Chalukyas, Eastern, Rajput Kingdom of
State | Defunct
624 CE to 1130 CE
Eastern Chalukyas, or Chalukyas of Vengi, are a South Indian dynasty whose kingdom is located in the present day Andhra Pradesh.
Their capital is Vengi (Pedavegi and Denduluru, near Eluru) and their dynasty lasta for around 500 years from the 7th century until c. 1130 C.E.
when the Vengi kingdom merges with the Chola empire.
The Vengi kingdom continues to be ruled by Eastern Chalukyan kings under the protection of the Chola empire until 1189 C.E., when the kingdom succumbs to the Hoysalas and the Yadavas.
They have their capital originally at Vengi now (Pedavegi, Chinavegi and Denduluru) near Eluru of the West Godavari district end later move it to Rajamahendravaram (Rajamundry).Eastern Chalukyasare closely related to the Chalukyas of Vatapi (Badami).
Throughout their history, they are the cause of many wars between the more powerful Cholas and Western Chalukyas over the control of the strategic Vengi country.
The five centuries of the Eastern Chalukya rule of Vengi see not only the consolidation of this region into a unified whole, but also see the efflorescence of Telugu culture, literature, poetry and art during the later half of their rule.
It can be said to be the golden period of Andhra history.
Worlds
The Indian Ocean Lands
View →Related Events
Showing 10 events out of 42 total
Pulakesi had seized the Visnukindin east coast kingdom of Vengi (Pedavegi and Denduluru, near Eluru) around 615 and installed as viceroy his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana, who declares his independent rule in 624, establishing an eastern Chalukya dynasty on the Bay of Bengal.
The Chalukyas control territories on both coasts of India by 627, dominate the east Asian trade, and act as an effective barrier to expansion by the ambitious kingdoms of South India.
The Pallava rulers of Kanchi trace their roots to Parthians who, according to some accounts, had quit the Ganges area to rule Dravidian-speaking regions as southern India’s first emperors, displacing an early Chola dynasty from a narrow strip of the east coast and establishing their capital at Kanchipuram.
The Pallava dynasty under Mahendravarma rules an extensive kingdom bounded by the Kaveri and Krishna rivers.
Chalukya king Pulakesi II, after conquering Koshala and Kalinga, turns south with his army, crosses, the Krishna River, and marches on the Pallava capital at Kanchipuram.
Although Mahendravarman successfully repels the attack, he is forced to cede extensive northern territories to the Chalukyas.
Narasimhavarman succeeds Pallava king Mahendravarman at the latter’s death in 630.
Pulakesi’s brother Vishnuvardhana rules over a kingdom extending from Nellore to Visakhapatnam.
He assumes the title of Vishamasiddhi (conqueror of difficulties).
Vishnuvardhana participated in the wars between his brother and the Pallava Narasimhavarma I and probably lost his life in battle in 641.
On the death of Pulakesi II, the Vengi Viceroyalty develops into an independent kingdom under Vishnuvardhana’s son Jayasimha.
Narasimhavarman, still seething at the Chalukyas’ seizure in 624 of the Visnukindin east coast kingdom of Vengi, which the Pallavas had themselves coveted, raids the Deccan area from 641 to 647, capturing large areas of Chalukya territory, conquering the temple-fort of Vatapi (Badami) in 642 and killing Pulakesi.
There is a period of confusion following the crushing defeat of the Chalukyas and the burning of Badami.
The five sons of Pulakesi fight among themselves and try to divide the kingdom into independent kingdoms.
Pulakesi's third son Vikramaditya I becomes the Chalukya king around 642 and eventually restores order after defeating his brothers.
The Western Chalukyas have kept the Pallavas out of the Deccan since recapturing the temple-fort of Vatapi in 655.
The Eastern Chalukyas have meanwhile advanced south of Vengi into the Nellore district, thus confining the Pallavas to the narrow strip of formerly Andhra coast from which they had launched their assaults three decades earlier.
In 670, the Chalukyas capture and partly destroy the Pallavan capital at Kanchipuram, sacred to Hindus as “the Benares of the south.”
The Pallavas, their dynasty intact, eventually reoccupy the capital, but refrain from major actions against their northern neighbors.
The idiom of a Pan-Indian empire has moved to the south.
South Indian kingdoms had hitherto ruled areas only up to and south of the Narmada River; the Rashtrakuta break this pattern, first forging their way north to the Gangetic plains and successfully challenging the Palas of Bengal and the Rajput Prathiharas of Gujarat.
The Pandyas of extreme southern India, ruling from their capital at Madura, have formed a loose confederacy of southern powers with the Pallavas of the east coast, the Cholas to the immediate northeast, and the Cheras to the immediate northwest.
The Alupas of South Canara, who are loyal to the Chalukyas and led by Alupa Chitravahana, brother-in-law of Vijayaditya, defeat a Pandyan invasion of Mangalore in 705.
Pandya monarch Kochadaiyan Ranadhiran conducts wars of territorial aggression, expanding his kingdom in 720 to include …