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The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13: Part VII. The Eastern Chāḷukyas

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13

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English

Contents

Part VII. The Eastern Chāḷukyas

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by PROFESSOR K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI *and* DR. N. VENKATARAMANAYYA

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I. History of the dynasty, Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana, Jayasiṁha I, Viṣṇuvardhana III, Viṣṇuvardhana IV, Vijayāditya II, Vijayāditya III (Guṇaga), Chāḷukya Bhima I, Vijayāditya IV, Amma I, Short reigns—Yuddhamalla II, Chāḷukya Bhima II, Amma II, Dānārṇava.

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II. Telugu Choḍa interregnum and the post-restoration period (A.D. 973-1075), Śaktivarman I, Vimalāditya, Rājarāja Narendra, Śaktivarman II, Rājēndra and Vijayāditya VII, Vijayāditya's family.

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III. Government and social conditions, people, religion, literature.

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APPENDIXES (A) The Eastern Chāḷukya Genealogy. (B) Bibliography. (C) The Chāḷukyas of Vēmulavāḍa.

The Eastern Chāḷukyas: History of the Dynasty

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PULAKĒŚIN II conquered the whole of the Eastern Deccan quite early in his reign and thereupon appointed his brother viceroy of the newly acquired territory. Very soon the viceroyalty developed into an independent kingdom without any opposition by Pulakēśin, and his brother, Viṣṇuvardhana, who is referred to invariably as ‘the hump-back’ (kubja) in all later inscriptions, became the founder of a line which outlived the main dynasty for many generations and is known to history as that of the Eastern Chāḷukyas. Few Indian families, indeed, have held the throne for such a long period; they were lords of the Vengi country for nearly five centuries before their destiny called them to a Tamil kingdom in the south, and they continued to hold Vengi for several generations even after that; they were in fact the makers of the Telugu culture and literature.

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The very numerous copper-plate charters, together with a smaller number of stone inscriptions, form our main sources for the history of the dynasty. From the reign of Vijayāditya III Guṇaga onwards (the second half of the ninth century) the charters cover practically the entire history of the dynasty down to the date of each particular record; the genealogical connexions, the duration of each reign, and a sketch of the main political occurrences, are thus found in many versions which in fact exhibit a remarkable measure of overall agreement; some discrepancies indeed there are; but a detailed discussion of these, or of the minute questions of chronology arising from astronomical details preserved in the inscriptions, should be held to fall outside the scope of this general history; in the account which follows we shall present the results of our study of the evidence, adding merely the outlines of the main arguments in support of these where such appear necessary, and for chronology we shall follow the data set forth by Mr. B. V. Krishnarao, who has revised the conclusions reached by Fleet in 1891 in the light of discoveries which have accumulated since that time.

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The kingdom of Vengi, as it came to be called in the course of time, comprised at its greatest extent the whole area between the Mahendra mountains in Kalinga and the Maṇṇeru river in Nellore;¹ its western boundary ran in general along the foot of the Eastern ghats, though temporary extensions often brought areas farther west under the rulers of Vengi from time to time. Eastern Chāḷukya history is at times largely the record of disputes about the succession in which for some time the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, and the Chāḷukyas of Kalyāṇi from the west, and later the Chōḷas from the south, interfered, not always altogether disinterestedly; the Gangas of Kalinga as well as of Mysore, and the Chāḷukyas of Vemulavāḍa and Mudugoṇḍa, also find a place in the picture from time to time.

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¹ EI, vi, 342.

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*Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana*

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By the date when the Kopparam plates of Pulakēśin were being issued (A.D. 631), his brother Viṣṇuvardhana had many successes in the Eastern Deccan to his credit and had already become virtually independent. This seems to be the meaning of the statement that he had secured the kingdom for his son, and the eighteen years uniformly allotted to him in all later charters may be taken to be covered by the period A.D. 624-41. He had acquired the titles Viṣamasiddhi (one who has attained successes in difficult enterprises), a name he is said to have owed to his great ability in taking all types of impregnable fortresses, and Makaradhvaja and Kāmadeva, both words denoting the Indian Cupid—epithets which would seem to convey a satire on his person if he really was a cripple. The two copper-plate records of grants which he issued as an independent ruler both come from the Vizagapatam District; one of them is dated in the eighteenth year of his reign, while the other, bearing no date, was given at Piṣṭapura. It is a reasonable inference that a part of Kalinga was included in Viṣṇuvardhana’s kingdom; but traces of his rule farther south are not wanting, and if the Viṣṇukuṇḍins continued their rule in Vengi (Dendaluru) under Mādhava III or his son Mañcaṇṇabhaṭṭāraka, they must have done so as vassals of a superior power in the same way as did the Durjayas of the forest country to the north of their territory.¹ An archaic rock inscription of Viṣamasiddhi from Chezarla in the Guntur District may well be a record of his reign.² But even if this be doubted, there is the explicit statement in an inscription of A.D. 1132, also from the Guntur District, that Buddharāja, the founder of the Koṇḍapaḍumaṭi family, was employed by Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana, and obtained from him as a reward for his services the rulership of a district comprising seventy-three villages.³ And beside this the land which formed the subject of Pulakēśin’s gift recorded on the Kopparam plates was situated in Karma-rāṣṭra, also part of the Guntur and Nellore territories.⁴ There is in fact little doubt that Viṣṇuvardhana I became eventually the ruler of very nearly the whole of the Vengi kingdom of which the extent has been indicated above. The wars between his brother Pulakēśin and the Pallava Narasimhavarman I may perhaps have given him his opportunity for increasing his own holdings in the south.

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¹ Aṭavi Durjaya of the Matsya family figures as the *ājñapti* in the Chipurapallee Plates, *IA*, xx, 15.

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² 154 of 1899, *ARE*, 1900, para. 35.

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³ 214 of 1892, also *EI*, vi, 269-70.

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⁴ *EI*, xviii, 257-8.

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Late inscriptions say that a general Kālakampa of the Paṭṭavardhana family slew a bitter personal enemy, Daddura by name, on the field of battle and seized his insignia under the orders of Viṣṇuvardhana;¹ we hear of Kālakampa’s successors under later monarchs, but do not know who Daddura was. Ayyaṇa-mahādevī appears to have been the queen of Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana and was named as his executrix in one of the king’s grants, as we learn from an inscription of one of his descendants, Viṣṇuvardhana III, which renewed the original grant of a village to a Jaina temple, Naḍumbibasadi, originally built by the queen at Bezwada. This document is also interesting as the earliest known mention of Jainism in the Telugu country.²

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¹ SII, i, 40.

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² CP, no. 9 of 1916–17.

Jayasiṃha I

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Viṣṇuvardhana was followed on the throne by his sons Jayasiṃha Vallabha I and Indra Bhaṭṭāraka. Jayasiṃha had a long reign of thirty-three years, A.D. 641–73; several records exist of grants dated in his reign, but otherwise we have little information as to its history. A ghaṭikā, college of higher education, is said to have been functioning at Asanapura from which the king issued one of his decrees. Like his father, Jayasiṃha was a Bhāgavata; he held the title Sarvasiddhi, successful in everything, and his learning is highly praised. An epigraph on stone at Vipparla, dated in the eighth year of his reign, is among the earliest known Telugu inscriptions.³ He was followed by his younger brother Indra Bhaṭṭāraka, whose rule was cut short by a combination of hostile princes headed by an Adhirāja Indra whose identity is difficult to establish.⁴ There is a decree for a grant issued by Indra Bhaṭṭāraka in which he is given the title Tyāgadhenu (cow of liberality).⁵ His own reign is generally said to have lasted only seven days, but his son Viṣṇuvardhana II occupied the throne for nine years, bore the titles Viṣamasiddhi, Pralayāditya, and others, and was followed in turn by his son Mangi Yuvarāja, who was entitled Vijayāditya and Vijayasiddhi, and who ruled for twenty-five years, A.D. 682–706. Both Viṣṇuvardhana II and Mangi Yuvarāja seem to have been grown-up princes even during the reign of their uncle Jayasiṃha I; Viṣṇuvardhana indeed calls himself the son of Jayasiṃha in one of his inscriptions—this of course is not intended to be taken in the literal sense.

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³ 147 of 1899.

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⁴ IA, xx, 97; JBBRAS, xvi, 117.

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⁵ EI, xviii, 3.

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Mangi Yuvarāja, Vijayasiddhi, ruled for twenty-five years (A.D. 682–706) and his son, Jayasiṃha II Sarvasiddhi, for thirteen (A.D. 706–18). After Jayasiṃha’s reign there seems to have occurred the first dispute about succession between his surviving half-brothers; the younger one Kokkili seized the throne and held it for six months before yielding it up to the elder Viṣṇuvardhana III. The quarrel apparently ended in a compromise by which Kokkili was allowed to rule a portion of territory surrounding Elamanchi in Middle Kalinga as his appanage. We have evidence that this collateral line continued to hold this district for at least four generations,¹ including the lifetime of Kokkili, who assumed the title Vijayasiddhi for the short period during which he reigned as king of Vengi. It is perhaps worth noting that Kokkili was also one of the titles held by the Western Chāḷukya ruler Vikramāditya I,² an elder contemporary of Mangi Yuvarāja.

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¹ CP, 10 and 11 of 1908-9, *ARE*, 1909, ii, 55-7.

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² *EI*, xiv, 148.

Viṣṇuvardhana III

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After he had driven out his usurping younger brother, Viṣṇuvardhana III occupied the throne for a long time, enjoying a reign of thirty-seven years (A.D. 719-55). A number of decrees for grants issued during his reign have come to light and several of these are interesting in one way or another. One renewing an early grant by Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana has been noticed already in our account of that king’s reign. In another the queen of Viṣṇuvardhana III, Vijayamahādēvi, appears as the executrix (*ājñapti*), and the king himself is described by the title Tribhuvanāṅkuśa (an elephant goad to the three worlds) in the colophon to the grant.³ A third inscription records a grant by Pṛthivī Poṛi, a daughter of Mangi Yuvarāja and therefore sister of Viṣṇuvardhana III.⁴ This king had the title Viṣamasiddhi. It was in his reign that one of his officers, a Niṣāda Bōya chieftain named Pṛthivī-Vyāghra, came into conflict with the celebrated Pallava general Udayachandra who defeated him in the battle of Nellore, capturing many elephants and much booty and securing a part of Viṣṇurāja’s territory for the Pallava monarch Nandivarman II.⁵ Such is the Pallava version of what took place; Pṛthivī-Vyāghra could obviously not have entered on his conflict with the powerful kingdom in the south without Viṣṇuvardhana’s consent and both rulers suffered for it. But it was more of the nature of a skirmish on the frontier leading indeed to some loss of territory, but with little tangible effect on the strength or stability of the Vengi kingdom.

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³ CP, 9 of 1913-14.

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⁴ CP, 10 of 1919-20; *EI*, xviii, 58.

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⁵ *SII*, ii, 368.

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Viṣṇuvardhana III was succeeded by his son Vijayāditya I, Vijayasiddhi, who ruled for eighteen years (A.D. 755-72). At the close of his father’s reign and the beginning of his own there occurred in the Western Deccan the political revolution by which the Chāḷukyas of Bādāmi lost their dominion and were succeeded by the Rāṣṭrakūṭas under Dantidurga. The enmity of the new line to the Chāḷukyas soon began to manifest itself against the Vengi kingdom also. A Rāṣṭrakūṭa inscription of A.D. 769 states that Yuvarāja Govinda II had led an expedition against the Vengimaṇḍala,⁶ and had received the submission of the ruler of Vengi offered to him in his victorious camp at the confluence of the Musī and the Kṛṣṇā rivers, together with the surrender of treasure, troops, and terrain. This statement, even if taken at its face value, does not show that Vengi suffered any serious deprivation on this occasion. The Rāṣṭrakūṭa forces did not enter the Vengi kingdom and there was no actual clash of arms. On the other hand, the successful march of the Yuvarāja to the frontiers of the Vengi kingdom, where he was obviously met by ambassadors from his rival's court, was a shadow cast by coming events on the fortunes of the Eastern Chālukyas.

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⁶ *EI*, vi, 210-11.

Viṣṇuvardhana IV

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Vijayāditya's son was Viṣṇuvardhana IV who ruled for thirty-six years (A.D. 772-808). Early in his reign he became involved in the dispute between Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda II and his younger brother Dhruva, and took the side of Govinda, the ruling sovereign, against his rebellious brother. But Dhruva emerged as the victor; after seizing the throne for himself he set out to punish the supporters of Govinda, among them the ruler of Vengi. In his expedition against the Eastern Chālukya kingdom, Dhruva was well served by Arikesari I, the Chālukya feudatory of Vemulavāḍa. Viṣṇuvardhana was forced to admit defeat and to make his peace with Dhruva by offering him the hand of his daughter Śilamahādēvī, who became that ruler's chief queen.¹ The subordinate relation of Vengi to the Rāṣṭrakūṭas continued after the reign of Dhruva under his son Govinda III whose inscriptions claim that the ruler of Vengi was ever ready to carry out his suzerain's behests with alacrity;² the statement that he helped to build the surrounding wall of his suzerain's camp has sometimes been understood to refer to the fortification of Mānyakheṭa. Viṣṇuvardhana IV had three sons, two being Vijayāditya II and Bhīma Saluki who quarrelled over the succession, and the third, the son of a Haihaya princess, Rudra by name, who took the side of Vijayāditya.

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¹ *EI*, xxii, 107, ll. 36-9.

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² *EI*, vi, 244-5, v. 19.

Vijayāditya II

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Vijayāditya II was a great warrior who waged fierce wars against the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their allies for many years. He was known by the titles Narendramṛgarāja (the lion among kings), Chālukya-Rāma, and Vikramadhavala (of shining valour). He is credited with a reign of forty years (A.D. 808-47),³ and these were filled with strife and contention. He resented the hold of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas over Vengi, and they in turn treated him as a rebel and found a convenient tool in his half-brother Bhīma Saluki whom they set up as his rival. So long as Govinda III was aided by vassals like the Western Gangas and the Chālukyas of Vēmulavāḍa, things went badly for Vijayāditya; but when Govinda died about A.D. 814, leaving a child Amoghavarṣa I on the Rāṣṭrakūṭa throne, Vijayāditya gained the upper hand, defeated the Gangas, deposed Bhīma Saluki, and regained the kingdom; he also overran considerable parts of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa country.¹

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³ *JAHRS*, ix, 28.

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¹ ARE, 1912, ii, 62; 1918, ii, 4 ff.; SII, i, 39.

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Later inscriptions say of Vijayāditya that he fought 108 battles against the Gangas and Raṭṭas, incessantly, night and day, for twelve years with sword in hand, and that he also erected 108 Śiva temples called Narendreśvaras after his title. This number 108 is obviously conventional and not to be understood literally; the twelve years may well be the duration of Bhīma Saluki’s sycophancy. Vijayāditya was assisted in his wars by his son Viṣṇuvardhana V, who for that reason came to bear the surname Kali (War); Viṣṇuvardhana married a Rāṣṭrakūṭa princess Śīlamahādēvī, probably of the Gujarāt branch, but reigned for only about a year and a half after his father’s death.

Vijayāditya III Guṇaga

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On the death of Kali Viṣṇuvardhana, or Viṣṇuvardhana V, after his short period as king, his eldest son Vijayāditya III, better known as Guṇaga Vijayāditya, ascended the throne in A.D. 849 and ruled the kingdom for forty-four years. He had several titles of which Guṇake-nallāṭa (the lover of excellence or virtue), Parachakra-Rāma (Rāma amid the circle of his enemies), Tripura-martya-maheśvara (the mortal *maheśvara* to the three cities), and Vallabha (the lord) are the most important. Three well-defined stages are clearly noticeable in the history of his reign: (1) It began with a short period of victory and expansion; (2) then followed a disastrous defeat and prolonged subjection to foreign rule; and (3) the end was again a period of brilliant military victories leading to the assumption of imperial authority over the whole of the Deccan.

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As soon as he had ascended the throne, Vijayāditya III had to send an expedition against the Bōya-Koṭṭams—the districts inhabited by the Bōyas in the south. The Bōyas were a race of hardy warriors who occupied the northern marches of the Pallava kingdom corresponding to the present Nellore District, and they offered stubborn resistance to the advance of the Chāḷukyan arms in the south. Though their country appears to have been overrun and brought within the pale of the Eastern Chāḷukya territory some time before the accession of Guṇaga Vijayāditya, their power was not completely broken. The death of Viṣṇuvardhana V, and the accession of his youthful son, inspired them with fresh hope of regaining their freedom. They refused to obey his orders and attempted to assert their independence.

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Vijayāditya III, who was a strong and powerful monarch, could not brook this defiance of his authority. He resolved to put down the rebellion with a stern hand and to chastise the Bōyas for their insolence. He dispatched an army under Paṇḍaranga, the son of Kaḍeyarāja, with instructions to demolish the strongholds of the Bōyas and to subjugate their country. Two important forts, Kaṭṭem and Nellore, where the rebels had concentrated their forces, are mentioned in this connexion. The hand of the invader fell heavily on both. Paṇḍaranga dismantled the former and reduced the latter to ashes. He advanced triumphantly to the frontier of Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam and halted on the shore of the Pulicat lake, where he founded a new township called Paṇḍarangam and built a temple in honour of Śiva, Paṇḍaranga Maheśvara, both named after himself.¹

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¹ NDI, i, G. 86-105.

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Paṇḍaranga’s expedition against the Bōya-Koṭṭams was not a mere military raid. It resulted in the permanent annexation of the south-eastern Telugu country which had probably been until that time a fief of the Pallavas. The kingdom of Vengi increased in extent; and Paṇḍaranga, on whom the king seems to have bestowed the governorship of the conquered territory, established himself at Kandukur in the Nellore District, which he is said to have made as famous as Bezwada, the Eastern Chāḷukya capital.²

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² EI, xix, 275.

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Vijayāditya was next involved in a war with a chief called Rāhaṇa; nothing is known about the identity of this individual or the country over which he bore sway. Paṇḍaranga worsted him in battle, and won a great victory for his master.³

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³ Bhārati, v (i), 619.

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The series of victories which marked the opening years of Vijayāditya’s reign was, however, broken by a serious reverse. Although Vijayāditya was, through his mother Śīlamahādēvī, the daughter of Indravallabha, the younger brother of Govinda III and a scion of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa royal family, he yet came into conflict with his cousin Amoghavarsha I some time subsequent to his victory over Rāhaṇa. The circumstances leading up to the war are not clearly known. Flushed with victory over the Bōyas and Rāhaṇa, Vijayāditya attacked and destroyed Stambhapuri, the modern Cumbum in the Kurnool District, which was then included in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dominions. This inroad naturally provoked reprisals. Amoghavarsha sent an expedition to Vengi to chastise Vijayāditya and reduce him to subjection. The two armies met at Vingāvalli, a village which probably stood somewhere in the neighbourhood of Cumbum, and a sanguinary battle took place. The Eastern Chāḷukya forces sustained a crushing defeat, and Vijayāditya was obliged to submit to Amoghavarsha I and to acknowledge him as his liege and sovereign.⁴

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⁴ EI, vi, 103; ix, 39; xviii, 246.

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Vijayāditya could not easily shake off the Rāṣṭrakūṭa yoke thus imposed on him, and it was not until the death of Amoghavarsha I about A.D. 880 that he was able to regain his independence. His loss of independence and submission to the Rāṣṭrakūṭa authority did not, however, completely curtail his military activity. He did not embark, it is true, on any war on his own account, but he joined the forces of his overlord and rendered him valuable service against the rebellions of the feudatories who attempted to overthrow his power. Nitimārga Permānaḍi, the Western Ganga king of Talakāḍ, stirred up a rebellion in Gangavāḍi about A.D. 866 and asserted his independence.¹ Several of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa feudatories, specially the Pallava chiefs of Nolambavāḍi, following his example, repudiated the imperial authority and made common cause with him. The situation became so formidable that Amoghavarsha was obliged to send Bankeya Sellaketana, the commander of the imperial mūlabala, to the south with all the forces available. Though Bankeya was successful in the war against the rebels, and won several victories over them, he was recalled by his master before he could finish off the campaign and was dispatched to the north, owing to a rising in Lāṭa in which the crown prince Kṛṣṇa, the future Kṛṣṇa II, was somehow involved. Amoghavarsha did not, however, allow the Ganga king and his confederates to carry on their rebellion unchecked. He ordered Vijayāditya III to proceed to Gangavāḍi with his army to suppress the rebels and restore the imperial authority. Vijayāditya set out accordingly and marched at the head of his forces towards Gangavāḍi. When he arrived at the frontiers of Nolambavāḍi which lay on his route, he found that his path was barred by Mangi (Nolambadhirāja I), the king of the Nolambas and the ally of Nitimārga Permānaḍi. A fierce engagement took place in which the Eastern Cālukya army gained a complete victory thanks to the counsels of Vinayaḍi Śarman, Vijayāditya's military adviser. Mangi was slain in the fight, and the way being thus freed from obstacles, Vijayāditya advanced upon Gangavāḍi and inflicted a severe defeat on the Ganga army which had taken refuge on the lofty summit of the Gangākūṭa, i.e. the Śivaganga hill in the Nelamangala tāluk of the present Bangalore District in Mysore State.² The back of the Ganga rebellion was thus broken, and Nitimārga Permānaḍi was obliged to make peace with Amoghavarsha I.

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¹ EI, vi, 30-31.

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² EI, ix, 47.

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The death of Amoghavarsha I, which took place about A.D. 880, gave an excellent opportunity to Vijayāditya III to repudiate the Rāṣṭrakūṭa supremacy and reassert his independence. Kṛṣṇa II, who ascended the Rāṣṭrakūṭa throne on the death of his father, was not popular and it is not unlikely that owing to his unfilial conduct he had failed to secure the allegiance of his sāmantas, especially those administering the southern provinces of his kingdom. In any case it would seem clear that Kṛṣṇa II had to depend upon the aid of the Chedi king Sankila (Śankaragaṇa) throughout his struggle with Vijayāditya III.

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The Dharmavaram epigraph which describes the wars waged by Paṇḍaranga in the service of his king and master implies that Vijayāditya was engaged in a war with Kṛṣṇa II on two different occasions. Kṛṣṇa II accompanied by his ally and brother-in-law Sankila (Śankaragaṇa) above mentioned, the Chedi ruler of Dāhala, seems to have made an attack upon Vijayāditya, but having sustained a defeat in the battle, he had to leave his dominions, and seek safety in the court of his ally at Kiraṇapura in distant Ḍāhala. Vijayāditya, greatly encouraged by his victory over the Rāṣṭrakūṭa forces, next planned an expedition against Ḍāhala and dispatched it under the command of his able general Paṇḍaranga. The details of this campaign and the route followed by the Eastern Chālukya forces are not, it is true, fully recorded; but with the help of fragments of information which occur sporadically in the Eastern Chālukya inscriptions it is not impossible to trace the probable course of their march and to reconstruct the history of the campaign.¹ The expedition set out most probably from Vengi and marched through Kalinga towards the passes in the Eastern Ghats leading to Southern Kosala and the central Indian plateau. The advance of Vijayāditya’s army was not, however, unobstructed. Several princes, mostly the feudatories of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa and Chedi monarchs whose territories lay along Paṇḍaranga’s route, took up arms against him and impeded the progress of the expedition; but the military genius of Paṇḍaranga triumphed over all his enemies and surmounted every obstacle. The kings of Kalinga and Kosala and the Chālukya chief of Vemulavāḍa in the north of Telingana, who attempted to oppose his advance and turn back the invasion, were worsted in the field and had to yield place to him and allow him to march forward. He arrived at last in the Chedi dominions, devastated Ḍāhala and Daleṇāḍ, defeated Kṛṣṇa and Sankila in battle, and set fire to Kiraṇapura and Achalapura, the principal cities of the Ḍāhala kingdom. Vijayāditya’s victory was complete, and Kṛṣṇa, unable to offer further resistance, laid down his arms and sued for peace. Vijayāditya, who did not entertain any territorial ambitions at this point, satisfied himself by the assertion of his supremacy. He took over from the vanquished monarch the pāli banner, the symbols of the rivers Gaṅgā and Yamunā which constituted the insignia of Rāṣṭrakūṭa imperialism, assumed the title Vallabha, and proclaimed himself the lord paramount of the entire Dakṣiṇāpatha together with the Trikalinga country. Kṛṣṇa II met him in person, rendered him homage as a vassal and propitiated him by offering worship to his arms. Vijayāditya, who was evidently pleased with the Rāṣṭrakūṭa for the unique honour which he had thus shown him, restored his kingdom to him and returned to Vengi in great triumph.

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¹ Bhārati, v (i), 619; JTA, xi, 241; iii, 407; CP, no. 15 of 1917-18; JAHRS, xi, 80 ff. Madras Govt. Or. MSS. Library, 15-6-26, i, 348-58.

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The Eastern Chālukya inscriptions attribute to Vijayāditya III victories over several southern kings beside those mentioned already. The Dharmavaram epigraph, for instance, alludes to the protection which his general Paṇḍaranga offered to a Choḷa king who had been reduced to helplessness by an unnamed invader, and the Sataluru grant refers to his wars with the Pallavas and the Pāṇḍyas. The circumstances under which Vijayāditya came into conflict with the rulers of the south are nowhere recorded; nor has any account of the incidents of his campaigns against them come down to us.

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Vijayāditya III was the greatest monarch who ever sat upon the throne of Vengi. During his reign the Eastern Chālukya kingdom extended from the Mahendragiri in the north to the Pulicat lake in the south. He was a great warrior, and though for a time he was constrained to submit to the Rāṣṭrakūṭa authority, he recovered his power soon after the death of Amoghavarṣa I, and turned the tables so completely on Kṛṣṇa II that the latter was compelled to acknowledge him as his overlord and the emperor of Dakṣiṇāpatha, and to render him homage. Some of the ancestors of Vijayāditya III, especially his grandfather Narendramṛgarāja, had no doubt waged war relentlessly on the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and even won victories over them, but none had ever succeeded in reducing them to submission and exacting from them tribute and homage as Guṇaga did. The success of Vijayāditya must be attributed to a great extent to the skill and ability of the Brāhman officers in his service, especially the celebrated general Paṇḍaranga, the greatest military genius of the age. This commander distinguished himself early in the reign during the southern campaign against the Bōyas, and took a prominent part in defeating the enemies of the Chola and restoring him to his kingdom. The most brilliant achievement of his career, however, was the Dāhala campaign, in the course of which he inflicted defeat after defeat on his enemies and reduced the mightiest monarch of the Deccan to abject submission.

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After a long reign of forty-four years Vijayāditya III breathed his last in A.D. 892. He had no sons, and his younger brother Vikramāditya whom he had chosen as the heir-apparent predeceased him, leaving behind a son Bhīma to whom the crown passed on the death of his uncle.

Chālukya Bhīma I

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On the death of Guṇaga Vijayāditya III, his nephew Chālukya Bhīma I succeeded him as we have just said. His right to the throne was, however, questioned by his dāyādas (agnates), especially by his paternal uncle Yuddhamalla I, who, too weak to seize power by their own efforts, sought and obtained the help of the hereditary foe of their family, the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Kṛṣṇa II. Kṛṣṇa, was smarting under the humiliation of his recent defeats at the hands of Guṇaga Vijayāditya, eagerly seized the opportunity and invaded Vengi with a large force even before Bhīma could celebrate his coronation.¹ The details of the invasion are not fully recorded. However, two or three incidents stand out prominently: (1) the Rāṣṭrakūṭas at the outset carried everything before them, defeated the Eastern Chālukya army, and occupied the greater part of the kingdom; (2) in one of the engagements fought in the heart of the Vengi country Chālukya Bhīma I was himself taken prisoner. The inscriptions of the Chālukya chiefs of Vēmulavāḍa and the Vikramārjuna Vijaya of Pampa clearly state that Baddega, who was a contemporary and subordinate of Kṛṣṇa II, captured Bhīma.² Chālukya Bhīma I, however, soon regained his freedom, though it is not possible to state how he eluded his captor; (3) the success of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas was not permanent. Though Kṛṣṇa II had the *dāyādas* of Cālukya Bhīma I on his side, the *sāmantas* and the hereditary servants of the Eastern Cālukya royal family rallied under Kusumāyudha I, the chief of the Cālukyas of Mudu-goṇḍa, to the aid of Cālukya Bhīma I, and having driven out Kṛṣṇa II and his allies from the kingdom, restored it to its lawful master. When the country was thus cleared of the invaders, and Cālukya Bhīma I was firmly established on his ancestral throne, he celebrated his coronation ceremony on Mesha-Chaitra, ba 2 of Śaka 814, corresponding to 14 April A.D. 892, and assumed the official name of Viṣṇuvardhana.

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¹ Telingana inscriptions, OI, no. 12.

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² Journ. of the Madras University, xv, 114-16.

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Kṛṣṇa II did not, however, give up his designs upon the Eastern Cālukya dominions. A few years later he sent another expedition under his intrepid general Daṇḍena Guṇḍaya, comprising forces from Karṇāṭa and Lāṭa. The expedition penetrated into the heart of the kingdom and reached the outskirts of the capital of Vengi. The Cālukya army under Irimarti-gaṇḍa, the king's brave son and heir-apparent, opposed them near Niravadyapura, the modern Nidadavolu, in the East Godavari District, and inflicted a defeat on them. In another engagement near Peru-Vangūru-grāma (Peda-Vanguru in the Ellore *tāluk* of the Western Godavari District) Daṇḍena Guṇḍaya was killed, and the Karṇāṭa and Lāṭa forces were scattered. Vengi had once again been saved from foreign domination; but the valiant prince who led the Cālukya forces to battle also perished in the fight, leaving his disconsolate father to gather the fruits of victory alone.¹

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¹ *ARE*, 1914, pt. ii, para. 6.

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The remaining years of the reign of Cālukya Bhīma I were uneventful. He was devoted to the worship of Śiva and built temples in honour of the god at Cālukya-Bhīmavaram and Drākṣhārāmam in the Eastern Godavari District.² Cālukya Bhīma ruled for thirty years and died in A.D. 921, leaving the kingdom to Vijayāditya IV, the eldest of his surviving sons.

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² *EI*, iv, 240; *JTA*, xi, 251.

Vijayāditya IV

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Vijayāditya IV, surnamed Kollabhigaṇḍa, ruled only for a period of six months. Short as it was, however, his reign was not uneventful. As soon as he ascended the throne he found it necessary to lead an expedition into Kalinga. The circumstances in which he was thus obliged to invade Kalinga are unknown to us. Very probably the Eastern Gangas under their energetic king Vajrahasta III had repudiated the Eastern Cālukya supremacy and asserted their independence. However that may have been, we know that Kollabhigaṇḍa penetrated into Kalinga at the head of his army and overthrew the enemy who had opposed him near the city of Viraja.³ The victory, however, was transformed into a disaster owing to Vijayāditya's death either in the battle itself or immediately afterwards. The army, deprived of its leader, had to turn back, and the nobles and officers hastened homewards to take part in the anticipated war of succession.

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³ *ARE*, 1917, pt. ii, para. 26; 1918, pt. ii, para. 5.

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The death of Vijayāditya IV marks the beginning of a period of struggles for the supreme power and of civil war. Kings followed one another in a rapid and bewildering series. Within the short space of a dozen years Vengi passed in turn under the rule of no fewer than six monarchs, none of whom had either the strength or the ability to dominate and control the government. The situation was further aggravated by the appearance of foreign invaders who found it convenient thus to profit by the disturbed conditions.

Amma I

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Amma I Rājamahendra, the son of Vijayāditya IV, first proclaimed himself king after the death of his father. His right to rule the kingdom was, however, disputed by his paternal uncle Vikramāditya II who rebelled against his nephew and made a bid for the throne. Amma’s feudatory relatives thereupon renounced their allegiance to him and obtained help from the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Indra III. The hereditary forces which were normally available for the service of the family also deserted Amma and made common cause with the enemy. The situation was indeed serious. Amma I, however, was a brave prince. He faced his enemies boldly and with the help of a few officers who remained faithful to him he mastered his difficulties and established himself firmly on the throne.¹ Amma I ruled the kingdom for seven years and died in the fullness of his power in A.D. 927. It is sometimes stated that he laid the foundations on the banks of the Godavarī of a new city called after him Rajamahendrapura (Rajahmandry) which became the capital of Vengi under his successors;² but the evidence available in support of this view is but meagre, and there is in fact no real proof that he ever transferred the headquarters of his government from the old capital.

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¹ SII, i, nos. 36, 38.

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² JAHRS, iii, 144-59.

Short Reigns

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Amma I was succeeded by his young son Vijayāditya V referred to frequently in the Eastern Cālukya inscriptions as Beta or Kaṇṭhikā Vijayāditya. A mere lad at the time of his succession, Beta was not equal to the task of governing the kingdom in that turbulent age. Within a fortnight of his coronation he was ousted from the throne and was compelled to take refuge in the fort of Piṭhāpura, where he became the founder of a local dynasty. Tāla I, son of Yuddhamalla I, seized the kingdom, probably with the help of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. He was not, however, destined to rule long. Scarcely had a month elapsed when Vikramāditya II, who had been struggling to reach the throne during the previous eight years, attacked him and put him to death.¹ This Vikramāditya was an energetic prince. During the brief period of eleven months for which he ruled the kingdom, he recovered Trikalinga, which had been lost after the death of Chālukya Bhīma I.² At the end of that time he was assassinated, according to the Digumarru grant, the only record which alludes to the incident, by Bhīma, one of the sons of Amma I. Bhīma ruled the kingdom for eight months, and was then overthrown in his turn by Yuddhamalla II, the son of Tāla I.

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¹ EI, xxv, 108; ix, 55.

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² SII, i, no. 37, p. 45.

Yuddhamalla II

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The success of Yuddhamalla II was in no small measure due to the help which he received from the Rāṣṭrakūṭa court. Indra III, who was anxious to bring Vengi within the pale of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa empire, took advantage of the disorderly state of affairs obtaining in the country and sent a large army to help Yuddhamalla II whose cause he pretended to espouse. With the help of these forces, Yuddhamalla succeeded in displacing Bhīma and seizing the kingdom. He proclaimed himself king and assumed the reins of government. He had, however, very little real power. A large part of the kingdom was occupied by Rāṣṭrakūṭa officers and nobles who paid no regard to his authority. Many of his *dāyādas* who had designs upon the throne were still at large, and were hatching plots to compass his ruin. Though he managed to maintain his position for seven years, he enjoyed no peace. The way in which the struggle for power between him and his rivals threw the country into confusion and brought misery on the people is briefly but clearly indicated in the contemporary records. On the death of Vikramāditya II, according to one inscription, ‘the kinsmen-princes who were desirous of the kingdom, viz. Yuddhamalla, Rājamārtāṇḍa, and Kaṇṭhikā-Vijayāditya, were fighting for supremacy, and oppressing the subjects like Rākṣasas’.³ ‘The feudatory Śabara chiefs, the commanders of Vallabha (i.e. Rāṣṭrakūṭa) and others’, states another, apportioned the territory among themselves and ‘held it for seven years’.⁴

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³ EI, ix, 55.

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⁴ ARE, 1917, ii, para. 14.

Chālukya Bhīma II

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The country was rescued from this state of civil war and anarchy by Chālukya Bhīma II Rājamārtāṇḍa, a son of Vijayāditya IV by his wife, Melāmbā, and a half-brother of Amma I. After a bitter conflict lasting for five years, he succeeded in expelling the Rāṣṭrakūṭas from his native land and restoring peace and order in the realm. He was greatly helped in this contest by the outbreak of a dynastic revolution in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa kingdom. Govinda IV, who had ascended the throne of Mānyakhēṭa in A.D. 930, incurred the displeasure of a section of the nobility of the realm; the malcontents were headed by Govinda’s paternal uncle Baddega who together with his ambitious son Kannara had been banished by Govinda from his dominions. Baddega and Kannara retired to the court of the Haihaya king, Yuvarājadeva I of Tripuri, and thence instigated the Chālukya chiefs of Vemulavāda and Mudugoṇḍa to rise up in revolt against their sovereign. Govinda IV sent an army to put down the rebels, but since it could not cope with the situation the rebellion spread and the imperial authority suffered an eclipse. Chālukya Bhīma II Rājamārtāṇḍa seized his opportunity, and making common cause with the rebels he struck a blow to regain his independence as ruler of his ancestral kingdom. The attempts of Govinda IV to keep his hold upon Vengi were of no avail; his forces suffered defeat, and his protégé Yuddhamalla II was obliged to seek safety in flight. The defeat of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa forces and the consequent outbreak of disturbances within the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dominions left Chālukya Bhīma II free to deal sternly with his rival kinsmen, and to establish his authority securely in the kingdom. When the country had been completely liberated, and his rivals were exterminated, he proclaimed himself king in A.D. 934-5 and celebrated his coronation.¹ Though Chālukya Bhīma II ruled for twelve years, nothing is known about the events of his reign. He married two wives, Ūrjapā or Aṅkidevi of the Eastern Gaṅga family and Lōkāmbā of unknown parentage, who each gave him a son, the boys being named Dānārṇava and Amma respectively.²

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¹ EI, xii, 249; ix, 47.

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² JAHRS, xi, 80-88, CP, 1 of 1916-17.

Amma II

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Chālukya Bhīma II was succeeded by his second son Amma II, then a child of twelve years old, Dānārṇava, his older half-brother, being superseded. How this came about cannot be certainly ascertained. Amma II, unlike his elder brother, was born in the purple, and that was most probably the reason why he was selected to rule the kingdom. Though Dānārṇava appears to have acquiesced in this arrangement, Amma II was not left in undisturbed possession of his dominions. Soon after his coronation in A.D. 945 he was attacked by Bādapa and Tāla II, sons of Yuddhamalla II, who had taken refuge after the death of their father at the Rāṣṭrakūṭa court. The accession of young Amma II to the throne, and the defection of some principal nobles of the kingdom, encouraged them to make an attempt to regain their patrimony. They enlisted the support of Kṛṣṇa III and invaded Vengi in force. Amma II was helpless; his supporters were weak, and the nobles turned hostile and deserted to the enemy. Unable to offer any resistance, he abandoned the struggle and fled from the country. Bādapa seized the empty throne, and having proclaimed himself king he assumed the official name of Vijayāditya. Curiously enough, the Eastern Chālukya records are silent about the intervention of Bādapa and his younger brother and their rule over Vengi. Their own inscriptions,³ however, leave no room for doubt that they ousted Amma II from the throne, and ruled the kingdom for a while, though of the duration of their rule and the extent of their power we have no definite information. Bādapa died while in full possession of the throne and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tāla II, who assumed the name of Viṣṇuvardhana on becoming king. The rule of Tāla II did not last long; it came to an abrupt end on the return of Amma II from exile. The nobles who had formerly been instrumental in ousting Amma now changed their attitude towards him and favoured his return. Nṛpakāma, the chief of Kolanu, gave him one of his daughters in marriage and warmly espoused his cause. Amma, thus assured of the support of the nobles, returned to Vengi, slew Tāla II in battle and took possession of the kingdom.

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³ EI, xix, 137; CP, no. 6 of 1938-9 (unpublished); EI, xix, 148.

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The position of Amma II was not, however, quite secure. Though he was allowed to rule undisturbed for some time, he became involved once again in a war with the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in A.D. 956 and was compelled to flee the country a second time and to seek safety in exile. Kṛṣṇa III was an ambitious monarch, and he cherished the desire of bringing the whole of South India under his control. To realize this ambition he invaded the Tamil country in A.D. 949-50, defeated the Chōḷa king Parāntaka in the battle of Takkōlam, sacked the cities of Kāñchī and Tañjāvūr, and annexed the whole of Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam to his dominions. He next turned his attention to Vengi and sent an army to reduce it to subjection. He entered at the same time into alliance with Amma’s elder brother Dānārṇava, whom he won over to his side by promising to place him upon the throne. Unable to withstand the combined attack of Dānārṇava and Kṛṣṇa III, Amma II fled from the kingdom and took refuge in Kalinga. Kṛṣṇa III was true to his promise. He appointed Dānārṇava as the ruler of Vengi and entrusted to him the administration of his ancestral territory.

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It is not known how long Dānārṇava remained in power. Some time after the retirement of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa armies, Amma II returned from exile, took back the kingdom from his half-brother and ruled it in peace until A.D. 970. His reign did not, however, end without disturbance. Dānārṇava, who had never abandoned his designs on the throne, rebelled against him, and with the help probably of Mallana and Gondiya of the Muḍugoṇḍa family slew Amma II in battle and took possession of the kingdom.¹

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¹ *Elliot’s Collection*, Madras Government Or. MSS. Library, 15-6-26, pp. 34-8.

Dānārṇava

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The reign of Dānārṇava lasted only for a short period of three years, during which he appears to have been constantly at war with his enemies, especially the Telugu Chōḍa chief, Jaṭā Chōḍa Bhīma, of Peḍakallu in the modern Kurnool District. The circumstances in which Dānārṇava came into conflict with this nobleman are not quite clear. Bhīma was, however, most probably a grandson of Rāja-Bhīma or Chāḷukya Bhīma II through his mother, and a brother-in-law (wife’s brother) of Amma II. To avenge the death of Amma, then, he appears to have attacked Dānārṇava and slain him in battle in A.D. 973.

II. The Telugu Chōḍa Interregnum and the Post-Restoration Period

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THE death of Dānārṇava marks an important stage in the history of the Eastern Chāḷukyas. Their rule was definitely overthrown for the first time since the establishment of their family in Vengi by Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana in the first half of the seventh century A.D. There had no doubt been civil wars in the past, and the country had even been occupied by foreign invaders on several occasions; but a Chāḷukya had always remained upon the throne and ruled the country either independently or in subordination to some foreign power. After the death of Dānārṇava, however, his sons were driven into exile and the empire of the Chāḷukyas came to an end. A member of the alien Telugu Chōḍa family from the land beyond their frontier seized their throne and established himself firmly in their ancestral kingdom.

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Jaṭā Chōḍa Bhīma ruled Vengi for twenty-seven years from A.D. 973 to 1000, a period which is usually described in the later Eastern Chāḷukya inscriptions as an interregnum. Bhīma compares himself, in the only record of his reign which has yet come to light,¹ with Guṇaga Vijayāditya, from whom he proudly traces his descent. The comparison is not entirely without significance. None among the kings of Vengi excepting Guṇaga either fought with so many enemies or bore sway over such an extensive territory as did Bhīma. He defeated the kings of Aṅga, Kaliṅga, Vaidumba, and Drāviḍa and in the heyday of his glory exercised authority over the entire coastal region from Mahendragiri to Conjeevaram and from the Bay of Bengal to the frontiers of Karnatak.

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¹ EI, xxi, 32.

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Bhīma also invaded Toṇḍaimaṇḍalam in the south in A.D. 1001. Though the reasons for this incursion are not definitely recorded, yet a study of the contemporary Chōḷa and Eastern Chāḷukya inscriptions makes it quite clear that it was provoked by the aggressive attitude of the Chōḷa king, Rājarāja I, who in pursuance of imperialistic ambitions espoused the cause of the sons of Dānārṇava, and having given his daughter Kundavai in marriage to Vimalāditya, the younger of the two princes, invaded Vengi in A.D. 999-1000 with the object of restoring the elder brother Śaktivarman I to his ancestral throne. Although the inscriptions dated in Rājarāja’s 14th regnal year (A.D. 999-1000) state clearly that he conquered Vengi, he was apparently in reality not completely successful. Jaṭā Chōḍa Bhīma was a formidable enemy supported by powerful allies. He was not so easily overthrown as the Chōla inscriptions would have us believe. The epigraphs of the reign of Śaktivarman I,¹ which curiously enough are completely silent about the help given by the Chōlas, and attribute the entire credit of victory to his unrivalled valour, envisage, as a matter of fact, two or even three campaigns against Bhīma. (1) When Śaktivarman I, accompanied, of course, by his Chōla ally, advanced on Vengi, he was at first opposed by a famous warrior called Ekavīra who was sent to arrest the progress of his invasion by Bhīma; but Ekavīra, able and experienced as he was, proved unequal to the situation. He himself was killed in battle and his followers were dispersed. (2) Śaktivarman was next attacked by Mahārāja and Baddema, probably Telugu Chōḍa princes ruling in the south-western Telugu country; but they also suffered defeat and were obliged to seek safety in flight. These reverses appear to have brought home to Bhīma the seriousness of the danger threatening him. He was obliged to leave Vengi and to retire into the hills and jungles of Kalinga. Śaktivarman I occupied the country and proclaimed himself king. The Chōla army having effected their purpose returned to their native country, believing that he was now securely established on his ancestral throne. However, they were soon undeceived. Bhīma did not lose courage. He gathered fresh forces and proceeded at their head towards Vengi. It is not known whether Śaktivarman I adopted any measures to oppose him. If he really offered any resistance, it cannot have been effective, for Bhīma passed through Vengi triumphantly, and succeeded, as already stated, in penetrating into the heart of Toṇḍaimandalam. He laid siege to Kāñchī, the second city in the Chōla kingdom, and captured it in A.D. 1001-2. But he was not permitted to remain there long. Rājarāja I soon expelled him from his dominions, and devised means for his final defeat. Rājarāja invaded the coastal Telugu country once again in A.D. 1002-3, advanced as far north as Kalinga, and having slain Bhīma in battle established Śaktivarman I firmly in Vengi.

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¹ Madras Govt. Or. MSS. Library, 15-2-26, pp. 348 ff.; *Journal of the Telugu Academy*, ii, 349-411; CP, 13 of 1917-18.

Śaktivarman I

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The accession of Śaktivarman I opens a new epoch in the history of Vengi. Though he succeeded in regaining his ancestral kingdom he had had to pay a heavy price to attain his object. The alliance with the Chōla monarch through whose help he managed to overthrow his enemies involved the sacrifice of national independence. He had to submit to Chōla authority, and acknowledge the Chōla as his overlord and sovereign. Vengi ceased to be an independent kingdom and became a protectorate of the Chōla empire. The formation of the Chōla-Chālukya alliance and the establishment of Chōla ascendancy over the entire coastal Telugu country upset the political equilibrium of the Southern Deccan and plunged the land into interminable dynastic wars. The Chāḷukyas of Kalyāṇī who succeeded to the power of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in the Deccan challenged the Chōḷa supremacy over the Telugu country of the maritime plain, and Vengi became the theatre of a long war which lasted, with a few brief intervals, for the next 135 years; the history of Vengi during this period is a history of this war; the Eastern Chāḷukyas, the rulers of the country, recede into the background, leaving the Chōḷas and the Kalyāṇī Chāḷukyas to dispute the field.

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The rule of Śaktivarman I lasted, according to the later Eastern Chāḷukya charters, for a period of twelve years; but very little is known about the internal affairs of Vengi during his reign. His inscriptions, no doubt, furnish ample information about his struggle with Jaṭā Chōḍa Bhima and his allies; but regarding the events which happened after his accession they have no evidence to offer. Śaktivarman’s reign was not, however, without disturbances. The first of the series of Karnatak invasions which was to devastate Vengi during the next century and a quarter occurred during the early years of his rule. Sattiga or Satyāśraya, the son of Tailapa II, sent an army to invade the Eastern Chāḷukya kingdom in A.D. 1006, probably with the object of overthrowing the Chōḷa-Chāḷukya alliance and bringing the east coast under his control. Bayal Nambi, one of his generals, marching at the head of an army, entered Vengi from the south, reduced the forts of Dharaṇikōṭa and Yanamadala to ashes, and established himself at Chebrolu in the Guntur District. How Śaktivarman I faced the invasion it is not possible to ascertain, as we have no information on the subject from any sources. But his ally the Chola emperor, Rājarāja I, appears to have bestirred himself and made plans for the protection of Vengi. The invasion of Karnatak by Rājēndra Chōḷa I in A.D. 1007 was probably undertaken to divert the attention of Satyāśraya, and compel him to withdraw his army from Vengi for the defence of his realm. However this may be, we know that the Western Chāḷukya army retired from the east coast and that Śaktivarman was left in possession of his kingdom. During the last years of his reign he seems to have devoted his attention to the internal administration of his realm. He expelled people who were not favourably disposed towards him from their estates and bestowed these on his followers as a reward for their loyal service. Very little is known of his family life; it is not even known whether he was married. He died without issue in A.D. 1011, and was succeeded by his younger brother Vimalāditya.

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