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Vijayaditya VII

Eastern Chalukya prince, a son of Vimaladitya and half-brother of Rajaraja Narendra. He governed Vengi from about 1063 until his death about 1076–77, at first in rivalry with his nephew Rajendra (Kulottunga I) and later as his viceroy. Grants found in the 20th century show that he had also seized Vengi from Rajaraja about 1030–35, and set up his own son Saktivarman II there in 1061.

Vijayaditya VII was the last member of the old Eastern Chalukya line to govern Vengi, the country between the Krishna and the Godavari, in his own name.1 For most of the 19th and early 20th centuries he was known only as the uncle whom Kulottunga I left in charge of Vengi for fifteen years.23 Later finds showed that he had been a rival claimant to the throne for much longer.45

Family

Vijayaditya VII was a son of Vimaladitya. J. F. Fleet knew him only from the Chellur plates, which call him the paternal uncle of Kulottunga I.3 From this Fleet inferred that he was a brother, probably a younger brother, of Rajaraja Narendra.3 Robert Sewell’s table makes him a son of Vimaladitya.6

B. V. Krishna Rao edited a grant of his son in 1930.74 He read it as saying that Vijayaditya and Rajaraja were sons of Vimaladitya by different mothers.74 He gave Vijayaditya’s mother as Medavamahadevi, a Chola princess.74 Vijayaditya’s grant from Pamulavaka, as Krishna Rao quotes it, calls him Rajaraja’s brother born of a different mother.5

Saktivarman II was the son of Vijayaditya VII and his queen Madavamahadevi. Krishna Rao described her as a princess of the Haihaya family.89

E. Hultzsch, who first published the Chellur plates, numbered him Vijayaditya VI.10 The usual numbering of later writers, including Fleet and Sewell, is Vijayaditya VII.36

The seizure of Vengi from Rajaraja

The Pamulavaka plates of Vijayaditya were edited by R. Subba Rao in an earlier volume of the Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society. They describe a rising against Rajaraja. In Krishna Rao’s summary, the plates say that Rajaraja protected the earth for twelve years.5 Then Vijayaditya expelled him by force and crowned himself king of Vengi.5

Krishna Rao calculated the coronation date given in the plates as 9 July 1030, in Rajaraja’s eighth year.5 He thought that Vijayaditya had crowned himself as a mark of revolt.5 He thought Vijayaditya actually seized the throne only after Rajaraja’s twelfth year, about 1034.5 He believed that Vijayaditya’s rule was short and local, and that Rajaraja soon drove him out.59 His reason was that the grants allow Rajaraja an unbroken reign of 41 years.59

N. Venkataramanayya, writing in 1952, had the same date recalculated as Sunday, 27 June 1031. He took it that Rajaraja had begun to rule in 1019, so that the twelve years ended in 1031.1112 In that year, in his view, Rajaraja was deprived of his throne by his half-brother.1112

He suggested that a battle between Chola generals and a Karnata (Western Chalukya) army, recorded in Rajaraja’s Kalidindi grant, might be connected with this coup.13 Rajaraja had the support of the Chola emperor.13 So he thought Vijayaditya may have obtained the help of the Western Chalukya king.13

Saktivarman II

Krishna Rao believed that after his expulsion Vijayaditya lived as a vassal (subordinate ruler) of the Western Chalukya king Somesvara I.4 He thought Vijayaditya governed the Nolambavadi district in the Mysore country from about 1035.4

The Telugu Academy plates of his son say that Vijayaditya conquered Vengi in the absence of his half-brother, and destroyed all his enemies.4 They say he placed his son Saktivarman II on the throne out of love for him.4 Krishna Rao thought that the enemies were Rajaraja and his son Rajendra, and that Somesvara I helped the invasion.4

The coronation of Saktivarman II is dated in the plates to a day that Krishna Rao calculated as Thursday, 18 October 1061.14 Another grant of Vijayaditya, from Ryali, mourns the death of the young Saktivarman II on the battlefield, surrounded on all sides.914 It compares him with the epic hero Abhimanyu.914 Krishna Rao recorded that Saktivarman II was known from the Ryali plates to have reigned only one year after Rajaraja’s death, about 1061.8

Rival of Kulottunga

The later Eastern Chalukya grants say nothing of these events. They present Vijayaditya as the uncle to whom Kulottunga, “being desirous of the Choda kingdom”, handed over Vengi.2 He then ruled the country for fifteen years before he “went to heaven”.2 Fleet read the passage as a viceroyalty of fifteen years, 1063 to 1077.315

The Godavari district gazetteer, on the other hand, says that when Rajaraja died, Vijayaditya pushed Kulottunga out of the succession.16 It says that the Chola king later restored him to the throne of Vengi, after invasions by the Western Chalukya Vikramaditya VI.16

Sewell set out two explanations of the years 1063–70. In Fleet’s view, Vijayaditya tried to oust his nephew with the support of the Chola king Virarajendra, but failed.17 He was afterwards forgiven, and allowed to hold office as viceroy.17 In Hultzsch’s view, Vijayaditya actually ruled Vengi from 1063 to 1070 with Virarajendra’s support.17 In this view, Rajendra secured his father’s throne only after he seized the Chola throne in 1070.17

Sewell gave an abstract (summary) of a Chola inscription of Virarajendra’s fifth year.18 It says that Virarajendra fought a battle at Vijayawada (then Bezwada), conquered Vengi and gave it to Vijayaditya VII.18 Sewell himself thought the capture of Vengi unlikely.18

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, writing in 1911, took the same inscription to show that Virarajendra put his own man Vijayaditya, of the Eastern Chalukya family, on the throne after a disputed succession. He argued against the view of Hultzsch and V. Venkayya that it was simply a usurpation (seizure of the throne) by Vijayaditya.192021

Vijayaditya also looked to the Western Chalukyas. Sewell noted a grant he made in 1064 to a temple in the Bellary country, which was ruled by Somesvara I.17 He took it as an attempt to build friendly relations with that branch.17

Fleet discussed an inscription of 1066 at Davangere naming a Vishnuvardhana-Vijayaditya.22 It calls him a son of Somesvara I and “lord of the province of Vengi”, who governed the Nolambavadi province.22 He thought this prince was certainly of Eastern Chalukya descent on one side at least.22 Sewell did not think he could be Vijayaditya VII, who was not known to have governed territory under the Western Chalukyas or to have been called Vishnuvardhana.23

The Kalinga connection and the end

The Ganga kings of Kalinganagara, north of Vengi, also took his side. A Ganga grant, quoted by Fleet, describes the time “when Vijayaditya, beginning to grow old, left the country of Vengi as if he were the sun leaving the sky”.315 He “was about to sink in the great ocean of the Cholas”.315 Then the Ganga king Rajaraja “caused him to enjoy prosperity for a long time in the western region”.315

Another passage says that his son Anantavarma-Chodagangadeva “replaced the waning lord of Vengi in the western region, and propped up his failing fortunes”.315 Sewell read these passages as meaning that Vijayaditya had plotted with the Kalinga king and ended his days in the western part of that country. He also recorded the Ganga king Devendravarman-Rajaraja as protecting Vijayaditya against the Cholas.2425

Sewell’s narrative has Rajendra II get the better of his uncle, who was helped by the Chola and Kalinga kings, before he seized the Chola throne.2627 Sewell’s table dates his viceroyalty 1063–1076.6 In a note, however, he wrote that Vijayaditya stayed at his post until 1078.25 The Godavari gazetteer has him die in 1077.1 After this Kulottunga appointed his own son Rajaraja as viceroy.1

Footnotes

  1. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 60, translation of the Chellur plates, verses 14–15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 276 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  5. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  6. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 337 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. B. V. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 1 (1930), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I (1890), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. N. Venkataramanayya, “Kalidindi Grant of Eastern Chalukya Rajaraja I”, Epigraphia Indica XXIX (1951–52), p. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Venkataramanayya, “Kalidindi Grant” (1952), p. 62 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. Venkataramanayya, “Kalidindi Grant” (1952), p. 63 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Krishna Rao, “Telugu Academy Plates of Saktivarman II” (1930), p. 40 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 277 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari (1907), p. 21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 78 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  18. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 81 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (1911), p. 121 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (1911), pp. 124–125 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  21. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (1911), p. 131 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 278 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  23. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 80 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  25. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 86 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  26. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 82 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  27. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 83 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

c. 615–1077 CE

A branch of the Chalukyas of Badami that ruled Vengi, the coastal country between the lower Godavari and Krishna, from the early 7th century. Its founder, Kubja Vishnuvardhana, was a younger brother of Pulakesin II. The kings fought the Rashtrakutas for two centuries. After about 1000 they were bound to the Cholas by marriage, and in 1070 their heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I. Their copper-plate grants record the length of every reign. The first Telugu literary work, Nannaya's Mahabharata, was written at their court in Rajahmundry.

References

Sources (7)
  1. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 276–278. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  2. E. Hultzsch, South-Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I: Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1890, pp. 51, 60. E. Hultzsch, Chellur plates of Vira-Choda (SII I No. 39). [Public domain]
  3. K. V. Lakshmana Rao (article); Andhra Historical Research Society, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. V, pt. 1 (July 1930), incl. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, 'Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi' (opens in a new tab), Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, 1930, pp. 34, 36–40. B. V. Krishna Rao, Telugu Academy plates of Saktivarman II (JAHRS V, 1930). [Public domain]
  4. B. Ch. Chhabra (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIX (1951–52) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1952, pp. 61–63. N. Venkataramanayya, Kalidindi grant of Rajaraja I; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (opens in a new tab), Luzac & Co., London; S.P.C.K. Depository, Madras, 1911, pp. 121, 124–125, 131. [Public domain]
  6. 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. 76, 78, 80–83, 86, 337. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  7. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 21–22. [Public domain]

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