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Yuddhamalla II

Eastern Chalukya king of Vengi (about 927–934) of the junior line descended from Yuddhamalla I. He seized the throne during the civil war that followed the death of Amma I in 925, and held it for seven years until Chalukya-Bhima II drove him out. A Telugu verse inscription on a pillar at Vijayawada (then Bezwada), recording a temple of Kumarasvamin and a monastery for Saiva ascetics, is attributed to him or to his grandfather. His sons Badapa and Tala II later tried to win back the throne with Rashtrakuta help.

Yuddhamalla II was the last king of the junior branch of the Eastern Chalukyas to rule Vengi. The later grants give him a reign of seven years. J. F. Fleet dated it from April 927 to March 934, and Robert Sewell gives 927–934.123

Family

The junior branch began with Yuddhamalla I, a younger brother of Gunaga Vijayaditya III and of the crown prince Vikramaditya I, who never reigned.4 Tadapa was a son of Yuddhamalla I.5 His name appears in the grants as Taha, Tala, Talapa or Tadapa, and he held the throne for one month in 925.5

Yuddhamalla II was the son of Tadapa.2 Two grants call him Tadapa’s eldest son.2 One record, the Kaluchumbarru grant of Amma II, seems to call him the son of an elder brother of Talapa. Fleet set this against the other grants, which all call him Talapa’s son.6 He decided that the composer had made a mistake.6

Badapa was a son of Yuddhamalla II.7 Tala II, also called Vishnuvardhana, was another son of Yuddhamalla II and the younger brother of Badapa.89

The civil war and his seizure of the throne

After the death of Amma I in 925 the throne changed hands four times in about two years. The changes came in this order:52

  • Tadapa drove out Amma I’s young son Beta-Vijayaditya V52
  • Vikramaditya II, a son of Chalukya-Bhima I, drove out Tadapa52
  • Amma I’s younger son Bhima defeated Vikramaditya and reigned for eight months52

One grant says that Yuddhamalla II then killed Bhima and took the throne.2 The later grants pass straight from Tadapa to his son.2 Sewell gives the same order of events, and dates Yuddhamalla’s reign about 927–934.1011

The Mangallu grant, edited by V. Rangacharya in 1960, adds to this account. According to Rangacharya, it says that after Vikramaditya II had ruled for a year, the land was seized for seven years by many forces.9 These were feudatories, Sabaras, the Vallabha (whom Rangacharya took to be the Rashtrakuta Govinda IV) and others.9 In the midst of this disorder Yuddhamalla made himself king.9

E. Hultzsch summed up the Maliyapundi grant of Amma II as describing five years of constant wars between rival claimants.12 Among them were Yuddhamalla, Rajamartanda and Kanthika-Vijayaditya (Beta).12

His overthrow

Chalukya-Bhima II, a son of Vijayaditya IV, conquered and drove out Yuddhamalla II in about 934.2 The grant that lists Bhima’s victories names among his enemies “Yuddhamalla, with his arrays of elephants”.13 It also names a great army sent by the Rashtrakuta king Govinda.13 The Maliyapundi grant says that Bhima banished Yuddhamalla and Kanthika-Vijayaditya.12

The records of the two lines treat him differently. Two grants of Chalukya-Bhima II leave him out altogether.2 Hultzsch suggested that Bhima regarded him as a usurper and left him out on purpose.212

Rangacharya explained the omissions on both sides as taking sides: each line was unwilling to recognise the other.9 He thought that Yuddhamalla seems to have depended on the Rashtrakutas.9 In his view Yuddhamalla apparently died fighting, and his two sons fled to the Rashtrakuta court.9

The Bezwada pillar inscription

A Telugu inscription on a stone pillar in the temple of Mallesvara-svamin at Vijayawada (then Bezwada) was edited by J. Ramayya Pantulu in 1920.14 Its first part praises a king Yuddhamalla as lord of the Chalukya kingdom (Raja-Salki-bhuvallabhundu).15 It records that he, a devotee of Kumarasvamin, built a temple to that god at Vijayawada.15 He attached to it a matham (monastery), to be used only by Saiva ascetics (goravalu).15

Anyone else who stayed there would bear the sin of a killing at Benares.15 The temple officers and the king were to expel such people.15 Another verse says that the god of the famous temple at Chebrolu came to a festival at Vijayawada.15 He liked the place so much that he wished to stay, so King Malla built him a temple and matham.15

A further verse, on another face of the pillar, records that Yuddhamalla added a front tower to a temple built by his grandfather Mallapa-raju.15 Rangacharya cites the inscription for his royal titles Rajasalki, Rajasraya and Satyatrinetra.9

Ramayya Pantulu took the pillar to carry two inscriptions.16 He identified the builder of the temple with Yuddhamalla I, writing towards the close of Gunaga Vijayaditya III’s reign, about 890.16 He identified the builder of the tower with his grandson Yuddhamalla II, about forty years later.16

He thought that Yuddhamalla I took an active part in government, so that the royal titles were a courtesy.16 He also allowed the other possibility, that the first inscription belongs to Yuddhamalla II.16 H. Krishna Sastri, who read the paper, thought the first three verses and the fourth might refer to two different temples.15

The earliest Telugu verse?

The inscription is in the Telugu Madhyakkara metre. Ramayya Pantulu argued that it was older than Nannaya’s Mahabharata, the oldest surviving Telugu literary work.1617 He called it “the earliest specimen of Telugu poetry yet discovered”.1617 Critics in the Telugu press held that Nannaya first brought the akkara metres into Telugu from Kannada.1617 Ramayya Pantulu answered that the shape of the letters, close to those of grants of Chalukya-Bhima I, settled the question.1617

He concluded that Telugu grammar and prosody (the rules of metre) were already well developed.18 In his view Telugu had a longer literary history than was generally allowed.18 He read the ban on others using the matham as aimed at the Jains, who in his view still lingered in the country.18 Eight years later K. V. Lakshmana Rao argued that the Addanki inscription of Pandaranga was older still.19

His sons

Yuddhamalla’s sons did not give up the claim. A grant of Badapa was noticed in the Madras epigraphy report for 1920–21.78 It calls him Samastabhuvanasraya Vijayaditya-Maharaja.78 It says that he sought the help of the Vallabha Krishnaraja, the Rashtrakuta Krishna III, and drove Amma II out of the country.78

The epigraphist dated it soon after 956.78 He concluded that the kingdom was then divided.78 Badapa held the Velanandu district in the east, perhaps for a short time, while Danarnava held the west.78 Tala II also made a grant of a village in Velanandu.78

Krishna Sastri had earlier noticed the unpublished Guntur plates of Badapa and his brother Vishnuvardhana Tala II.17 Their letters closely resemble those of the Bezwada inscription.17 See Amma II and Danarnava.

Footnotes

  1. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 12, list of kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  2. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 269 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

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

  4. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 268 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. J. F. Fleet, “Kaluchumbarru Grant of Vijayaditya-Amma II”, Epigraphia Indica VII (1902–03), p. 181 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1920–21 (1921), Part II, paras. 13–14, p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  8. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1920–21 (1921), Part II, para. 14, p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  9. V. Rangacharya, “Mangallu Grant of Amma II”, Epigraphia Indica XXXI (1955–56, publ. 1960), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  10. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 43 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. E. Hultzsch, “Maliyapundi Grant of Ammaraja II”, Epigraphia Indica IX (1907–08), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 270 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. J. Ramayya Pantulu, “The Bezwada Pillar Inscription of Yuddhamalla”, Epigraphia Indica XV (1919–20), p. 150 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Ramayya Pantulu, “Bezwada Pillar Inscription” (1920), p. 153 and notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  16. Ramayya Pantulu, “Bezwada Pillar Inscription” (1920), p. 154 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  17. Ramayya Pantulu, “Bezwada Pillar Inscription” (1920), p. 155 and note 4 by H. Krishna Sastri (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  18. Ramayya Pantulu, “Bezwada Pillar Inscription” (1920), p. 156 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, “The Addanki Stone Inscription of Pandaranga”, Epigraphia Indica XIX (1928), p. 273 (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 (8)
  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. 12, 268–270. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  2. E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VII (1902–03), with Kielhorn's List of Inscriptions of Southern India (opens in a new tab), Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta (scan of the ASI 1981 facsimile reprint), 1903, pp. 181. J. F. Fleet, Kaluchumbarru grant of Vijayaditya-Amma II. [Public domain]
  3. E. Hultzsch and Sten Konow (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX (1907–08) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 49. E. Hultzsch, Maliyapundi grant of Ammaraja II. [Public domain]
  4. F. W. Thomas (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XV (1919–20) (opens in a new tab), Government of India, Calcutta, 1925, pp. 150, 153–156. J. Ramayya Pantulu, The Bezwada pillar inscription of Yuddhamalla, with H. Krishna Sastri's notes. [Public domain]
  5. N. Lakshminarayan Rao and D. C. Sircar (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXI (1955–56) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1960, pp. 39. V. Rangacharya, Mangallu grant of Amma II. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. Madras Government (Superintendent for Epigraphy, Southern Circle), Annual Reports on Epigraphy for 1920-21 to 1924-25 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1925, pp. 90–91 (report for 1920–21). Grant of Badapa, son of Yuddhamalla II. [Public domain]
  7. 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. 43–44, 337. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  8. Hirananda Sastri (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XIX (1927–28) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1928. [Public domain]

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