The Chalukya dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three closely related, but individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty is known as the Badami Chalukyas who ruled from their capital Badami from the middle of the 6th century. The Badami Chalukyas began to assert their independence at the decline of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi and rapidly rose to prominence during the reign of Pulakesi II. After the death of Pulakesi II, the Eastern Chalukyas became an independent kingdom in the eastern Deccan. They ruled from the capital Vengi until about the 11th century. In the western Deccan, the rise of the Rashtrakutas in the middle of 8th century eclipsed the Chalukyas of Badami before being revived by their descendants, the Western Chalukyas in late 10th century. These Western Chalukyas ruled from Basavakalyan till the end of the 12th century.
The rise of the Chalukyas marks an important milestone in the history of South India. The political atmosphere in South India shifted from smaller kingdoms to large empires with the rise of Badami Chalukyas. For the first time in history, a Deccan kingdom took control and consolidated the entire region between the Kaveri and the Narmada rivers. The rise of this empire also saw the birth of efficient administration, rise in overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called Vesara. Around the 9th century, it also saw the growth of Marathi and Kannada literature. Although the kings were of aryan descent they patronized the native Dravidian (Kannada and Telugu) poets and their literature.

Origin of Chalukyas
Inscriptions are the main source of information about the Badami Chalukya history. Important among them, the Badami cave inscriptions (578) of Mangalesa, Kappe Arabhatta record of 700, Peddavaduguru inscription of Pulakesi II, the Kanchi Kailasanatha inscription and Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple inscriptions of Vikramaditya II are in Kannada.

Sources of history
Hiuen-Tsiang, a Chinese traveller had visited the court of Pulakesi II. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang calls him the lord of Maharashtra

Foreign notes
Vidyapati Bilhana, the famous poet in the court of Vikramaditya VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty of Kalyana, mentions a legend in his work, Vikramankadeva Charita:
Indra once requested Brahma to create a hero who would put an end to Godlessness in the world and punish the wicked. Agreeing to his request, Brahma looked into his Chuluka (hollow of the hands) while performing the Sandhya, and lo! From there sprang a mighty warrior. He was called "Chalukya" and he became the eponymous ancestor of the line. In it were born two great heroes, Harita and Manavya who raised the Chalukyas into distinct position. This story is repeated and elaborated in the Ramastipundi grant of Vimaladitya of the Eastern Chalukya family.
Another legend in the Handarike inscription of Vikramaditya VI claims that the Chalukyas were born in the interior of the Chuluka (hollow of the palm) of the sage Haritipanchashikhi when he was pouring out libations to the Gods. The Chalukyas claimed to have been nursed by the Sapta Matrikas (the seven divine mothers). It was a popular practice to link South Indian royal family lineage to a Northern kingdom in ancient times.

Legends
The Chalukyas ruled over the central Indian plateau of Deccan for over 600 years. During this period, they ruled as three closely related, but individual dynasties. These are the Chalukyas of Badami, who ruled between the 6th and the 8th century, and the two sibling dynasties of Chalukyas of Kalyani or the Western Chalukyas and the Chalukyas of Vengi or the Eastern Chalukyas.

Periods in Chalukya history
In the 6th century, with the decline of the Gupta dynasty and their immediate successors in northern India, major changes began to happen in the area south of the Vindyas— the Deccan and Tamizhagam. The age of small kingdoms had given way to large empires in this region. His queen was Kadamba Devi, a princess from the dynasty of Alupas. They maintained close family and marital relationship with the Alupas of South Canara and the Gangas of Talakad. Pulakesi II extended the Chalukya Empire up to the northern extents of the Pallava kingdom and halted the southward march of Harsha by defeating him on the banks of the river Narmada. He then defeated the Vishnukundins in the southeastern Deccan. Pallava Narasimhavarman however reversed this victory by attacking and occupying the Chalukya capital Vatapi (Badami) temporarily.
The Badami Chalukya dynasty went in to a brief decline following the death of Pulakesi II due to internal feuds. It recovered during the reign of Vikramaditya I, who succeeded in pushing the Pallavas out of Badami and restoring order to the empire. The empire reached a peak during the rule of the illustrious Vikramaditya II who defeated the Pallava Nandivarman II and captured Kanchipuram. The last Badami Chalukya king Kirtivarman I was overthrown by the Rashtrakuta Dantidurga in 753. At their peak they ruled a vast empire stretching from the Kaveri to the Narmada.

Chalukyas of Badami

Main article: Western Chalukyas Chalukyas of Kalyani

Main article: Eastern Chalukyas Eastern Chalukyas
The period of Badami Chalukya dynasty saw art flourish in South India. It brought about some important developments in the realm of culture, particularly in the evolution and proliferation of a new style of architecture known as Vesara, a combination of the South Indian and the North Indian building styles. Sage Bharata's dance Natyasastra was in an advanced state of development. The Kalyani Chalukyas further refined the Vesara style with an inclination towards Dravidian concepts, especially in the sculptures. They built fine monuments in the Tungabhadra - Krishna river doab in present day Karnataka.
Art and Architecture
The most enduring legacy of the Chalukya dynasty is the architecture and art that they left behind. More than one hundred and fifty monuments attributed to the Badami Chalukya, and built between 450 and 700, remain in the Malaprabha basin in Karnataka.
See also: Badami Chalukya Architecture, Pattadakal, Badami, and Aihole

Badami Chalukyas
The rule of the Chalukyas is a major event in the history of Kannada and Telugu languages. During this time, writing epic narratives and poetry in Sanskrit was very popular. However, during the 9th - 10th century, Kannada language had already seen some of its greatest writers. The three gems of Kannada literature, Adikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna belonged to this period. In Sanskrit, a few verses of a poetess called Vijayanaka has been preserved.
Literature

Army
The empire was divided into Maharashtrakas (provinces), then into smaller Rashtrakas (Mandala), Vishaya (district), Bhoga (group of 10 villages) which is similar to the Dasagrama unit used by the Kadambas. At the lower levels of administration, the Kadamba style fully prevailed. The Sanjan plates of Vikramaditya I even mentions a land unit called Dasagrama. There were many autonomous regions ruled by feudatories like Alupas, Gangas, Banas, Sendrakas etc. Local assemblies looked after local issues. Groups of mahajanas (learned brahmins), looked after agraharas (like Ghatika or place of higher learning) like the ones at Badami (2000 mahajans) and Aihole (500 mahajanas).
Land governance
The Badami Chalukyas minted coins that were of a different standard compared to the northern kingdoms. The coins had Nagari and Kannada legends. They minted coins with symbols of temples, lion or boar facing right and the lotus. The coins weighed 4 grams and were called honnu in old Kannada and had fractions such as fana and the quarter fana, whose modern day equivalent being hana (literally means, money). A gold coin called Gadyana is mentioned in some record in Pattadakal which later came to be known a varaha which was also on their emblem.
Coinage
The rule of the Badami Chalukya was a period of religious harmony. They were themselves initially followers of Vedic Hindusim, as seen in the various temples dedicated to many popular Hindu deities with Aihole as the experimental laboratory. Pattadakal is the location of their grandest architecture. The worship of Lajja Gauri, the fertility goddess was equally popular. Later from the time of Vikramaditya I took an inclination towards Shaivism and sects like Pashupata, Kapalikas and Kalamukhas existed. However, they actively encouraged Jainsm and attested to by one of the Badami cave temples and other Jain temples in the Aihole complex. Ravikirti, the court poet of Pulakesi II was a Jain. Buddhism was on a decline having made its ingress into Southeast Asia, as confirmed by Hiuen-Tsiang. Badami, Aihole and Kurtukoti, Puligere (Laksmeshwara in Gadag district) were primary places of learning.
Religion
The Hindu caste system was present and prostitution was recognised by the government. Some kings had concubines (Ganikas) who were given much respect, Women enjoyed political power in administration. Queens Vijayanka, a noted Sanskrit poetess, Kumkumadevi, the younger sister of Vijayaditya and Lokamahadevi, queen of Vikramaditya II who fought wars stand as examples.

Society
The Chalukya era may be seen as the beginning in the fusion of cultures of northern and southern India making way for the transmission of ideas between the two regions. This is clear from an architectural point of view in that the Chalukyas spawned the Vesara style of architecture which includes elements of the northern nagara and southern dravida styles. The expanding Sanskritic culture mingled in a region where local Dravidian vernaculars were already popular. The event is a celebration of the glorious achievements of the Chalukyas in the realms of arts, crafts, music and dance. The program which starts at Pattadakal and ends in Aihole is inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Singers, dancers, poets and other artists from all over the country take part in this event. In the February 26, 2006 celebration, 400 art troupes from different parts of the country had taken part. Colorful cut outs of the Varaha the Chalukya emblem, Satyasraya Pulakesi (Pulakesi II), famous sculptural masterpieces like Durga, Mahishasura-mardhini (Durga killing demon Mahishasura) were seen everywhere. The program at Pattadakal is named Anivaritacharigund vedike after the famous architect of the Virupaksha temple, Gundan Anivaritachari. At Badami it is called Chalukya Vijayambika Vedike and at Aihole, Ravikirti Vedike after the famous poet and minister in the court of Pulakesi II. RaviKirti is the author of the Aihole inscription of 634 which is considered as a masterpiece in medieval Sanskrit poetry written in Kannada script. Souvenirs with Sri Vallabha and Satyasraya written on, were available (these were the titles taken commonly by the kings of the Badami dynasty) and CDs and DVDs detailing the history, culture etc. of the region were sold. Immadi Pulakeshi, a Kannada movie of the 1960s starring Dr. Rajkumar celebrates the life and times of the great king.

See also