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Arikesari III (Chalukya of Vemulavada)

Last known Chalukya king of Vemulavada, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta Krishna III. His Parbhani copper plates of 7 April 966 give a village in the Sabbi Thousand to the Jaina scholar Somadeva Suri for the Subhadhama Jinalaya, a temple built by his father at the capital, Vemulavada. An inscription at Repaka of 968 names him as builder of a Jaina temple. The family's rule ended when the Chalukyas of Kalyani took Telangana in the years up to 973.

Arikesari III is the last king of the Chalukyas of Vemulavada known from the records. His only dated copper-plate grant, the Parbhani plates of 966, was made to the Jaina author Somadeva Suri.12

Family

Arikesari III was the son of Bhadradeva, the son of Arikesari II and his queen Lokambika.32 According to N. Venkataramanayya, Arikesari II was first succeeded by his elder son Vagaraja, who seems to have died without a son. Bhadradeva, Vagaraja’s younger half-brother, had died before him.42 So the throne passed to Bhadradeva’s son, Arikesari III.42

The Parbhani plates name the king’s father Bhadradeva in their verses.35 In their prose they call the temple builder “Vadyaga”, the king’s father.35

The editors of The Early History of the Deccan (1960) saw it differently.6 They named the last two rulers of the line as Bhadradeva II and Arikesari III.6 They took “Badyaga”, whom they call the eldest son of Arikesari II, to be the prince at whose town Somadeva finished his Yasastilaka in 959.6 The printed colophon (closing note) of the Yasastilaka (1903) names that prince as Vagaraja, “the first son” (prathamaputra) of Arikesarin.7

The Parbhani plates

The Parbhani plates are dated Wednesday, the full-moon day of Vaisakha in the year Kshaya, Saka 888 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years).235 Venkataramanayya gave this date as 7 April 966.235 The plates describe Arikesari III as a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta king Akalavarsha Krishnaraja, that is Krishna III.235

They give the village of Kuttumvritti-Vanikatupalu, in the Repaka Twelve within the Sabbi Thousand, to Somadeva Suri.235 The gift was for the whitewashing, repair and offerings of the Subhadhama Jinalaya.235 That temple had been built by the king’s father in the capital, Lembulapataka (Vemulavada).235 The text was composed by the poet Peddanabhatta and engraved by Reva.235

The plates repeat the titles of Arikesari II, such as Pambarankusa and Samanta-chudamani.2 Venkataramanayya thought these titles meant nothing beyond inheritance.2 He had to edit the text without impressions (ink copies of the plates).8 The plates were then in the library of the Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala at Poona.8 He took the text from a Hindi book, Jain Sahitya aur Itihas.8

Other records

An inscription on a pillar at Repaka in the Karimnagar district, dated 14 February 968, records gifts to a Jaina temple. It traces a family of Jaina lay followers and a line of Jaina teachers, and ends by saying that the temple was built by King Arikesari. Epigraphia Telanganica (2023) assigns it to Arikesari III.9

The end of the line

Venkataramanayya could not say how long Arikesari III ruled after 966. He cited two records of the Chalukyas of Kalyani.2 One is an inscription at Uppili in the Makthal taluk of the Mahbubnagar district, dated Saka 888.2 The other, at Koraprolu in the Nalgonda district, is of Soma Perumadi, a champion of Ahavamalla (Taila II), and is dated Saka 895 (973–74).2

From these he concluded that Telangana passed to Taila II between 966 and 973.2 He concluded too that the rule of the Vemulavada family had ended by then.2

Footnotes

  1. N. Venkataramanayya, The Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  2. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  3. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 93 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  4. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  5. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 97, text of the Parabhani plates (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). The quoted word is the name as printed. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  6. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, “The Chalukyas of Vemulavada”, appendix C to “The Eastern Chalukyas”, in G. Yazdani (ed.), The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII–XI (1960), p. 511. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Somadeva Suri, Yasastilaka, ed. Pandit Sivadatta and Kasinath Pandurang Parab, Part II (Kavyamala 70, 1903), p. 419, closing colophon (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Venkataramanayya, Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (1953), p. 92, introduction to the Parabhani plates (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 90, No. 6, summarising Inscriptions of Karimnagar District, pp. 12–17. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

Dynasties

Chalukyas of Vemulavada

c. 750–973 CE

A family of Chalukya chiefs who ruled the Sabbi country of northern Telangana, today's Karimnagar district, from their capital Vemulavada (Lembulavataka). They were feudatories of the Rashtrakutas from about 750 to about 970. Their records begin with Vinayaditya-Yuddhamalla, who is said to have bathed his elephants in oil at Podana (Bodhan). Arikesari II (about 930–955) was the patron of the Kannada poet Pampa, and Somadeva Suri wrote his Yasastilaka in 959 in the town of Arikesari's son. Their rule ended when the Chalukyas of Kalyani took Telangana before 973.

References

Sources (4)
  1. N. Venkataramanayya, The Chalukyas of L(V)emulavada (opens in a new tab), The Archaeological Department, Government of Hyderabad (printed at the G. S. Press, Madras), 1953, pp. 2, 9, 12, 41–42, 45–46, 92–97. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  2. Somadeva Suri; ed. Pandit Sivadatta and Kasinath Pandurang Parab, The Yasastilaka of Somadeva Suri, with the commentary of Srutadeva Suri, Part II (Kavyamala 70) (opens in a new tab), Tukaram Javaji, Nirnaya-Sagar Press, Bombay, 1903, pp. 419. Colophon of the Yasastilaka. [Public domain]
  3. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.); Gautam Pingle (gen. ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica, Vol. 1: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana, Dr MCR Human Resource Development Institute, Government of Telangana, 2023, pp. 87, 90. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  4. G. Yazdani (ed.); Part VII by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII-XI, Oxford University Press, London, published under the authority of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1960, pp. 511–512. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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