Deccan Dynasties: Rashtrakutas and Kalyani Chalukyas ~ Indian History Articles

Deccan Dynasties

These were the most significant kings of the period. No Kings of other dynasty were able to stand before these kings. Their empire sways from North- South. Many dynasties were their feudatories (like Cholas, Palas, Vemulavada Chalukyas, Vengi Chalukyas etc).
Their military achievements were magnificent. Their contribution to Art and Architecture is most significant and remarkable. World's best and greatest cave temples were built by them. These were the last kings who patronized cave temples. After them, this cave temple activity lost its sheen and it was completely abandoned by next generation rulers.
These rulers patronized Sanskrit literature apart from colloquial languages. Kannada literature was started in this epoch. The early kings of this dynasty were Hindu but the later kings were strongly influenced by Jainism.
These ruled with Ellora (Venul) now in Maharastra as their capital city.
At Ellora, they have built 34 cave temples — 5 of them were Jain, 10-12 were Buddhists and rest were Shivas and Vaishnavas.

The first king of this dynasty was Dantidurga, who was a feudatory to Badami Chalukyas later he overthrew Kirtivarman II and declared himself independent.
Dantidurga has built 2 cave temples at Ellora. They were
Dashavatara cave temple (Cave No 15. This cave depicts the ten forms (avatars) of Lord Vishnu. The sculpture which portrays lord Narasimha killing Hiranyakashapu is beautiful and worth seeing. We see the anger on Narsingh's face while there is utter fear on Hiranyakashapu's face).
Ravan Ka Khai (Cave No 14. This is a Shiva cave and is famous for a sculpture of Ravana holding the Kailash Mountain).

Next, important king, the successor of Dantidurga was 'Krishna I' he built a cave temple at Ellora was known as Kailashanatha Temple (The 16th cave is famous all over the world as the Kailash cave or temple. It's an achievement in terms of architecture and sculpture and is a unique temple which has been made from a single rock face. It has been chiseled from top to bottom, which is extremely rare for temple architecture.
This is perhaps biggest, greatest and magnificent rock cut cave temple in the World. This is a frank imitation of Kailashanatha temple of Kanchi built by Pallavans. So the style of sculpture in this temple is Dravidian. This is a monolithic structure. It is observed that for building this it took almost 100 yearS and 6 generations down the line.

Next, an important king was Amoghavarsha I (also Nrupathunga). He had the lengthy reign and considered greatest among the rest of all Kings of this dynasty.
He built a new capital city called 'Manyakheta' and thus shifted his capital from Ellora to Manyakheta.
He took the title 'Kaviraja'. He wrote 2 books called
Kavirajamarga (First text of Kannada literature and this is the earliest available text of Kannada and this hook is on grammar).
Prashnottara Ratnamalika (A Sanskrit book written in the form of Questions and Answers on Jainism. This is because Amoghavarsha was a staunch follower of Jainism).
Amoghavarsha ended his life performing Sallekhana. Sallekhana he performed was in a different way. He didn't fast unto death but he submerged himself into holy waters of Tungabhadra and gave up his life.
There were many Sanskrit scholars in his court. Few of them are Jinasena - he wrote 'Aadipurana'
Saktayana - he Wrote 'Amogavriti' (A book on Grammar)
Mahaviracharya - A Jain Mathematician - He wrote a great book on Mathematics called 'Ganitasarasangraha'. (Pauluri Mallana contemporaries to Nannaya translated this Ganitasarasangraha into Telugu).

He took the title of 'Tanjavore Konda' (Conqueror of Tanjavore, the capital city of Cholas).
In 949 AD battle of Takkolam, Chola Emperor Parantaka Chola was defeated. After the battle, Krishna III erected a victory pillar at Rameshwaram.
The last king was Karka, he was killed by one of his Samantha (feudatory) called Tailapa II, who went on to form Kalyani Chalukyas.

This dynasty is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukyas after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in Karnataka.

One important king of this dynasty is Vikramaditya VI (1076-1126). Two scholars adorned his court and they are
Bilhana - He wrote Vikramadevacharita (it is a eulogy of the King), written in Sanskrit.
Vijnanesvara - Around in the late eleventh and early twelfth century. He wrote Mitaksara. He was a "profound student of the Purva-Mimamsa system," a system of exegetical thought focused on the interpretation of the Vedas.

Another King, Someshwara IlI - he wrote a Sanskrit book called 'Manasollasa'. This book has another name called 'Abhilashitarthachintamani'.
He took the title called 'Sarvagna'.
After the decline of Kalyani Chalukyas, two kingdoms have emerged in Deccan which were earlier feudatories. They are
Yadava Kingdom (Maharastra region) with Devagiri as capital. In the Yadava court, an astronomer 'Bhaskaracharya' lived and he wrote books like 'Siddantha Shiromani' a book on Mathematics and Leelavathi a book on Astronomy.
Kakatiyas (Andhra Region) with Warangal as capital.