Western And Eastern Chalukyas In South India (800 – 1200 AD)
Taila II began his career as a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta Krishna III, but soon overthrew the Rashtrakutas by killing Karka II. He became the master of the whole, of what had been the Rashtrakuta kingdom. Taila II waged bitter warfare against the Paramaras of Malwa by leading sex
As lo that kingdom, but was repulsed on all occasions by the Paramara king, Munja. When Munja attacked Chalukyan territory, Taila defeated and put him to death. Taila’s capital was Manyakheta and Kalyani began to assume importance only under Somesvara I.
Taila’s successors embroiled themselves into a severe conflict with the Cholas and during the reign of Jayasimha II, they fought over the control of the kingdom of Vengi, ruled by the Eastern Chalukyas. The Cholas always had an upper hand, even against Somesvara I who, despite killing the Chola king Rajadhiraja in the battle of Koppam would not recover the territories lost to the Cholas. But Somesvara had success in conquering north Konkan and invading Gujarat and Malwa where he received the submission of king Bhoja at his capital Dhara.
But the most important ruler was Vikramaditya VI who subdued the Hoysala feudatories besides gaining control of Vengi from the Cholas. His long reign of 50 years was also a period of the development of art and literature. Bilhana, the author of Vikramankacharita and Vijnanesvara, the author of Mitaksara, enjoyed his patronage.
Vikramaditya VI was succeeded by his son Somesvara III whose reign witnessed the disintegration of the Chalukya empire. The Hoysala vassal Vishnuvardhana declared his independence and conquered some parts of Western Chalukya territories. Someswara’s interest lay more in religion and letters than in war and politics. He was the author of the encyclopedic work called the Abhilashitartha Chintamani or the Manasollasa, for which he was known as Sarvajna (omniscient).
The Chalukya period witnessed a phenomenal growth in literature, both in Sanskrit and Kannada. Among the Sanskrit writers of the period, the foremost is Bilhana, the court poet of Vikramaditya VI Vikramankacharita is a maha kavya. The great jurist Vijnanesvara, who lived at the court of Vikramaditya, wrote the famous Mitaksara, a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti.
Under the Western Chalukyas. Kannada literature reached great perfection. The comedy gems – Pampa, Ponna and Ranna – contributed to the development of Kannada literature in the tenth century. Of the three, Ranna was the court-poet of Satyasraya, while the other two belonged to earlier decades. Nagavarma I was another poet of fame who authored Chandombudhi, the ocean of prosody, the earliest work on the subject in Kannada. He also wrote KarnatakaKandambari which is based on Bana’s celebrated romance in Sanskrit. The Virasaiva mystics, especially Basava, contributed to the development of the Kannada language and literature, particularly prose literature. They brought into existence the Vachana literature to convey the high philosophical ideas to the common man in simple language.
EASTERN CHALUKYAS OF VENGI
Pulakesin II of Badami subdued the king of Pishtapura (Pithapuram in the Godavari district) and the Vishnukundin king and appointed his younger brother Vishnuvardhana viceroy of the newly conquered territories. Very soon the Viceroyalty developed into an independent kingdom and Vishnuvardhana became the founder of a dynasty known as the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. It outlived the main dynasty for many generations. Very often the kingdom became a bone of contention between the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas of Kalyani and the Cholas.
Vishnuvardhana ruled for 18 years but his successors were involved in a protracted com the Rashtrakutas and were forced to be their subordinates till the accession of Gunaga Wijaya who, with the help of a brilliant general, Panduranga, threw off the Rashtrakuta yoke by inflicting a crushing defeat on Krishna II. He also received the submissions of the kings of Kalinga and Kosala and proclaimed himself the lord of the entire Dakshinapatha. The conflict with Chalukyas of Kalyani began after the decline of the Rashtrakutas. In order to protect the kingdom against the western Chalukyas, the eastern Chalukyas had an alliance with the Cholas, beginning with Vimaladitya who sought Rajaraja Chola’s help and married his daughter Kundavai from whom he had a son called Rajaraja.
Thus began the process of the Chola-Chalukya matrimonial alliance which ultimately ended in the merger of the two dynasties under Kulottunga. Vimaladitya had another queen Melama, and their son was Vijayaditya VII. Vijayaditya seized power with the help of Jayasimha II of Kalyani by superseding Rajaraja. But Rajendra Chola came to the rescue of his nephew Rajaraja and enthroned his nephew as the ruler of Vengi.
Rajaraja Narendra’s long reign was a period of continuous political unrest, accentuated by the unceasing efforts of his half-brother Vijayaditya to regain the throne. Rajaraja Narendra’s reign witnessed the glory of Telugu literature. The Telugu version of Mahabharata called Andhramahabharatamu (the first 2 1/2 parvas) was composed by Nannaya. After Rajaraja’s death, the throne was seized by his half-brother Vijayaditya VII who remained on the throne as long as the Chola king Virarajendra remained on the throne.
But after the death of Virarajendra in 1070, a civil war engulfed the Chola country which ended with the accession of Rajendra Chola II alias Kulottunga I, nephew of Vijayaditya. After consolidating his position in the Chola country, Kulottunga I succeeded in capturing Vengi. whereupon Vijayaditya took shelter with Rajaraja Devendravarman, the king of Kalinga. With his death in 1075, the Eastern Chalukya dynasty came to an end.