Unit 6 the Kadambas, the Chalukyas Of
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The Pallavas, the Pandayas UNIT 6 THE KADAMBAS, THE CHALUKYAS and the Kalachuris OF BADAMI, THE CHOLAS AND THE HOYASALAS* Structure 6.0 Objectives 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Kadambas 6.3 The Chalukyas of Badami 6.4 The Cholas 6.5 The Hoyasalas 6.6 Summary 6.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 6.8 Suggested Readings 6.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this Unit, you will learn about the: major kingdoms and their territorial expansion and political processes in the peninsular India from 6th to 12th centuries CE; nature of monarchical polities of the Kadambas, Chalukyas, Cholas and the Hoyasalas; and administrative and institutional structures of the Kadambas, Chalukyas, Cholas and the Hoyasalas. 6.1 INTRODUCTION This Unit traces the political developments in the Deccan and the Deep South during the 9th-13th centuries CE. After the weakening of the Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan and the Deep South, new political formations emerged. Later Kadambas who were the feudatories of Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, taking advantage of the waning power, established their independent kingdoms at Gopakapattana (Goa) and Banavasi (Hangal). The Cholas (medieval Cholas) re-emerged as a powerful force, almost dominating the region for four centuries. At the same time, there was a subtle decline of the Pallavas and the Pandayas in the region, giving way to the emergence of the Chalukyas of Badami. Hoysalas also took advantage of the situation and emerged prominent and even overran the entire Chera territories and became Keralasvamis. 6.2 THE KADAMBAS The Kadambas initially emerged prominent around Talagunda (modern Shimoga district) in the north-western Karnataka around 345 CE. The centre of their political activities was Banavasi region, that is why they are also commonly *This Unit has been adopted from MHI-04, Units 6 and 15. However, Sections 6.2 and 6.5 are freshly written. 87 History of India from known as Kadambas of Banavasi. They were absorbed into Chalukyan polity C. 300 C.E. to 1206 around 6th century CE and became feudatories of the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. They once again emerged into prominence in the second half of the 10th century CE. Here we are not concerned with early Kadambas, instead the focus of our discussion will be on medieval Kadambas who were prominent in the region during 10th-13th centuries CE. In the 11th century there emerged two prominent groups claiming Banavasi Kadamba lineage: 1) Kadambas of Hangal (in Dharwar district) and 2) the Kadambas of Goa (Dharwar, Karwar and Belgaum districts). Both claimed the title Banavasipuravaradhisvara, suggestive of their claims over the capital Banavasi. The Kadambas of Goa governed from Chandrapura and Gopakapattana; while Kadambas of Hangal retained their base at Banavasi. The Kadambas of Hangal ruled around mid-9th century to early 13th century with their capital at Banavasi. The Kadambas of Gopakapattana (modern Goa) were prominent during 11th century to mid-13th century. They ruled over north-western part of Goa, Belgaum (Patasige 1200), Dharwar and parts of northern Kanara (Konkana 900, present Ratnagiri) districts of modern Karnataka. The founder of the Kadambas of Goa was Sheshtha-I. However, the proper history of the Kadambas of Goa begins with Guvaladeva-I, Sheshtha I’s son. To him goes the credit of bringing Lamka (south Goa) permanently under his jurisdiction. They finally lost to the Chalukyas of Badami. King and His Officials Though king was all powerful, an important feature of medieval Karnataka was the decentralised polities where the king delegated powers to local chiefs/ feudatories who ran almost parallel governments, maintained their own administrative set-up and officers. There was a tradition of appointing yuvaraja (crown prince, heir-apparent). Jayakesi-I assumed the title of: Konkanadhisa, Konkana Chakravarti (Lord of Konkana) and Paschim-Samudradhisvara (Lord of the western ocean). Guvala-II had his own mantri-parishad. In an inscription of 1054 CE Viravarmadeva is described as Mahamandaleshvara. Shashthideva performed Tulapurusa and Ashvamedha sacrifices and paid visit to Somnath temple. We also hear specific functionaries of the court officials like: Manevargade (of the household), Tantrapala (councillors), Pradhana (head), and Tambula Parupatyegara (keeper of the betel-plate). Similarly, there was also the presence of mahamattra, rajjuka and lekhaka. Regions were divided into visayas (districts) administered by maneyas. The lowest unit was village (grama) governed by grama mukhya, Urodeya or Gavunda. They maintained their own army and performed judicial functions. Mahajanas were important members of the assemblies. 88 Economy and Trade The Kadambas, the Chalukyas of Badami, the Both agriculture and trade formed the backbone of the economy. References of Cholas and the Hoysalas tribhoga, sarvanamasya and talavritti land-grants suggest presence of land holdings by the individuals and religious groups. Kadamba rulers provided liberal grants to Jainas and Shaivas. Xuan Zhang attests to presence of a number of Buddhist monasteries and mathas at Banavasi. Kadambas owed their prosperity largely to their maritime activities. The capital of the Kadambas of Goa – Chandapur – was an important maritime centre. Their important port Ganadevi (in modern Surat district) had contacts with east African coast. Jayakesi I assuming the title of Paschim-Samudradhishvara (Lord of the western ocean) suggests importance of oceanic trade in the Kadamba economy. One also finds strong presence of the Arab merchants in the region. Guhalladeva was saved by Madhumada (Muhammad)/ Ali, an Arab merchant during his pilgrim voyage to Somanath. Ali’s son Sadhana even received land-grants, held administrative post and built a mosque (mijigiti). 6.3 THE CHALUKYAS OF BADAMI When Pallavan king Simhavishnu (500-580 CE) was busy expanding his territories, it was almost about the same time the Chalukyas of Badami started ruling in North Karnataka with Badami (Bijapur District) as their capital. The founder, Pulakesin I (543-66 CE) converted the hill near Badami into a strong fortress and launched his expansionist activities. The territory of the Kadambas of Banavasi towards the South and that of the Mauryas of Konkan on the West were soon conquered and annexed to their growing territory by Kirtivarman I (566-597 CE). It was, however, in the reign of Pulakesin II (609-42 CE) that the Chalukya territory expanded to a large extent. The Ganga rulers of South Karnataka and the Alupas of the West coast (South Kanara District) were made their subordinates. Thus, more or less the whole of Kannada speaking area was brought under one rule. In the North the army went beyond the Narmada river to Malwa and Southern Gujarat where the Latas, Malwas and Gurjaras became submissive. Crowning all these, the Chalukyan ruler came head-on against his greatest northern adversary, Harsha of Kanauj, who was planning to attack the Deccan and won a decisive victory on the banks of the Narmada. Ravikirti’s Aihole inscription speaks in detail the victory of Pulakesin II over Harsha. After the victory Pulakesin II assumed the title of Parameshvara (Supreme Lord). Pulakesin II tried to control the whole of Deccan by undertaking an expedition into the Eastern Deccan and coastal Andhra comprising the deltas of Krishna and Godavari rivers. This brought him into conflict with the Pallavas who had been trying to control the delta for more than a century. Mahendravarman I (580-630 CE), the Pallava contemporary, was also an ambitious king. In the ensuing encounters the Pallavas suffered defeat and the Chalukyan army penetrated deep into the Pallava territory almost up to the capital city Kanchipuram. Soon after this, Pulakesin II put up his brother Vishnuvardhana to rule over the Andhra country and this paved the way for the new long-lasting dynasty called the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi centred in the Godavari-Krishna delta. 89 History of India from The Pallava king Narasimha I (630-68 CE), son and successor of Mahendra I, C. 300 C.E. to 1206 proved an equal match to the Chalukyan king and after a series of battles he took his forces into the Chalukyan territory and even entered into Badami where an inscription of his victory was inscribed on a rock. The succeeding decades saw more hostilities between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas but with no decisive changes on either side. Then followed a lull in war activities for about three decades. At this time the Chalukyan king was Vijayaditya (696-733 CE) and his Pallava contemporary was Rajasimha (691-729 CE). The Chalukyan rule in Badami was replaced by the Rashtrakutas in about 750 CE when Rashtrakuta feudatory Dantidurga gave a final blow and defeated the Chalukyan king Kirtivarman II. The Chalukyan Polity The Deccan kingdoms of the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas were polities based on the Brahmanical socio-political order and institutions like the Brahmadeya and the temple, but remained a loosely knit Samanta type of feudatory states where crisis was built into the very nature of the feudatory system, with ranking among the chiefships and an authority/power structure in which the scale could easily be tilted by one or the other chiefship with military capability. Thus, there was hardly any scope for a centralised administration to develop, though there was a centralised taxation system and a hierarchically organised bureaucracy. There was no proper standing army except the royal troops at the capital and the smaller groups of fighters in the neighbouring regions held under the control of members of the royal family, some of whom were placed at strategic points in the transit zones and buffer zones held by feudatories or smaller powers owing allegiance to the main dynasty, zones leading to more powerful neighbours in the Tamil and Andhra regions. Kingship High sounding titles were used by the rulers to express their very uncertain power. The titles of Chalukyan kings were as follows: Satyasraya, Sri-Prithvi-Vallabha, Maharaja, Parmeshvara and Maharajadhiraja.