The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s2.t6.5

v2.c13.s2.t6.5

The rule of Vijayāditya after his reinstatement did not last long. Inscriptions dated in his 12th (A.D. 1072) and 13th (A.D. 1073) regnal years show that he was ruling the kingdom at that time.¹ The total absence of any record of his reign in Vengi in the succeeding years seems to indicate that he perhaps lost his throne once again. Two important facts deserve notice in this connexion. For some reason unknown at present, Yaśaḥkarṇadēva, the Chedi king of Ḍāhala, invaded Vengi about A.D. 1073. He claims to have destroyed ‘with ease the ruler of the Andhra country (even though) the play of (that king’s) arms disclosed no flaw’, and to have honoured with munificent gifts the holy Bhīmēśvara of Drākshārāma.² Similarly Banapati, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Ganga king, Rājarāja Dēvēndravarman, declares in an epigraph found at Dirghasi and dated A.D. 1075 that he defeated the King of Vengi again and again and became possessed of all his wealth.³ It is not known whether the invasions of Vengi referred to in these records were interconnected or independent events; nor is it possible to find out why Rājarāja Dēvēndravarman, who had himself re-established Vijayāditya on the throne of Vengi three years earlier, had thus to take up arms against him. It is, however, certain that as a consequence of these invasions Vijayāditya lost his kingdom and had to spend the remaining years of his life in exile. He figures in a Western Chālukya record dated A.D. 1074-5 as a vassal of Bhuvanikamalla Sōmēśvara II.⁴ The well-known Noḷamba titles such as Pallavānvayam Kāñchīpuravarēśvaram and Pallava-permāṇaḍi with which his name is associated in the record indicate that he was then governing the province of Noḷambavāḍi, and had adopted, following the Western Chālukya practice, the titles of the Noḷamba-Pallavas whose hereditary dominions had been placed under his rule. It is clear that Vijayāditya after his defeat retired to the Western Chālukya court, where he was cordially received and treated with respect and consideration. He did not, however, long survive the loss of his kingdom. As he is said in the Ṭēki, Chellūr, and Piṭhāpuram grants to have ruled only for a period of fifteen years,⁵ he must have died in A.D. 1075. With the death of Vijayāditya, the Eastern Chālukya dynasty came to an end. Though Vengi had lost her independence under the descendants of Dānārṇava, she enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy, and was treated throughout as a separate kingdom; but after Vijayāditya’s death she lost her distinctive character and became completely absorbed in the Chōḷa empire. The descendants of Rājarāja did in fact still control her destinies for another half a century; but they no longer lived in the country. They abandoned their native home, relinquished their family name and traditions, and gloried in the name and prestige of the Chōḷas which they adopted as their own on succeeding to the throne of the Chōḷa empire.