The Chalukya Dynasty

The Chalukya dynasty was one of the great royal houses of south and central India. Its kings ruled large parts of the Deccan from the sixth to the twelfth century. They built some of the finest early temples in India at Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal, and one of them stopped the mighty northern emperor Harsha. This post explains who the Chalukyas were, their three branches and what they left behind.

Our older post on this subject was difficult to read. We have rewritten it in simple English, added clear dates and checked the facts against standard histories.

Three Branches of One Family

The Chalukyas ruled as three related but separate dynasties:

• The Chalukyas of Badami, also called the Early Chalukyas, ruled from Vatapi, now Badami in Karnataka, from the middle of the sixth century to the middle of the eighth.
• The Eastern Chalukyas ruled from Vengi in coastal Andhra Pradesh until about the eleventh century.
• The Western Chalukyas, also called the Chalukyas of Kalyani, ruled from Kalyani, now Basavakalyan in Karnataka, from the late tenth century to the end of the twelfth.

Most of what we know comes from inscriptions in Sanskrit and Kannada, carved on rocks, pillars and temple walls.

The Rise of the Badami Chalukyas

In the sixth century, the Gupta Empire in the north had declined. In the south, small kingdoms were giving way to large states. The Chalukyas began as rulers who grew strong as the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi weakened.

Pulakeshin I established the dynasty in 543. He took control of Vatapi and made it his capital. A cliff inscription at Badami from that year records his rule. His successors expanded the kingdom across most of Karnataka and into Andhra Pradesh.

Pulakeshin II, the Great King

The most famous Chalukya ruler was Pulakeshin II. His name before he took the throne was Ereya. He brought almost the whole Deccan under his control and is counted among the notable kings of Indian history.

Victory Over Harsha

In north India, the emperor Harsha of Kannauj ruled a large empire and wanted to expand south. Pulakeshin II stopped him by defeating him on the banks of the Narmada River. This set the Narmada as the line between northern and southern power for a time. Read about Harsha in our post on the Empire of Harsha.

The Aihole Inscription

In 634 the court poet Ravikirti wrote a Sanskrit inscription in praise of Pulakeshin II at the Meguti temple in Aihole. It is written in old Kannada script and is admired as fine classical poetry. It is also a key source for the king’s wars and his rule.

According to the Aihole record, Pulakeshin II divided his empire into three great provinces called Maharashtrakas. The record says each had a very large number of villages. The empire probably covered present day Karnataka, Maharashtra and the Konkan coast.

Foreign Contacts

The Chinese monk and traveller Xuanzang visited the court of Pulakeshin II and praised the king’s good government. The Persian emperor Khosrau II is also said to have exchanged ambassadors with him.

Pulakeshin II also fought the Pallavas of Kanchipuram. In 642 the Pallava king Narasimhavarman struck back, attacked Badami and held it for a while. Pulakeshin II is believed to have died in this fighting.

Later Badami Rulers

The family recovered. King Vikramaditya II, who ruled from 733 to 744, invaded the Pallava lands several times and won. He showed respect for the Pallava capital and its monuments. He even had a Kannada inscription carved on a victory pillar at the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram.

During the reign of Vikramaditya II, Arab forces from the province of Sind invaded southern Gujarat, which was then under Chalukya rule. They were defeated and driven out by Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin, the governor of a Chalukya branch based at Navsari.

The last Badami king, Kirtivarman II, was overthrown in 753 by Dantidurga, the founder of Rashtrakuta power. Learn more in our post on the Rashtrakuta Empire.

The Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

Pulakeshin II conquered the eastern Deccan around 616. In 621 he made his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana the viceroy there. After Pulakeshin II died, this branch became an independent kingdom based at Vengi, in the region between Nellore and Visakhapatnam.

The Eastern Chalukyas later became closely tied to the Cholas in politics, and around the year 1000 the Vengi throne came under strong Chola influence. In the eleventh century, Telugu literature received royal support at their court.

The Western Chalukyas of Kalyani

More than two centuries after the fall of Badami, the Chalukya name rose again. Tailapa II, who had been a Rashtrakuta feudatory, overthrew his overlords and restored Chalukya rule in the western Deccan in the late tenth century.

The Western Chalukyas ruled for more than two hundred years. They fought often with the Cholas and with their own cousins at Vengi. Their most notable king was Vikramaditya VI, who ruled for about fifty years and started a new calendar era named after himself. For more detail, see our post on the Western Chalukyas.

The dynasty came to an end in the late twelfth century as the Hoysalas, Pandyas, Kakatiyas and Seunas of Devagiri grew strong.

Temples and Architecture

The Chalukyas are best known today for their temples. Almost a hundred of their monuments stand in the Malaprabha River basin in Bagalkot district of northern Karnataka. They used a local reddish golden sandstone.

Badami Cave Temples

The early phase produced cave temples cut into living rock. At Badami there are four main caves. Cave 3, a Vaishnava temple, is dated to 578. The caves have plain outsides but richly carved halls inside, with images of Vishnu, Shiva and other gods.

Inscriptions of King Mangalesha in the Badami caves, dated 578, record the making of these shrines. Such dated records are rare for this early period, so they help historians fix the timeline of early temple art in the Deccan.

Aihole

Aihole has about seventy structures and has been called one of the cradles of Indian temple architecture. Builders there tested new plans and shapes. Famous examples include the Lad Khan temple, the Meguti Jain temple of 634 and the Durga temple.

Pattadakal

The temples at Pattadakal, built in the eighth century, mark the mature phase of Chalukya building. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has ten main temples. Six follow the southern dravida style and four follow the northern nagara style. The Virupaksha temple was built by a queen of Vikramaditya II to mark his victory over the Pallavas.

Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal lie close to each other, so many visitors see all three in one trip. Pattadakal is about 23 kilometres from Badami.

This mix of northern and southern features is often called the Vesara or Karnata Dravida style. It shows how ideas moved between regions in this period.

Language and Literature

The Chalukyas used both Sanskrit and Kannada in their records. Many important inscriptions were written in Kannada, which helped the language grow. You can read about its history in our post on the Kannada language.

Other well known Chalukya records include the Mahakuta pillar inscription of 595 and the Kannada Kappe Arabhatta record of about 700. The Kappe Arabhatta record is admired as an early example of Kannada verse.

The Western Chalukya court supported Kannada and Sanskrit writers. The scholar Vijnaneshwara wrote the Mitakshara there in the late eleventh century, during the reign of Vikramaditya VI. It is a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti and became one of the main authorities on Hindu law. Its section on inheritance was translated into English by Henry Thomas Colebrooke in 1810 and was used in British Indian courts.

King Someshvara III, himself a scholar, compiled an encyclopaedia of arts and sciences called the Manasollasa.

Students can remember the line of Badami rulers with three names: Pulakeshin I the founder, Pulakeshin II the great conqueror, and Kirtivarman II the last king.

Chalukya inscriptions are also valuable to scholars of language, because they show how written Kannada looked more than a thousand years ago.

The Chalukya story also shows how power in the south moved between rival houses, from Chalukyas to Rashtrakutas and back again, over several centuries.

What We Changed From the Old Post

The old post used strange word swaps and was hard to follow. We rewrote it in plain English with clear sections for each branch.

We added the founding year 543, the Aihole inscription of 634, Xuanzang’s visit, the Pallava wars, the fall to the Rashtrakutas in 753, the Vengi viceroyalty, temple details and the Colebrooke translation date.

We removed broad claims about the Bhakti movement that were hard to support for this dynasty.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded the Chalukya dynasty?

Pulakeshin I established the Badami Chalukya line in 543, with his capital at Vatapi, now Badami.

Who was the greatest Chalukya king?

Pulakeshin II is the most famous. He ruled most of the Deccan and defeated Harsha on the Narmada.

What are the three Chalukya branches?

The Chalukyas of Badami, the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi and the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani.

Where can I see Chalukya temples?

At Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal in Bagalkot district, Karnataka. Pattadakal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.