Satyasraya (Chalukya of Kalyani)

Satyasraya was the second king of the Chalukyas of Kalyani, from about 997 to 1008.¹² Telangana was part of his kingdom, and his records stand in the Warangal, Medak and Karimnagar districts.³⁴⁵ He fought the Chola king Rajaraja I, and an inscription of his reign reached as far east as Chebrolu in the Guntur district.⁶²

Who he was

Satyasraya was the eldest son of Taila II, the founder of the dynasty.¹ He succeeded his father, probably towards the end of 997.¹ His name also appears as Sattiga and Sattima.¹ His titles included Akalankacharita, “of spotless conduct”, and Irivabedanga, which J. F. Fleet translated as “a wonder among those who pierce (their foes)”.¹

Crown prince in Telangana

A damaged record of 27 July 979 at Ghanpur, in the Warangal district, belongs to the time when Irivabedanga Satyasraya was crown prince.³ It records a gift of land by the headman of the village of Karakunta.³ The summary in Epigraphia Telanganica notes that it gives his full name for the first time, as “Srimat Satyamadeva”.³

Records of his reign

Records of his reign are found across Telangana.⁷⁴⁵

• At Cherial, in the Warangal district, Bakkababbe, the elder sister of the queen Ayvabbadevi, gave a grant in 1001–02.⁷
• At Kadparti, in the Karimnagar district, a record of 1005 names the Armakunda Seven Thousand division.⁴
• At Vendikole and Koduru, in the Medak district, gifts were made in September 1006 while the king ruled from his camp at Ravulakola.⁴⁸
• At Choppadandi, in the Karimnagar district, Divakabbe, the king’s dadi (nurse), set up a god in 1008.⁹

At Ponnavolu, about ten miles from Warangal, Arasapayya, captain of the king’s bodyguard, gave land to a Brahman in 1007.⁵ P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (1965) called this the earliest known record of the Chalukyas of Kalyani in the Warangal region.¹⁰

The Chola war and Chebrolu

In Satyasraya’s time the Chola king Rajaraja I invaded the Chalukya country.⁶² The Chola records claim that Rajaraja defeated him.⁶ But an inscription at Hottur, in the Dharwar district, says that Satyasraya drove the Chola army out after it had pillaged the country.⁶²

Robert Sewell noted an inscription of “Ahavamalla-Sattiga”, whom he identified as Satyasraya, at Chebrolu in the Guntur district.² It is dated Saka 928 (1006; Saka is an Indian way of counting years).² Sewell wrote that it “sufficiently disposes of the Chola claim” to have conquered the whole Chalukya country.²

Where the sources disagree

• Who won the Chola war. The Chola records say Rajaraja defeated Satyasraya; the Hottur inscription says Satyasraya drove the Cholas out.⁶ Sewell thought there was “much slaughter” either way.²
• The Ponnavolu date. Saka 929 (1007), written in the stone by mistake as 939, according to Indian Archaeology 1957–58.¹⁰ The epigraphy report of the same year gave 1007 or 1017.¹⁰

Footnotes

1. J. F. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts”, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency I, pt. II (1896), p. 432 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 58 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrases quoted. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 94, Chalukyas of Kalyana No. 6. Cite-only; paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 100, Nos. 22–23. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 102, Nos. 27–28. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 433 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 99, No. 20, summarising Inscriptions of Warangal District (2016), pp. 16–17. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

8. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 101, No. 24. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

9. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 104, Nos. 30–31. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

10. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 103, No. 28, quoting P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, Select Epigraphs of Andhra Pradesh (1965), and summarising Indian Archaeology 1957–58 and the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1957–58. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³