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Taila II

Founder of the Western Chalukya dynasty of Kalyani, who overthrew the last Rashtrakuta king, Kakka II, in 973 and reigned until 997. An inscription of his reign dated April 973 has been found at Korapolu in the Medak district, and P. V. Parabrahma Sastry dated his earliest record near Anumakonda to 995. In Parabrahma Sastry's reading, the Kakatiya chief Gunda IV was killed by a chief backed by Taila, and the family recovered only under Gunda's son Beta I.

Taila II overthrew Kakka II, the last king of the Rashtrakuta dynasty of Malkhed, in 973–74.1 He ruled until about 997, when his eldest son Satyasraya succeeded him.2 An inscription of his reign at Korapolu in the Medak district is dated April 973.3

Overthrow of the Rashtrakutas

Taila II was a son of Vikramaditya IV and of Bonthadevi, a daughter of Lakshmana of the Kalachuri family of Central India.4 J. F. Fleet, in his history of 1896, thought the records correct on this point.4 But he doubted their claim that the family descended in a direct line from the Chalukyas of Badami.4

Fleet gave two reasons. The records allot only seven generations to the 240 years between the two lines.4 They also spell the family name with a long vowel, Chālukya, a form that never occurs in the Badami records.4 The Imperial Gazetteer of Hyderabad (1909) simply says that “about 973, the Chalukyan dynasty was restored”.5

Kakka II was the last king of the Rashtrakuta dynasty of Malkhed, and in 973–74 he was overthrown by Taila II.1 Fleet fixed the date from a verse in later records.6 The verse says that Taila destroyed the Rattas (Rashtrakutas), killed a king named Munja and took the head of Panchala.6 Then he reigned for twenty-four years, beginning with the year Srimukha, that is 973–74.6

Fleet placed Taila’s success soon after the end of June 973, the latest recorded date of Kakka II.6 Robert Sewell described Taila as a ruler of some tract under the Rashtrakutas who revolted against Kakka and completely defeated him.7

Taila married Jakavve or Jakkaladevi, the daughter of a Rashtrakuta named Bhammaha.8 His titles were Maharajadhiraja, Paramesvara and Paramabhattaraka.8 His biruda (title of valour) was Ahavamalla, “the wrestler in war”.8 Fleet concluded that he acquired the whole Rashtrakuta kingdom except its Gujarat provinces.9 See the Rashtrakutas.

Munja and the Godavari

The Paramara king Vakpati-Munja of Malwa is said to have defeated Taila sixteen times. According to the account Fleet followed, Munja’s last expedition crossed the Godavari, “which is said to have formed the northern boundary of Taila’s kingdom”.2 It ended in his capture and, after a failed attempt to escape, his execution.2 Fleet noted that this cannot have happened at the very start of the reign, since Munja is known as late as 979.2

Records in Telangana

An inscription at Korapolu in the Medak district refers itself to the reign of Ahavamalla Taila II.3 It is dated Saka 895 (Saka is an Indian way of counting years), Srimukha, which P. B. Desai equated with 10 April 973.3 Desai called it an early record of the reign.3

At that time the king’s feudatory (subordinate chief) Soma Permadi, with his wife Lakshmibarasi, was ruling from Korapolu in the Kasavul seventy.3 The record lists grants of land to the temple of Bibbesvara built by Soma’s father Bibbarasa.3 If the equation is right, the record puts Taila on the throne in the Medak country some weeks before the June 973 date Fleet gave for Kakka II.36

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry dated the earliest known record of Taila II near Anumakonda (Hanamkonda) to 995, an inscription at Jammikunta.10 He also argued that the Kakatiya chief Gunda IV, a Rashtrakuta subordinate, refused to submit to Taila after 973 and seized the Koravi country from the Mudigonda Chalukya chiefs. In Parabrahma Sastry’s view, a chief named Viriyala Erra, with Taila’s support, killed Gunda in battle.1110 Erra then restored the Mudigonda chief Bottu Beta at Koravi, which Parabrahma Sastry dated to the last decade of the tenth century.1110 Gunda’s young son Beta I later recovered the family’s position. See the Kakatiyas.

Succession

Taila II was succeeded, probably towards the end of 997, by his eldest son Satyasraya.2 Sewell also places Satyasraya’s accession in 997.12 Taila’s younger son Dasavarman, also called Yasovarman, married Bhagyavati or Bhagaladevi and never reigned.13 His son Vikramaditya V succeeded Satyasraya.13 See Jayasimha II and the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani.

Footnotes

  1. J. F. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts”, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency I, pt. II (1896), p. 424 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 432 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. P. B. Desai, introduction to P. Sreenivasachar, Kannada Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series 3, 1961), p. 15, No. 42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 427 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 10 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 426 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  8. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 428 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 431 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 42. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 41. ↩ ↩2

  12. Sewell, Historical Inscriptions (1932), p. 55 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

  13. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 434 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Western Chalukyas of Kalyani

c. 973–1189 CE

A dynasty of the western Deccan that overthrew the Rashtrakutas in 973 and ruled from Kalyana (Kalyani) until about 1189. Telangana was part of their kingdom. Kannada inscriptions of their reigns run from Korapolu in the Medak district (973) to Alampur, Gangapuram, Kolanupaka and Hanamkonda, where the early Kakatiya chiefs, the Polavasa chiefs and the Kandur Chodas served them as feudatories. They fought the Cholas for Vengi for a century, and Vikramaditya VI was recognised as king there from 1118 to about 1126. After the Kalachuris took over in the 1150s, the Kakatiyas declared their own sovereignty in 1163.

References

Sources (5)
  1. J. F. Fleet, R. G. Bhandarkar and others (Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency), Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part II: History of the Konkan, Dakhan and Southern Maratha Country (opens in a new tab), Government Central Press, Bombay, 1896, pp. 424, 426–432. J. F. Fleet, Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, chapters III–IV. [Public domain]
  2. Dr. P. SREENIVASACHAR, M.A., Ph. D. (London) & Prof. P. B. DESAI, M.A., Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series No. 3. KANNADA INSCRIPTIONS OF ANDHRA PRADESH (opens in a new tab), 1961, pp. 15. P. B. Desai's summary of the Korapolu inscription (No. 42); paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 52–55. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  4. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 10. [Public domain]
  5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 41–42. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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