"Telephone Director" is the epithet used by a Chinese scholar to
summarise the nature of the history of India. To any syperficial
observer this striking epithet betrays weaknesses of India historical
material, and in particular the meager date relating to dynasties like
the western Chalykyas. But truly speaking the variegated nature of
Indian history is more occasioned by the vastness of the country than
anyting else. Besides, the essential harmony and the subtlecontinuity of
Indian history are overlooked because of non-appreciation of its
underlying currents.
The origin of Chalukyas (early/western/Badami/Vatapi) is controversial.
Bilhana, the author of Vikramanka-deyagharita, the court poet of
Vikramaditya VI, and the later Chalukya inscriptions, lay claim to
Ayodhya as their ancestral home. Some regard them as related to the
Gurjaras. What ever might be their origin, by the mid 6th century A.D.,
pulakesin I carved out a small area around Vatapi or Badami. He
performed an asvamedha ceremony. His successor was kirtivarman who
conquered both konkan and north Kerala. Many other conquests are
attributed to him but the claim cannot be substantiated. His successor
was Mangalesa who conquered the Kadambas and the Gangas. He was killed
and succeeded by his nephew, Pulakesin. The Aihole inscription of
Pulakesin Ii deals with the history of this dynasty.
The Chalukya power reached its zenith under Pulakesin II (609 to 642
A.D.). To begin with, he subjugated his rebellious feudatories and
neighbours. He Captured the capital of the Kadambas; overawed the Ganges
of Mysore; and subdued the Mauravas of North Konkan. The latas of
Gujarat, the Malavas, and the Gurjars also submitted to him. King harsha
ws defeated by him. Another victim was the Pallava king, Mahendra
varman. The Cholas, the Keralas and the Pandyas submitted to him. He
occupied Pistapura and installed his Brother, Kubja-Vishnuvardhana, as
his representative. But in 642 A.D. the Pallava king, Narasimha Varman,
stormed Vatapi and probably killed pulakesin II, this ws followed by a
periof of confusion from 642 to 655 A.D.
Pulkesin II maintained friendly relations with Khusru II, the king of
Persia. The reception given to the Persian Mission is depicted in one of
the Ajanta cave paintings. Hieun-Tsand visited his kingdom. He describe
it as rich and fertile. "The inhabitants were proud-spirited and
war-like, grateful for favour and revengeful for wrongs,
self-sacrificing towards suppliants in distress and sanguinary to death
with any who trated them insultingly." About Pulkesin II, the traveler
observes, "His plans and undertakings are widespread and his munificient
actions are felf over a great distance.
After his death, the Chalukya dynasty was in an eclipse, His son
Vikramadiya I (655 to 680 A.D.) plundered the Pallava capital, Kanchi.
Vikramaditya's successors, Vinayaditya and Vijayditya, were powerful
rulers. During the reign of Vikramaditya II the Pallavas were once more
defeated. Probably, he drove back the Arab intrusion into southern
Gujarat. His son, Kirti, Varman II, was defeated by the Rashtrakuta
ruller, Dantidurga, in 753 A.D. and with him the history of the dynasty
to an end.
Regarding their achievements, the first was their maritime power. It is
said that Pulkasin, with a hundred ships, attacked and captured the
capital ofa bostile state. The central government of Chalukyas exercised
a paternalistic control over village administration. This is unlike the
administrative practices of south India. The Chalukyas recieveda
limited income from land. Added to this, the earnings from tradewere not
considerable. Muc of what the State earned was spent on army. The
standing army was supplemented and cavalry. Often, army officers were
sued in civil administration. Whenver an emergency arose.
Regarding religion, the Chalukya kings were Hindu brahmins but they
respected other faiths too. The Chinese traveler noticed more than one
hunred Buddhist monasteries. Buddhism was on the decline although
Hieun-Tsang opined that it was popular. Jainsim enjoyed royal
patronage. Buddism gradually gave way to Jainism and Brahminis.
Sacrifices were given great importance and many treaties were written on
them. The king himself performed a number of sacrifices including
Asvamedha and Vajpeya. Despite this stress on the orthodox form of Hindu
religion, the Puranic version grew popular. It was this popularity that
gave momentum to the bulding of temples in honour of Vishnu. Shiva and
other gods.
Regarding architechture, the Chalukyas perfected the art of
stone-building stone finally joined without maortar. Under the auspices
of the Chalukyas, the Buddhists and the brahmins built cave temples. The
cave frescoes began earlier but thefinest speciments of them belonged
to the Chalukyaa are of the 5th and 6th centuries. The murals depict
both religious and secular themes. In the first monastic hall of the
Ajanta one mural depict the reception given toa Persian embassy by
Pulakesin II. The temples of Chalukyas belong to the Deccan style. His
tradition began earlier in the rock-cut temples of Elephanta. The aihole
and Badami temples of the Chalukyas represent the Deccani style. This
style reached its culmination in the Kailash temple of Ellora a
Rashtrakuta achievement.
The cave temples of the Chalukyas were the counter-parts of Buddhists
save temples as borne out bytheVishnu temple at Badami. Apart from this
feature, the Chalukyan temples were stone-built-stone finely joined
without morat like the temple of Shiva at Meguti. This temple has a
prasasti on Pulakesin composed by Ravikriti. Out of all their temples,
the best reserved is the Vishnu temple at Aihole. It bears an
inscription of Vikramaditya II and is built on the lines of the
Buddhists Cahitya-hall. One more temple is the favous Virupakasha temple
at Pattadakal. This temple has a pillared mandapam or meeting place for
people. The roof is supported by sixteen monolithic pillars with
sculptured bracket capitals.
The Chalukyas erected a large number of temples at Aihole. This
particular style was follwed in the close by towns and Badami and
Pattadakal. Aihole had 70 temples, whereas, Pattadakal had 10 temples.
In the latter are found the famous temples of Papanatha and Virupakasha.
The walls of the temples are adorned with beautiful sculptures
representing scenes of Ramayana.
After the eight century land grantswere made to these temples, a common
feature of temple maintenance in South India. The evidence relating to
this aspect is recorded on the walls of the temples. Also the Jaina
followers erected some temples in Karnataka during the dyas of the
Chalukays.
The Chalukya temples were an evolution of the gupta shirne. However, at
the apex of their glory, the Chalukyan temples bear evidence to both the
northern and Dravidian styles of architechture. The examples of this
development are the rock-cut temples in Elephanta. The Kalidashnatha
temple built during the days of Rashtrakutas is an example of transition
from rock-cut to the free-standing style.
Sanksrit was thelanguage of the day. Vernaculars also came to be
developed. An inscription of the seventh century mentions Kannada as the
local language, and Sanskrit the language of the elite.
Thus, even though the delineation of the political history of the
Chalukays is quite dull, their importance consists in their having
continued the traditions of India. Thus, even though the history of
India appears to be a Jig-saw puzzle, there is a pattern underlying it.
