THE BADAMI CHALUKYAS - Part V

WHO IS THE 'SECOND' GREATEST CHALUKYAN EMPEROR?

Historians and scholars are unanimous in their opinion that Pulakeshi II, the fourth emperor in this illustrious line of rulers was not only the greatest monarch to have sat on the throne of Badami but also count him amongst the best rulers in the history of the country. The tragedies that unfolded in the last few years of his reign apart, he won a series of victories in his remarkable military career, the crowning glory of which was his outstanding win over Emperor Harshavardhan when he tried to invade the Deccan. Of course, this is just one aspect of his life; besides being a military genius, he was also an able administrator as confirmed by records of the Chinese pilgrim Xuangzang. However, the question that I would like to attempt to answer in this post is one that has intrigued me for long now - After Pulakeshi II, who is the 'second greatest' Chalukyan emperor? In my opinion, there are five major contenders and over the course of this post, I would like to evaluate each one of these and try to arrive at a 'satisfactory' conclusion.

The first of these is Mangalesa, the uncle and immediate predecessor of Immadi Pulakeshi. Many will be surprised by the fact that I have included him in this exercise; after all, he is not spoken about in 'high regards' even in the dynastic records that generally tend to overrate the achievements of even the 'weakest' of the kings. The reason for him being 'overlooked' in the Chalukyan inscriptions, of course is pretty clear. His refusal to hand over the reins of the government to his nephew when the latter came of age is largely seen as 'act of betrayal' and a display of 'extreme selfishness'. Though he is wrong if you consider the 'law of primogeniture' but I have chosen to ignore this since I believe that his contribution in strengthening the Badami Chalukya clan has largely been overlooked.

Although he inherited a pretty stable kingdom, Mangalesa's conquests along the western coast are extremely important as far as the history of this clan is concerned. Apart from checking the ambitions of chiefs in the region and forcing them to submit to the Vatapi court, it also gave the Chalukyas access to the ports like Goa which were important centres of trade, especially in Arabian horses. Moreover, he was, in my opinion, the first king of Badami to pursue a policy of territorial expansion. His victory over the Kalachuris helped in adding areas in modern day Maharashtra to the Chalukyan kingdom. However, the reason why he fails in the race to be the 'second' best is that in spite of being in power for over a decade he failed to defend his throne against his nephew. This clearly shows that there was a strong coterie in the royal court that opposed Mangalesa and he failed in keeping a watch over their activities.

Another Chalukyan monarch who makes a strong case for himself is Vinayaditya - the sixth ruler of this clan. If the dynastic records are to be believed, he led a strong army and prevailed over a powerful king in the North. Thus while Pulakeshi was successful in repulsing Harsha's invasion, his grandson is credited to have crossed the Narmada and defeated a strong king ruling in the area of the Gangetic plain. He is also hailed as yielding supremacy over the kings of faraway lands like Persia, Ceylon and Kamera which some historians identify as the Khmer kingdom in modern day Cambodia. The problem however is that, at present we have no credible source to corroborate these rather tall claims which sound more like figment of imagination of a royal poet intend to glorify his master's achievements. We still do not have any information about the North Indian ruler who was beaten by Vinayaditya nor is there any mention in the history of Persia and Cambodia that their rulers paid tribute to the Badami kings. Also, in case the dynastic records are right, then Vinayaditya might well be the greatest of all the Chalukyan rulers surpassing even the famous Immadi Pulakeshi.

Most of the Badami Chalukyan kings had imperialistic ambitions and waged wars to win more territories and wealth. A notable exception to this was the third contender - Vijayaditya. His 37 year long reign was the longest for any ruler of his family and was marked by general peace and prosperity. In fact, it was also in the last days of his career that the family won a huge victory over their arch rivals - the Pallavas of Kanchi. Though I place him higher over the likes of Mangalesa and Vinayaditya, I still believe that he was not the 'second' best ruler of this dynasty. The reason is simple; I believe that for a ruler to be in the 'great' club, a ruler needs to be a great general and an efficient administrator. While Vijayaditya gets full marks for administration, the fact remains that as of now, we are not aware of any of his major military exploits. The lone campaign against the Pallavas too was headed by the crown prince about whom we will discuss next.

Vikramaditya II, the last of the great Chalukyan kings did something that even Pulakeshi could not; he managed to comprehensively defeat the Pallavas, not once, not twice but on three different occasions. The first of these was as the crown prince during the reign of his father Vijayaditya, the second as the King and third was an expedition led by his son Kirtivarman II. The death of Pulakeshi II on the battle field at the hands of Narsimhavarman I, the subsequent Pallava sacking of Vatapi and the inscription that their king left behind there were a great cause of embarrassment for this family. It was Vikramaditya's triple victories that finally ended this humiliation. Moreover, unlike the Pallavas, the Chalukyas did not ransack their capital; in fact, the Chalukyan emperor left his own inscription in Kanchi wherein it is mentioned that he made several grants to the temples and the priests, clearly indicating that he was a considerate monarch too. Besides, it was during his reign that Avanjijanasraya Pulakeshi of the Lata branch stemmed the advances of an Arab army. Thus, as far as warfare is concerned, Vikramaditya II is perhaps next only to Immadi Pulakeshi as far as the Badami Chalukyas are concerned.

So, is he the 'second' greatest? Ahh, I don't think so. The Chalukyan Empire crumbled within a decade after the death of Vikramaditya II and the seeds of destruction were sowed during his time. Though he won a major victory over the Arabs in the north, I think that this ruler concentrated most of his energies in the south. So determined was he in destroying the Pallavas that he in a sense ignored the meteoric rise of two families in this part of the world - the Rashtrakutas under Dantidurga and the Pandyas who would eventually diminish the glory of the Badami court. Like Pulakeshi II, the constant wars that he waged would have taken a toll on the state exchequer. Lastly, an important mistake that he made was that so involved was he in the politics of southern Deccan that he completely ignored the northern frontier.

The final contender in this race is Pulakeshi's own son Vikramaditya I. As mentioned earlier, after the defeat and death of his father, the great Pallava emperor Narshimavarman I captured and sacked Vatapi. For a period of 13 years, the Chalukyan capital remained in the hands of their bitter rivals. It was a critical period in the history of this dynasty and our understanding of it as yet is quite limited. All we are sure about is that it was Vikramaditya II who succeeded in driving the Kanchi army out of Badami and restoring the Chalukyan pride to some extent. Thus in some ways, he rebuilt the Vatapi kingdom following its devastation at the hands of Narshimavarman I. In his 25 year long reign as the monarch, he is said to have defeated the Pandyas, the Chola sand the Cheras who had allied with the Kanchi king during the Chalukya-Pallava conflict. Also, we know from inscriptions that he continued to get tribute from the Latas, the Gujjaras and the Malavas. Hence, except for Vengi which was by now an independent kingdom, the extent of his empire was next only to his father. He also undertook a campaign against the Kanchi kings but we are not sure as to what was the ultimate result of this conflict as both sides claim victory.

Unlike his namesake, Vikramaditya I could never achieve a complete victory over the Pallavas. However, in my opinion, that cannot be a yardstick to measure greatness. If it was not for him, the Badami Chalukya dynasty would have passed into oblivion following the death of Pulakaeshi II. He literally rebuilt the kingdom from pieces, pushed out the Pallavas and reaffirmed his family's hold over regions up to Southern Gujarat. He was vigilant enough to check the ambitions of his feudatories and the empire survived for nearly a century after his death. Of course, we cannot deny that he was lucky enough to have strong successors like Vinayaditya, Vijayaditya and Vikramaditya II. But then, had it not been for the strong leadership provided by him during the time of crisis, the Chalukyan power would have ended with the death of Pulakeshi II.

Thus, I believe that Immadi Pulakeshi's son and successor Vikramaditya I who was the next best ruler to have occupied the Badami throne followed closely by his great grandson Vikramaditya II at number three.

Read the complete series on Badami Chalukyas here (Link)

THE BADAMI CHALUKYAS - Part I

THE THREE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

In the early 6^th century AD, political instability had gripped the northern parts of the Deccan peninsula. A sting of weak rulers and internal feuds had completely weakened the Kadamba dynasty which had ruled this region for nearly two centuries. The era of the Banavasi kings was in its twilight; the situation presented a golden opportunity to both, subordinate chieftains and external forces to increase their influence. Taking advantage of the chaos, a new family rose to power in this part of the country, filling in the vaccum caused by recent developments. Ruling from their capital of Badami (or Vatapi) near Bagalkot in their first stint, they went on to carve an empire that covered large portions of southern and central India between the sixth and the eight century; in fact, at their zenith, their territorial extent was more than twice as big as their predecessors. They maintained large and efficient armies that helped them repulse invasions from the north and win decisive victories over their rivals in the south. Their contribution in the field of literature, especially that in the local language - Kannada is immense. And finally, their elegant architecture is considered amongst the finest in our history; some elements of their style were later improvised by the Vijaynagar rulers too. The Badami Chalukyas are one of the most distinguished and illustrious dynasties of our country.

Though the exact origins of this clan, like most of our early dynasties is shrouded in mystery, it is fairly clear that they were feudatories to the Kadambas prior to their ascent. The details of the political developments that took place in the seventeen year period between the death of the last Kadamba king Harivarma in 525 AD and the establishment of the Chalukya power in 542 AD are unknown. Pulakeshi I who broke off all allegiance to the Banavasi court, laid the real foundation of the kingdom. The fourth Chalukya king, rather emperor Pulakesi II is undoubtedly, the greatest to occupy the throne and was the real architect of the empire. A military genius, his stunning victory over the mighty Vardhana emperor Harsha on the banks of the Narmada (a rare instance of a southern king successfully repulsing an attack from the north) is regarded as his greatest feat. Tragically, the last few years of his reign saw the Pallavas lead a successful campaign against him and Pulakeshi is believed to have died on the battlefield. In the eight decade long period following his demise, the Pallavas always had the upper hand in the war between the two dynasties. Things started changing when Vikramaditya II ascended the throne. He avenged earlier humiliation caused by defeat at the hands of his enemy by capturing Kanchipuram on three different occasions. A benevolent emperor, he refused to sack the magnificent temples in Tamil country and is said to have made several grants to the priests and the poor. He subjugated kingdoms in the deep south and also checked the Arab invasion. His son and successor Kirtivarman II was the last significant ruler of this line. Winds of change were sweeping Deccan. The Pandyas and the Rashtrakutas captured large parts of their kingdom, besides isolating them diplomatically. As Dantidurga and his successors expanded their possessions, leading their armies up to Kannauj - the richest city in contemporary India, the Chalukyas were forced to accept the overlordship of the Rashtrakutas, waiting for the appropriate time to stage a comeback.

A second branch of the Chalukyas ruled over the Seemandhra region since 624 AD from their capital of Vengi, near modern Eluru. The origins of this dynasty, also known as the Eastern Chalukyas lies in the conquest of coastal Andhra Pradesh by the emperor Pulakeshi II in the early seventh century. Knowing that the new territories were too far to be efficiently administrated from his capital, he appointed his younger brother Kubuja Vishnuvardhana as the viceroy of eastern Deccan. However, with the death of his elder brother, a war of succession broke amongst his sons even as the Pallavas captured Vatapi for thirteen years. It was at this time that Vishnuvardhana declared his independence and held sway over the territories between Srikakulam and Nellore along the Coromandel coast covering the fertile Krishna and Godavari deltas. The exact nature of relationship between him and his successors on one hand and their relatives ruling from Badami on the other, is not very clear. As the Rashtrakutas become powerful, the vengi kings accepted their suzerainty. King Vijayaditya III was known to be a close ally of the emperor Amogavarsha II. After the death of his friend, the Vengi king is believed to have raided and captured parts of the Rasthrakuta empire. Several wars were fought between these two families between 870 to 930 AD. As the Deccan plunged into chaos in the late eleventh century, the Eastern branch enlarged its territories. A serious threat to their existence came in the year 1006 AD when the Western Chalukyan king Satyasraya invaded Andhra with the aim of uniting the two kingdoms. However, timely intervention by the Chola army saved the eastern half. In the later years, both the Kalyana Chalukyas and the Cholas who were locked in a power struggle in the south, tried to increase their influence in the Vengi court by trying to place their own favourites on the throne. This dynasty - the longest serving of all the Chalukyan clans lost much of its prestige by 1070s and finally came to an end about a century later in 1189 AD. Though they are not as popular as their other relatives, they played a key role in the development of the Telugu language and brought about peace in the region in the period which is known as the 'Golden Age in Andhra history'.

The resurgence of the Chalukyas in their native Karnataka began when the powerful yet liberal Rashtrakuta emperor Krishna III made Tailapa II the chief of Tardavadi province near Bijapur in 965 AD for his services. The kings who occupied the throne after him were weak and the invasions from the north lead to further deterioration. Tailapa killed Karka - the last Rashtrakuta king and seized their capital of Manyakheta, establishing the Western Chalukaya kingdom. We are not sure about their relationship with the earlier Badami line of kings. But what we know for sure is that they fought constantly with a ruling family from the Tamil country - the Cholas. His son Satyasraya tried to capture the fertile Vengi region but failed. Someshvara I moved the imperial capital to Kalyani and hence, this dynasty is also referred to as the Kalyani Chalukyas. In the 1070s, an internal feud broke out between his two sons - Somesvara II and Vikramaditya V which escalated into a civil war involving vassals and neighbouring kingdoms. Finally, it was Vikramaditya who emerged as the winner and went on to become the greatest ruler of this line of kings. He inflicted two heavy defeats on the Cholas and cut down the feudatories to size in a reign that lasted nearly five decades. However, in the later half of the twelfth century, the Chalukyan kingdom faced the heat from emerging powers - the Kakatiyas, the Hoysalas and the Seunas. Somesvara IV, the last king fought hard to revive their fortunes but was sent into exile. Thus ended the rule of the Chalukyas in the Deccan in the 1200 AD.

Some scholars believe that the Solankis of Annhilwara - a dynasty that ruled Gujarat between the tenth and the thirteenth century were related to the Chalukyas of the Deccan in some way. The word 'Solanki' is said to be derived from 'Selukya' which in turn is a corrupted form of 'Chalukya'. However, it is not correct to base our assumptions merely on words and their origin. On the other hand, there is some probability that the above assumption may be true. We are sure that southern Gujarat was under the occupation of two Chalukyan dynasties - the Badami family and the Kalyani family for considerable period of time. Like it happened in Vengi, it is highly likely that a Badami Chalukya viceroy of Lata, as Gujarat was known then, may have been the fore father of the founders of the Annhilwara kingdom. We know that during the reign of Badami emperor Vikramaditya II, his viceroy in Gujarat - Avanijanashraya Pulakeshi who was somewhat closely related to the reigning king, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Arabs of Sindh which was much appreciated in the Badami court. It may be possible that the Solankis were descendents of this Puleshi or some other Chalukya viceroy of Gujarat. As such, a link cannot be entirely ruled out. However, unlike the Vengi Chalukyas or the Kalyana Chalukyas who claim to have descended from the Badami line of rulers in their inscriptions, no such mention is made by the Annhilwara kings. Hence, until some strong evidence emerges in this regard, it is better to assume that the Solankis had no links whatsoever, with Chalukyas of the Deccan.

Read the complete series on Badami Chalukyas here (Link)