The Chalukyas of Badami and their branches

Detail

Founding: Pulakeshin I and the rock of Vatapi

• Pulakeshin I founded the dynasty in the mid-6th century. NCERT (Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE") dates the Badami Chalukyas to c. 543–753 CE.
• He began as a small chief at Pattadakal in the Bijapur area. His reign starts in 543 CE. He took the hill fort of Vatapi and made it strong with walls. [3]
• From there he grabbed the land between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra rivers, up to the Western Ghats. [3]
• So the family rose from local chief to Deccan power in one lifetime. The fort came first, the empire after.

Pulakeshin II — the man who stopped Harsha

• Pulakeshin II (reigned c. 610–642 CE) was Pulakeshin I's grandson. Chalukya power was at its highest under him. [3]
• His first years were spent in a civil war. Only after winning it did he take back lost land and force unruly under-chiefs to obey again. [3]
• He blocked Harsha's push to the south at the Narmada. Early 7th-century India was split between two big powers — Harsha north of the Vindhyas, Pulakeshin II south of them.

• Britannica adds that he also won parts of Gujarat and Malwa, and that the Narmada was fixed as the border between him and Harsha of Kannauj. [3]

• The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang praised his rule. He wrote that the subjects obeyed "with perfect submission".

• Around 624 CE he took the Vengi country from the Vishnukundins and handed it to his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana — the first Eastern Chalukya ruler. [3] This one act created the Andhra branch.
• He was in the end defeated by the Pallavas.

Vatapi, Aihole, Pattadakal — the stone record

• The capital was Vatapi (modern Badami, Karnataka). It is famous for Hindu and Jain cave temples cut into the rock.

• Britannica calls Badami the first capital of the Chalukya kings and dates its Brahmanical and Jain cave temples to the 6th–7th centuries. [3]

• The older centre Aryapura / 'Ayyavole' (Aihole) holds more than 100 Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.

• On Meguti Hill at Aihole, a 7th-century Jain temple carries the Sanskrit prashasti (praise-poem inscription) of Pulakeshin II, written by the court poet Ravikirti.

• It is a key source. But it is not free from exaggeration — some "facts" in it are contradicted by other inscriptions. Court poets were paid to praise, so use such records with care.

• The monument towns sit in Bagalkot district along the Malaprabha river — Badami, Aihole, Nagaral and Pattadakal. [2]

• Pattadakal was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. It has nine Hindu temples and one Jain sanctuary. [2]
• Its temples mix the northern Nagara style (curved tower) and the southern Dravidian style (stepped pyramid tower) in one place. [2]
• The Virupaksha temple was ordered by Queen Lokamahadevi around 740 CE to mark her husband's victory. [2]
• UNESCO's own note says Aihole and Badami show the experiments, and Pattadakal is the culmination — the finished form. These early Chalukya buildings became the prototypes (first models) for later temples in the peninsula. [2]

Fall in the Deccan

• By the mid-8th century the Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga overthrew the Chalukyas in the Deccan.
• Britannica gives the first Chalukya spell as 543 to 757 CE, and a second spell from c. 975 to c. 1189. [3]

Note: the scaffold (NCERT Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE") dates the Badami Chalukyas c. 543–753 CE; Britannica ends the first spell at 757 CE. Keep 543–753 for the exam. [3]

Later branch 1 — Western Chalukyas of Kalyani

• A 10th-century revival of the family. Capital at Kalyani, modern Basavakalyan.
• Their rule reached up to the Narmada again.
• Someshvara III in the 12th century wrote the Manasollasa. It is an encyclopaedia of royal life — astronomy, music, medicine, cooking and games all in one book. It is a rare window into how a court actually lived, not just whom it fought.

Later branch 2 — Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

• Based in Vengi (coastal Andhra), started by Pulakeshin II's brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana around 624 CE. [3]
• They gave support to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist worship alike.
• Telugu and Kannada literature grew under them.
• Vengi was pulled into the Chola sphere through marriage alliances.
• The land there was fertile, so it was worth fighting for.

• This made Vengi the prize in fierce Chola–Western Chalukya wars.

• The Western Chalukyas faded after this long fight. The Kakatiyas and Hoysalas took their place.

Administration

• The pattern (Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE") was monarchy on top, decentralised village assemblies below — the common southern arrangement. The king ruled, but villages ran their own daily affairs.
• Where the Pallavas gave Brahmadeya grants, the Chalukyas gave agraharams — land and villages granted to settlements of Brahmins.
• Some agraharams grew big. At Aihole and Badami they became centres of learning.

Prelims Hooks

• Pulakeshin I founded the Badami Chalukyas; NCERT dates the dynasty c. 543–753 CE; his reign began in 543 CE. [3]
• Vatapi = Badami, Karnataka — the first Chalukya capital, known for Hindu and Jain cave temples. [3]
• Pulakeshin II reigned c. 610–642 CE and fixed the Narmada as the border with Harsha. [3]
• The Aihole prashasti of Pulakeshin II was composed by Ravikirti, on a 7th-century Jain temple on Meguti Hill.
• Aihole (Aryapura / 'Ayyavole') has 100+ Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.
• Pattadakal — UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987; nine Hindu temples + one Jain sanctuary; on the Malaprabha river, Bagalkot district. [2]
• Virupaksha temple, Pattadakal — built by Queen Lokamahadevi, c. 740 CE. [2]
• Kubja Vishnuvardhana, brother of Pulakeshin II, was the first Eastern Chalukya ruler of Vengi, taken from the Vishnukundins c. 624 CE. [3]
• Manasollasa was written by Someshvara III of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (capital = modern Basavakalyan), 12th century.
• Chalukya land grants to Brahmins = agraharams; Pallava equivalent = Brahmadeya.
• Dantidurga (Rashtrakuta) ended Chalukya rule in the Deccan in the mid-8th century.

Mains Points

• Two-power India in the 7th century. The Narmada line between Harsha and Pulakeshin II shows that no single empire held India after the Guptas. The Vindhyas worked as a real political wall. This frames the whole "regional kingdoms" theme of GS-I.
• Inscriptions are evidence, but biased evidence. Ravikirti's Aihole prashasti is a first-rate source on Pulakeshin II, yet other inscriptions contradict parts of it. Good answers use it and also say why it must be cross-checked — court poetry is paid praise.
• Temple building as state policy. Aihole and Badami were the workshops, Pattadakal the finished product, mixing Nagara and Dravida styles in one site and setting the model for later peninsular temples [2]. Queen Lokamahadevi's Virupaksha temple (c. 740 CE) shows temples also served as war memorials [2]. Add the agraharam grants: land to Brahmins turned Aihole and Badami into learning centres, so religion, politics and education moved together.
• Marriage as a weapon, and its cost. Chola–Eastern Chalukya marriage alliances pulled fertile Vengi into Chola control. That same tie triggered long Chola–Western Chalukya wars, drained both, and opened the door for the Kakatiyas and Hoysalas. Useful as a case study of how dynastic diplomacy can cause war instead of preventing it.