The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s2.t5: Vijayāditya VII
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s2.t5
- Language
- English
Vijayāditya VII
v2.c13.s2.t5.1
Vijayāditya, or to give him his full name, Viṣṇuvardhana Vijayāditya, was absent from Vengi at the time of his son’s death. Like his Purāṇic ancestor Arjuna, with whom he compares himself, he was engaged with the enemy elsewhere. Despite his bereavement, he was persuaded by his friends and well-wishers to undertake the task of governing the kingdom.
v2.c13.s2.t5.2
The political career of Vijayāditya VII began with the death of his father in A.D. 1018. His early attempts to seize the throne and oust his half-brother Rājarāja from the kingdom have been dealt with above. Unable to maintain his authority after his coronation in A.D. 1031, he left his native country and retired to the Western Chāḷukya court at Kalyāṇi, where he distinguished himself in the service of Sōmēśvara I who accepted him as his aṅkakāra or champion warrior, and conferred on him the rank of a *kumāra* or prince.¹ He was appointed governor of Noḷambavāḍi in A.D. 1063 and was charged with the defence of the province against the Chōḷa invasions. At the time of the death of his son, Vijayāditya was conducting a campaign in the Chōḷa dominions, from which he returned victorious soon afterwards according to an epigraph found at Mudukakere in Mysore State.² The Chōḷas did not, however, abandon their imperialistic designs. It was expected that Virarājendra, who had succeeded his elder brother Rājendra II on the throne of Gaṅgāpuri, and who was eager to restore the prestige of his family, would shortly make a fresh attempt to subjugate Vengi. Sōmēśvara I therefore took the necessary precautions to safeguard his possessions. He stationed a strong army under Jananātha of Dhārā, probably a Paramāra prince in his service, in the neighbourhood of Bezwada, and sent Vijayāditya in A.D. 1064 to the south with an army³ to forestall the designs of the enemy by carrying war into his own territory.⁴
v2.c13.s2.t5.3
¹ There is now no doubt about the identity of Vijayāditya of the Western Chāḷukya records with the half-brother of Rājarāja; he is called *maga* (son) of Sōmēśvara I in some Western Chāḷukya records as several feudatories are, but this is not enough to warrant the postulation of another son of Sōmēśvara, otherwise unknown.
v2.c13.s2.t5.4
² EC, vii, Ci, 18.
v2.c13.s2.t5.5
³ SII, ix (i), 127.
v2.c13.s2.t5.6
⁴ The campaigns that followed have been described in the section on the Chāḷukyas of Kalyāṇi.
v2.c13.s2.t5.7
While Virarājendra was engaged in the north, Sōmēśvara I died of the illness which had prevented him meeting the Chōḷa enemy on the appointed day, and Vikramāditya began to pursue his plans for securing the throne for himself. Accordingly he first got Vijayāditya to make his submission to Virarājendra and make his peace with him, and soon after followed the same course himself. Thus Vijayāditya became the ruler of Vengi as a feudatory of the Chōḷa monarch.