History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s9.1

v3.c34.s9.1

The history of these kings may be given in brief as they did not rule long and were practically usurpers. Vijjana (Bijjala) was a Kalachūri feudatory. The Kalachūris of Tripura usually gave their daughters to the Deccan kings and he must have been a descendant of a minor chief who had some Jaghir granted to him as a relation of some Chālukya queen. In a grant published in A. S. Western India No. 10, he is described as a Mahāmandaleśvara under Jagadeka-Malla. Becoming powerful as commander-in-chief, he set aside his master and declared himself king of Kalyan in about 1162 A. D. (or 1159). He was, however, murdered in a religious feud. He had a Brahmin minister named Basava who founded a new sect called Lingayat, more in opposition to Jains than to the Brahmins. The details of this schism we will give in our religious survey chapter later. Vijjana was a Jain and persecuted the Jangamas (religious recluses of the Lingayats). The actual circumstances of this quarrel cannot be given as diametrically opposite accounts are given by Jains and Lingayats. It is difficult to determine the truth; nor is it necessary for purposes of general history. It is certain that Vijjana was murdered in 1167 A. D. He was succeeded by his son Soma (Someśvara or Sovideva). His queen made a grant to Brahmins which he confirmed (I. A. X p. 183). He ruled till 1178 A. D., when he was succeeded by his son Sankama. He has left some inscriptions. In 1183 power was wrested from him by the dispossessed Chālukya king Someśvara as related before. The Kalachūri kings thus ruled from about 1160 to 1184 or about 24 years only. But their reign is signalised by the rise of the Lingayat sect and in their time Jainism declined among the Vaiśyas of the Deccan and Buddhism entirely disappeared; the Vaiśyas now in the S. M. country being generally Lingayats (Bombay Gazetteer Vol. 1 part II p. 288).