlier Chālukyas; but there is no sufficient reason to deny this claim which they lay forth in their inscriptions; copying as they do the same titles and taking the same Mānavya gotra (E. I. IX p. 206). The tradition that they were lunar race Kshatriyas and ruled for 59 generations in Ayodhya, they appear to have taken from the eastern Chālukyas of Vengi; as stated in Vol. I the earlier Chālukya records do not mention these facts. However, we may believe that these statements are also true and that the Chālukyas came to the Deccan sometime about 400 A. D. Their descendant Tailapa was son of Vikramāditya and Bonthādevi daughter of Lakshmaṇa, king of Chedi. (The Tripura Haihayas seem to have usually given their daughters to the Chālukya and Rāshṭrakūṭa Maratha Kshatriya kings of the Deccan). Tailapa was probably originally a powerful feudatory under Kakkala; it is not clear where he had his sway; possibly it might have been in Badāmi itself; but Chālukya inscriptions do not mention his original capital. Seizing the opportunity of the decline of Rāshṭrakūṭa power, Tailapa defeated Kakkala and established once again the Chālukya line of kings in the Deccan. He is said to have destroyed two great warriors or generals of Kakkala on the battle-field on whom he relied and who were his associates in oppressing the people. (Yevur grant I. A. VIII p. 17). He is also said to have conquered Cholas, Andhras, Utkalas as also the Maratha feudatory chiefs of the Deccan and ruled justly and vigorously in the country of Kuntala as is expressly stated in an inscription of the family (I. A. VIII p. 18) thus "securing happiness to the people" who were probably oppressed during the misrule which usually characterises the days of the decay of a dynasty. The Chālukya country is called Kuntala in most inscriptions and Kuntala is identical with what is now called the Southern Maratha country though the present language of the people is Kanarese. Indeed the three Mahārāṣṭras of Pulakeśin (Vol. II p. 275) have already been noticed as Vidarbha, Mahārāṣṭra proper and Kuntala and these, forming together the greater Mahārāṣṭra, may again be described as Northern Maratha country the basin of the Tāpti and the Wardhā, the Central Maratha country the basin of the Godāvari and the Southern Maratha country the basin of the Kṛṣṇā river which distinguishes Kauntala (I. A. VIII p. 18); and here Mahārāṣṭra and Karṇātaka meet, the Karṇātaka proper lying beyond the Tungabhadrā and being then under the Gangas and later under the Hoyasalas.