Vinayaditya (Chalukya of Badami)

Vinayaditya was a king of the Chalukyas of Badami, who ruled from about 680 to 696.¹² His grants show that he held the Kurnool country and the land on the Krishna in today’s Telangana.³⁴ At Alampur, a temple was built in honour of his queen.⁵

Who he was

Vinayaditya was the son of Vikramaditya I, and J. F. Fleet dated his accession to 680.¹ His records say that, at his father’s command, he checked the power of the Cholas, Pandyas, Keralas and Pallavas.⁶ Later records add that he took tribute from Ceylon and from the Parasikas.⁶ They also say that he won the palidhvaja (a banner of rows of flags, a sign of supreme rule) from a king of northern India.⁶

The Kendur plates say that he broke up a league of southern kings that had fought his father.³ In this war his son Vijayaditya was captured, but he escaped.³ See Vijayaditya.

The Pallepadu grant

His earliest known grant was made in his second year, in Saka 604 (682; Saka is an Indian way of counting years).⁴ The king was then in his war camp at Banumgal.⁴ He gave the village of Paneyal, on the south bank of the Krishna, to a Brahman named Madhava Svami.⁴ He made the gift at the request of Svami Sivaraja.⁴

The plates were found at Pallepadu, now in the Jogulamba Gadwal district, and Gadiyaram Ramakrishna Sarma recovered them.⁷ Their editor, as reprinted in Epigraphia Telanganica, reports that Pandit Sarma identified Banumgal with Panagallu, about ten miles from Wanaparthy.⁸

Grants in the Kurnool country

In 689, in his tenth year, Vinayaditya was camped at Pampatirtha, which Fleet identified with Hampi.⁹ From there he gave land at Togochchedu and three other villages to a Brahman.⁹ Fleet called this the Togarchedu grant, from the Kurnool district.⁹ Robert Sewell listed a grant of the same year from Nandyal, in the Kurnool district.³ He wrote that Vinayaditya was “then in possession of that country”.³

In 692 Vinayaditya made another grant, which also came from the Kurnool district.⁹ At the request of Vijayaditya, he gave a village on the north bank of the Krishna to some Brahmans.⁹ Fleet took this Vijayaditya to be the king’s son.⁹

Alampur

At Alampur, a Kannada inscription stands above the door-guardian figure of the Svarga Brahma temple.⁵ It says that Lokaditya-Ela-Arasa built this temple in honour of Vinayaditya’s queen.⁵ The editors of the Mahbubnagar volume of Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (2003), as summarised in Epigraphia Telanganica, took Lokaditya to be a son of Vinayaditya.⁸ In their reading, he was the brother of Vijayaditya and held the rank of ela-arasa (crown prince).⁸

A pillar inscription in the Bala Brahmesvara temple at Alampur belongs to the next reign.¹⁰ It praises Vinayaditya’s victory over the lord of northern India.¹⁰ See the temples of Alampur.

Where the sources disagree

• The year he came to the throne. Fleet placed it in 680.¹ He also noted that no single starting day fits all five of the king’s dated records.¹ The editor of the Pallepadu plates took this earliest grant as the surest guide and dated the accession to 681.¹¹
• Lokaditya. The 2003 editors made him a son of Vinayaditya and a brother of Vijayaditya.⁸ The summary of the 1959–60 epigraphy report calls him only Lokaditya-Ela-Arasa.⁵

Footnotes

1. J. F. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts”, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency I, pt. II (1896), p. 367 and note 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 370 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

3. Robert Sewell, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 26 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Kannada Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series 3, 1961), p. 40, No. 116 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 44, summarising the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1959-60, p. 60. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 368 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 41, Badami Chalukya No. 10. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

8. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 43, Nos. 10–11. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. Fleet, “Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts” (1896), p. 369 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

10. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 49, No. 19, summarising Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh, Mahabubnagar District I (2003), pp. 15–16. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

11. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 42, reprinting the editor of Copper Plate Inscriptions of the Andhra Pradesh Government Museum, Hyderabad I (1962). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩