Somesvara’s successor, his eldest son Somesvara II, feuds with his younger brother, Vikramaditya VI, an ambitious warrior who had initially been governor of Gangavadi in the southern Deccan.

Married to a Chola princess (a daughter of Virarajendra Chola), Vikramaditya VI maintains a friendly alliance with them.

After the death of the Chola king in 1070, Vikramaditya VI invades the Tamil kingdom and installs his brother-in-law, Adhirajendra, on the throne, creating conflict with Kulothunga Chola I, the powerful ruler of Vengi, who seeks the Chola throne for himself.

Vikramaditya VI has undermined his elder brother, Somesvara II of the Western Chalukyas, by winning the loyalty of the Chalukya feudatories: the Hoysala, the Seuna and the Kadambas of Hangal.

Anticipating a civil war, Somesvara II seeks help from Vikramaditya VI's enemies, Kulothunga Chola I and the Kadambas of Goa.

In the ensuing conflict of 1076, Vikramaditya VI emerges victorious and proclaims himself king of the Chalukya empire.

Vikramaditya, the brother of Somesvara II, the eldest son of Somesvara I, had started planning the new king's overthrow as soon as ascended the throne of the Western Chalukya dynasty.

After entering into negotiations with the Chola king Virarajendra Chola, Vikramaditya consents to rule the Vengi kingdom as the Chola feudatory.

Virarajendra also forces Somesvara to bifurcate his kingdom and let Vikramaditya rule the southern half (Gangavadi) independently.

Vikramaditya marries one of Virarajendra's daughters to strengthen the alliance with the Cholas.

During this time Virarajendra Chola had died in 1070 and his son Athirajendra Chola had succeeded to the throne.

Vikramaditya had soon found his Chola alliance a liability.

Rajendra Chalukya (future Kulothunga Chola I), a Vengi prince with close Chola connection, having been denied his rightful place on the Vengi throne by Vikramaditya, wants to assume the Chola throne instead.

Rajendra Chalukya has his opportunity when civil disturbances arise in the Chola kingdom.

To quell rioting in Kanchipuram, Vikramaditya leads his forces into the city to assist his brother-in-law Athirajendra.

Vikramaditya soon after proceeds to the Chola capital and helps Athirajendra inaugurate his reign and to defeat any attempts by Rajendra Chalukya to overthrow the rightful Chola king.

Satisfied that order had been restored, Vikramaditya had returned to his capital.

But news soon came to him that Athirajendra had been murdered in the civil uprising and Rajendra Chalukya had assumed the Chola throne under the title Kulothunga Chola I. Vikramaditya now found enemies on both sides of his domain: Kulothunga in the south and his brother in the north.

Vikramaditya has spend the past six years in protecting himself from this dangerous situation.

He had continued to undermine the position of his brother Somesvara by inducing Somesvara's feudatories to desert him.

Finally with the help of the Seuna, the Hoysalas and the Kadambas of Hangala, Someshwara II is defeated and Vikramaditya assumes sovereignty in 1076.

He marks his accession to the throne by founding the new era called Chalukya Vikram Era.

The Eastern Chalukyas had first been conquered by the Cholas under Raja Raja Chola I in the early eleventh century and have subsequently become very closely aligned to the Chola empire through marital alliances between the Cholas and the Eastern Chalukyas.

This has insulated the Eastern Chalukyas from the interference of the Western Chalukyas, who seek to subjugate the Eastern Chalukyas.

The Eastern Chalukya dynasty loses its three-cornered war with the Hoysalas, the Yadavas, and the Kakatiyas in 1089.

The Hoysalas take territories in modern Mysore (Karnataka) state, and the Yadavas take over areas south of the Narmada (Narbada) River; the truncated Chalukya kingdom, squeezed between the two and blocked on the east by the Kakatiyas, becomes a minor kingdom, and is is absorbed into the Chola empire during the reign of the Kulothunga Chola I.

Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI is successful not only in controlling his powerful feudatories in the north and south; he also defeats  the imperial Chola in the battle of Vengi in 1093.

The Hoysala and Seuna dynasties, Telugu-speaking feudatories of the Western Chalukya Empire, ally with the Kakatiya family, inherited as a feudatory by the Chola in 1070, in a war against the eastern Chalukya dynasty beginning in 1180.

The throne of the western Chalukya dynasty, earlier usurped by Bijjala, leader of the feudatory Kalacuri family, becomes the object of a contest among Bijjala’s successors, allowing Chalukya dynasty Somesvara IV to reverse the usurpation after a decade.

The overall effort by Somesvara IV to rebuild the Chalukya empire fails and the dynasty is ended by the Seunas, who in alliance with rulers dominating the Telugu-speaking regions of the Deccan drive Somesvara IV into exile in Banavasi 1189.

The eastern Chalukya dynasty loses its three-cornered war with the Hoysala, the Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri, and the Kakatiyas.

The Hoysala take territories in the region of modern Mysore state, and the Yadavas take over areas south of the Narmada River; the truncated Chalukya realm, squeezed between the two and blocked on the east by the Kakatiyas, becomes a minor kingdom.

Following the Cholan defeat of the Chalukyas in an important battle, conferences for peace ensue, followed by plans for intermarriage between the contending dynasties, and ending with the eastern Chalukya dynasty’s absorption into the Chola.

The Kakatiya family becomes a Cholan feudatory.

The Seunas and Hoysalas continue after the fall of the Chalukyas to war over the Krishna River region in 1191, each inflicting a defeat on the other at various points in time.

This period sees the fall of two great empires, the Chalukyas of the western Deccan and the Cholas of Tamilakam.

On the ruins of these two empires are built the kingdoms of their feudatories, whose mutual antagonisms will fill the annals of Deccan history for over a hundred years, the Pandyas taking control over some regions of the erstwhile Chola empire.

Maritime South Asia (1252 – 1395 CE): Bahmani–Vijayanagara Rivalry, Pandyan Decline, and Maritime Networks

Maritime South Asia includes peninsular India south of the Narmada River (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, southern Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh), Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

• Anchors: the Tamil plains, Deccan plateau, Kerala backwaters, Sri Lanka’s dry and wet zones, and the Maldives–Chagos island chains.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The onset of the Little Ice Age (~1300) brought greater rainfall variability, including occasional monsoon failures and drier Deccan interiors.

• Coastal Kerala and Tamil Nadu remained stable rice-and-spice producers, buffered by maritime trade.

• Sri Lanka experienced decline in large-scale irrigation as the Polonnaruwa system fell into disrepair, with highland and coastal polities relying more on rainfall-fed fields.

• Maldives thrived as a cowrie-exporting hub despite fragile freshwater conditions; Lakshadweep integrated more deeply into Malabar’s pepper trade; Chagos continued as uninhabited atolls used incidentally by passing mariners.

Societies and Political Developments

• Delhi Sultanate campaigns (14th c.): Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughluq invaded Deccan, weakening Yadavas, Hoysalas, and Kakatiyas.

• Bahmani Sultanate (founded 1347): ruled from Gulbarga, later Bidar; rivaled Vijayanagara.

• Vijayanagara Empire (founded 1336): by Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, became bulwark of Hindu rule, centered at Hampi.

• Pandyas: waned, replaced by Madurai Sultanate (1335–1378), then absorbed into Vijayanagara.

• Sri Lanka: fractured between Sinhalese highland polities (Gampola, Kotte) and Tamil Jaffna kingdom.

• Maldives: Islamic sultanate flourished; cowries, tuna, coir exported.

• Lakshadweep & Chagos: sparsely populated, integrated into Malabar–Hormuz circuits.

Economy and Trade

• Rice, millet, pulses farmed inland; irrigation tanks vital.

• Pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, pearls, elephants, horses dominated commerce.

• Cowries (Maldives) used as global currency; exported to Bengal, East Africa.

• Ports: Calicut rose as premier Indian Ocean hub; Quilon, Goa, and Nagapattinam important.

• Chinese merchants arrived under Yuan–early Ming demand.

Belief and Symbolism

• Hinduism: Vijayanagara temples (Virupaksha at Hampi) monumentalized kingship.

• Islam: Bahmani mosques, Sufi shrines; Maldives consolidated Muslim identity.

• Buddhism: persisted in Sri Lanka but weakened under Tamil and regional wars.

Long-Term Significance

By 1395, Maritime South Asia was divided between Bahmani and Vijayanagara, with Sri Lanka fragmented, Maldives firmly Islamic, and the Lakshadweep–Maldives–Chagos arc firmly embedded in Indian Ocean currency and spice networks.