- Calukya dynasty
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Either of two ancient Indian dynasties.The Western Calukyas ruled as emperors in the Deccan (peninsular India) from AD 543 to 757 and again from с 975 to с 1189. The Eastern Calukyas ruled in Vengi (present-day eastern Andhra Pradesh) from с 624 to с 1070. The most significant ruling family of the Deccan in the 5th and 6th centuries, they controlled both coasts and the major river valleys.
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▪ Indian dynastiesalso spelled Chalukya,either of two ancient Indian dynasties. The Western Cālukyas ruled as emperors in the Deccan (i.e., peninsular India) from AD 543 to 757 and again from about 975 to about 1189. The Eastern Cālukyas ruled in Veṅgi (in eastern Andhra Pradesh) from about 624 to about 1070.Pulakeśin I, a petty chieftain of Pattadakal in the Bijāpur district, whose reign began in 543, took and fortified the hill fort of Vāṭāpi (modern Bādāmi) and seized control of the territory between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers and the Western Ghāts. After military successes farther north, his son Kīrtivarman I (reigned 566–597) secured the valuable Konkan coast. The family then turned its attention to the fertile coastal regions to the northwest and east of the peninsula. Pulakeśin II (reigned c. 610–642) acquired parts of Gujarāt and Mālwa and defied the North Indian ruler Harṣa of Kannauj; the boundary between them was fixed on the Narmada (Narbadā) River. About 624, Pulakeśin II took the kingdom of Veṅgi from the Viṣṇukuṇḍins and gave it to his brother Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana, the first Eastern Cālukya ruler.In 641–647 the Pallavas ravaged the Deccan and captured Vāṭāpi, but the Cālukya family recovered by 655 and extended its power in Gujarāt. By 660 they had acquired land in Nellore district. Vikramāditya I (reigned 655–680) took Kānchipuram (ancient Kāñcī), then the Pallava capital, in about 670. Another Cālukya ruler, Vikramāditya II (reigned 733–746), again captured, but spared, the city in 742. His successor, Kīrtivarman II, was replaced by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dynasty in 757.When the last Rāṣṭrakūṭa fell, about 975, Taila founded the second Western Cālukya dynasty, named for the more central capital, Kalyāṇī. His great achievement was to subdue the Paramāra dynasty of Mālwa.The Cōḷa (Chola) king, Rājarāja I, invaded the south Deccan about 993, and repeated Cōḷa invasions of the plateau occurred until about 1021. After many vicissitudes the Cālukya dynasty was supplanted by the Kalacuri family under Bijjala, who usurped the throne in about 1156 and reigned until 1167. The Cālukya dynasty was restored in the person of Someśvara IV, who, however, lost the empire in 1189 to the Yādavas (or Sevunas) of Devagiri, the Hoysaḷas of Dōrasamudra, and the Kākatīyas of Warangal—the rulers of the Telugu-speaking parts of the Deccan.The descendants of Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana constantly had to fight for the riches of Veṅgi and were pawns in the struggle between the Deccan emperors and the Cōḷa kings. The Cōḷas eventually adopted the family, and the two countries were united under Kulottuṅga I (Rājendra II), whose reign began in 1070.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
