Indian Antiquary Vol 51

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 238

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( DECEMBER, 1922
At the end of the sixth century A.D. a branch of the Chalukyan house established itself independently in the east as the house of Vengi, having ousted from its sovereignty the Pal. lava line ruling about there. For nearly five centuries thereafter the Eastern Chalukyan house ruled over the Andhra country almost uninterruptedly. But the Western Châlukyas began to wane in glory about the middle of the eighth century A.D., when the Rashtrakūtas entered into competition with them. The power of these began to assert itself strongly, and for nearly two centuries there existed a state of continued warfare for the Rashtra katas with the Western Chalukyas on the one side and the Eastern Chalukyas on the other. And about the beginning of th, ninth century, the Rashtrakata conquests spread as far down as the lands of the Pallava king Dantivarman of Ka chi. Govinda III, of this family defeated & coalition of 12 princes of the south and even reduced the Western Châlukya sovereign of the time to the position of a feudatory. With the passing away of the tenth century, the RAshtrakata power faded away and the Yådavas of Devagiri stepped into their place in the north. Originally followers and relations of the Rashtrakatas, they gradually grew in power and assumed independence about the beginning of the twelfth century, with the Mauryas of the Konkan, the Nikumbhas of Khandesh and the Guttas of Ujjaini as their Vassals, till they came to be one of theforemost royal houses in the south about the beginning of the fourteenth century, -80 rich in prosperity as to make the greedy hands of 'Alau'd-din and his general itch for & plundering oonquest.
In the farther south, after the Pallava decline, which came about in the ninth century A.D., the Cholas rose end expanded in their dominion. For three centuries, i.e., from the tenth to the thirteenth, they remained masters of this part of the country. Rajaraja I had conquered almost the whole of the west of South India, establishing Chola suzerainty over the Gangas of Mysore, the Nolambas of Anantapur, Bellary and Mysore, the southern part of the Vengi country, the Kollam country (the modern Travancore), Kudamalai (Coorg) and llam (Ceylon). His son, Rajendra-Chola I, reduced to Chola supremacy all the eastern country up to Ganjam. In the generation next to Rajendra Chola I, who ruled from A.D. 1012 to about 1043 -A.D., and Rajadhiraja I whose reign ended somewhere about 1053 A.D., the Chola house ran short of a legitimate successor. The Cholas and the Vengi Châlukyas had become relations by marriage and Rajendra Chola, the son of the Eastern Châļukya Rajaraja I, the kritibharta (patron) of Nannaya's Andhra Mahabharatam, was chosen for the Chola throne with the title of Kulottunga-Chola I. This combination of sovereignties brought and kept the most part of South India under one crown, like England and Scotland uniting under James I who came from the north. This Chola-Chaļukya sovereignty continued in prosperity till about the beginning of the thirteenth century, when it broke down and gave occasion and opportunities for the growth of the minor kingdoms into prominence and power. The Kakatiyas of Anumkonda and Orangal, who were originally feudatories of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyan, had asserted independence about the middle of the eleventh century and gradually grew to be a powerful Andhra kingdom about 1230 A.D.
About 1235 A.D. Kalinga was lost to the Cholas. In the south-west the Hoysalas had consolidated themselves into a strong power with two branches ruling at two capitals, viz., Dvarasamudra in the north, and Vikramapuram near Sriraigam in the Trichinopoly district in the south. They had established their dominion in this district and engraved their inscriptions in the Ranganatha temple at Srirangam. These kings were on hostile terms with the Cholas about the beginning of the thirteenth century. It was about then that they founded their second capital at Kannanûr near Srfrangam, calling it Vikramapura, their