Regional Powers in South India and Deccan – UPSC Notes

Regional Powers in South India and Deccan

• After the Fall of Rashtrakutas, Deccan India came under the rule of Western Chalukyas and the Cholas. These powers had to contend with the Parmaras of Dhara and the Kalachuris of Tripuri.
• The Cholas and Western Chalukyas struggled against each other in the 10th-12th century until their powers were in vain.
• The disintegration of the Chola and the Western Chalukyan empires marks the beginning of the 13th century in the history of south India.

The Western Chalukyas – Rise and Fall

• Around the 10th and 12 C.E., most of the western Deccan state was ruled by the Western Chalukyan dynasty.
• The Chalukyas of Kalyan were a feudatory of the Rashtrakutas. Tailapa II used to govern from Tardavadi in present-day Bijapur district, Karnataka, according to a record dated around 957 CE. He killed the Rashtrakuta ruler and declared himself the King over the feudal lords, establishing the Western Chalukyan empire.
• They continuously fought for 200 years with the Cholas and the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. The main conflict was about who will control the fertile Vengi region.
• We come to know about the Western Chalukya kingdom through various sources:
  1. “Gada Yuddha” was written by Ranna, one of the earliest Kannada poets.
  2. Numerous Kannada Inscriptions: In medieval times, the number of inscriptions on rocks/temples increased dramatically.
  3. Vikramankadeva Charitam, a Prashasti written by Bilhana about the Western Chalukhyan Vikramaditya VI, in around 1120 in Sanskrit, is the most prominent source for Western Chalukyan history.

• Under the reign of Someshwara I(1042-68) and the military leadership of his brilliant younger son Vikramaditya VI, the Western Chalukyas not only fought against the triple alliance of the Cholas, the Paramaras and the Kalachuris, they also extended their boundary from Central India to the deep south.
• Vikramaditya VI(1076-1126) was the greatest ruler of Western Chalukyas.
  • Rise to power: After his father’s death, Someshwara I, his elder brother Someshwara II(1068-76), became the King. However, Vikramaditya rebelled and created a kingdom in the Gangawadi region. He eventually won the Kalyani throne in 1076.
  • During the reign of Vikramaditya VI(1076 – 1126CE), the Western Chalukyas were victorious against the Cholas.
  • Their territories lie between the Narmada River in the north and the Kaveri River in the south.

• The other prominent Deccan ruling families, the Hoysalas, the Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri, the Kakatiya dynasty, and the Southern Kalachuris of Kalyani, were subordinates to the Western Chalukyas during this period.
• End of the Western Chalukyas:
  1. After the death of Vikramaditya VI, Vengi was soon lost to Later Cholas.
  2. Hoysala declared independence by the mid-12^th century.
  3. Kalachuris captured Kalyani in 1156 and could hold it for only 25 years.
  4. The Western Chalukyas could regain control of Kalyani, but they could never win over their feudatories.