The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c11.s8.30

v1.c11.s8.30

The exact steps by which Bijjala built up this imperial position for himself, and finally for a time displaced the Cāḷukyas of Kalyāṇī, are not now traceable. The stray hints gained from the inscriptions suggest that he made as much use of diplomacy as of force in the process of his advancement. He seems to have succeeded in detaching several feudatories from their allegiance to the suzerain and to have persuaded them to co-operate with him in his plans. He must have been himself a good soldier and a statesman who inspired confidence in his followers. Inscriptions of Bijjala dated in 1162 mention the expedition of his forces against Tīgarte and the encampment of Bijjala himself at Balligave when he marched out on his campaign for the subjugation of the south.⁵ Another inscription dated the very next year states that Bijjala had extended his sway to the shore of the ocean (*ambudhi-sīme-varam*),⁶ and yet another record from about the same time or even earlier tells us that he subdued the country from the ocean in the south to the Cāḷukya capital in the north—*tenikabdhiye badage-sīme Cāḷukya kaṭakav ene*.⁷ An inscription of A.D. 1163 from Kaḍlevāḍ in the Bijapur District gives him the title, among others, of *Tribhuvanamalla-nijabhuja-vīra-malladeva*;⁸ this title expatiates on the strength of Bijjala’s own arm which made him the unrivalled wrestler of the three worlds. Similarly, another inscription from Muttage (A.D. 1170)¹ informs us that all the kings of the Kalachuri line were famous emperors; but some, lacking ability, were reduced to the status of *maṇḍalikas*; being a strong man Bijjaḷa considered the status of *maṇḍalika* as quite below his rightful position and raised himself, by the power of his army, to that of universal emperor.