INDIA , THAT IS BHARAT -A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, #BHARAT[PART-51][EP-280]

THE CHALUKYA DYNASTY

From Northern INDIA , we must move to the Dynasties of Southern INDIA .The CHALUKYA DYNASTY is one of them . It was a classical INDIAN DYNASTY that ruled larger parts of Southern and Central INDIA between the 6th and 12th centuries .They were natives of KARNATKA . Its founder was PULAKESHIN I and its greatest ruler was PULAKESHIN II . Its predeceding state was KADAMBAS and succeeding state was RASHTRAKUTA . Its capital was VATAPI or BADAMI . During that period , they ruled as three closely related individual dynasties. They were : 1. THE BADAMI CHALUKYA ; 2. THE EASTERN CHALUKYA ; and 3. THE WESTERN CHALUKYA .The earliest Dynasty , known as the BADAMI CHALUKYA , ruled from their capital at BADAMI .They ruled from the middle of the 6th century .They asserted their independence at the decline of KADAMBA kingdom of BANAVASI and rapidly rose to prominence during the reign of PULAKESHIN II . But after his death , the EASTERN CHALUKYA became an independent kingdom in the eastern DECCAN .They ruled from capital VENGI until about the eleventh century . In the western DECCAN , the rise of the RASHTRAKUTAS in the middle of the 8th century eclipsed the CHALUKYA of BADAMI before being revived by their descendants , the WESTERN CHALUKYA in the tenth century .Those WESTERN CHALUKYA ruled from BASAVAKALYAN till the end of the twelve century .

ORIGINS OF CHALUKYA

According to most of the historians the CHALUKYAS were natives of KARNATKA . The theory wich tells that they were descendants of a 2nd-century chieftain called KANDACHALIKI REMMANAKA , a feudatory of the ANDHRA IKSHAVAKU , has been refuted by a historian like KAMATH on the ground that this has failed to explain the difference in lineage .The KANDACHALIKI feudatory called themselves VASHISTHIPUTRAS of the HIRANYAKAGOTRA , while the CHALUKYAS , addressed themselves as HARITHIPUTRAS of MANAVYASAGOTRA in their inscriptions , which appeared to be the same lineage as KADAMBAS of BANAVASI had .This shows that they were the descendants of KADAMBAS . On the other hand , the northern origin theory claims that a ruler of AYODHYA came to the south . He defeated the PULLAVAS and married a PULLAVA princess . Her child called VIJAYADITY , who is claimed to the father of PULAKESHIN I . But historians like K.V. RAMESH , CHOPRA and SASTRI , referring to BADAMI CHALUKYA inscriptions which confirm that JAYASIMHA was the grandfather of PULAKESHIN I and RANARAGA was his father , have refuted this theory .The KASHMIRI poet BILHANA suggests that the CHALUKYA family belonged to the SHUDRAS , while to HIUEN-TSANG , the CHALUKYA king PULAKESHIN II was a KSHATRIYA by birth because he loved “military arts” . However , the historian S. C. NANDINATH suggests that the CHALUKYA originated from KANNADA agriculturist family . But most of historians unanimously believe that the CHALUKYAS were from KARNATKA .

HISTORICAL SOURCES OF CHALUKYA

Inscriptions in SANSKRIT and KANNADA are the main sources of information of the history of BADAMI CHALUKYA . Historical sources of this Dynasty also include the BADAMI CAVE INSCRIPTIONS of MANGALESHA (578 AD) , KAPPE ARABHATTA record of 700 AD , the KANCHI KAILASANATHA TEMPLE INSCRIPTIONS , PEDDAVADUGURU INSCRIPTION of PULAKESHIN II and PATTADAKAL VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE INSCRIPTION of VIKRAMADITYA II .They all are in the KANNADA language and provide information regarding CHALUKYA DYNASTY . On the other hand , the BADAMI cliff inscription of PULAKESHIN I (543 AD) , the MAHAKUTA pillar inscription of MANGALESHA (595 AD) and AIHOLE inscription of PULAKESHIN II (634 AD) are some of the SANSKRIT inscriptions written in the old KANNADA scripts , are important sources of information about CHALUKYAS . Several coins of the BADAMI CHALUKYA , with KANNADA legends , have also been found which tell how KANNADA language flourished with the emergence of BADAMI CHALUKYA in the region of KARNATKA .The CHINESE BUDDHIST traveler HIUEN-TSANG visited the court of PULAKESHIN II . At the time of his visit PULAKESHIN II had divided his empire into three MAHARASHTRAKAS (Great Provinces) , each comprising of 99,000 villages . Probably they covered modern day KARNATKA , MAHARASTRA and the Coastal KONKAN . HIUEN-TSANG has praised this administrative division of the Empire by PULAKESHIN II .The PERSIAN Emperor KHOSRAU II had exchanged ambassadors with Emperor PULAKESHIN II which shows that how the CHALUKYA kingdom had got importance that time .

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TO BE CONTINUED ……………….

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