The Lord Of South: Pulakeshin II

The ruler who became unbeatable in his younger days, grew up in a palace only to be thrown out later. Only if they knew he was born to rule. Inheriting all the ethical qualities from his forefathers he surely proved to be called the lord of the south. The history of which has always been unknown in our textbooks. A king who expanded the territories as much as he could and was the only reason for the Chalukyas dynasty to rule for a long time though in different times.

Region covered by the Chalukyas; Image Source: Byjus

The history we study is mostly based on the northern part of India and textbooks fail to show the significance of southern history affecting northern India. There are mentions of southern Indian dynasties but not briefly and just the mention of it.

We must have seen family rivalries in the south movies but who knew this was also in the past too. Chalukya dynasty is considered one of the important dynasties in the history of India.

The Chalukyas ruled from the 6th century to the 12th century. These dynasties mainly came into existence after the decline of the Gupta Empire. Three Chalukya dynasties ruled in between that period but as independent yet correlated dynasties.

The earliest was the Badami Chalukyas who initially ruled around Badami presently known as Vatapi. It ruled from the 6th century to the 8th century. The Badami Chalukyas were brought down by the Rashtrakruta dynasties.

After a span of 200 years, the Eastern Chalukyas came into power and ruled from the 10th century to the 12th century. It came into power in the 12th century.

Though the Badami Chalukyas dynasty was dissolved in the 8th century by Rashtrakrutas the descendants of the dynasty revived it again in the same time as of Eastern Chalukyas and were known as Western Chalukyas. They too ruled until the end of the 12th century.

The first ruler of the Chalukyas dynasty was Pulakeshin in 543 CE. His kingdom was not vast and was spread around the areas of Badami. The most important ruler of Badami Chalukyas was Pulakeshin II the grandson of Pulakeshin I. The rule under Pulakeshin II is considered to be the golden age in south Indian history.  Pulakeshin II’s birth name was Ereya. He was very young when his father Kirtivarman I died and the public wanted Ereya to become the king once he gets older as Kirtivarman was a very good king and the public was very happy with him. After the death of Kirtivarman I the kingdom was handed over to his paternal uncle Manglesha to handle till Ereya can handle the vast empire. As it is been truly said “a person with greed knew no bounds” and “the power pollutes even the mind of a good person” and his uncle was no different. He denied him to give back the empire and kicked him out.

Ereya went to Kolar to create his army. He became friends with the most powerful tribe there along with other tribes. He took military training there and soon attacked the kingdom at an appropriate time. His uncle Manglesha was killed in the war and Ereya was coronated as the king under the name Pulakshein II. After getting into power Pulakeshin II started expanding his territories rapidly. He conquered over Alupas, Gangas , Gurjaras, Lastas, Kadambas, Malwas and Pallavas.

Their only competitor was the Pallavas. The reason for the wars is usually land but here it was revenge. Just like the south Indian movies where the son will kill the one who killed his father and the deceased's son will come for revenge and it will go on. Just like that, it continued for 200 years. Pulakeshin II was a fearless and strong king and was most famous for his military expeditions. He was the contemporary of king Harsha Vardhan who ruled the northern part of India. He was also the strongest king at that time and he decided to rule all over India just like the Mauryan and Gupta's and decided to unite India under one rule. But that wasn't easy at all with the presence of a strong king as Pulakeshin II.

Harshavardhan decided to attack the Chalukyas. The war was fought on the banks of the Narmada river and Harsha Vardhan was defeated by Pulakeshin II in 618 CE.

The defeat of the lord of North is not mentioned in Banabhata's Harshacharita but it can be found in the Aihole inscriptions in Badami.

By defeating a majestic king as Harsha Vardhan, Pulakeshin II was given a number of titles like Parameshwara which means supreme lord, Prithvivallabha meaning lord of Earth, and Dakshinapatheswara which means lord of South and gained a lot of fame and was celebrated in the entire Indian subcontinent.

After getting supreme titles like this he became unstoppable after all he called Rana Rasika(lover of war) for a reason. Though he was old he attacked the rulers of Cholas, Pandyas, and Kerala and compelled them to accept his diplomatic supremacy to expand his territories which he enjoyed the most. As the rivalry between the Pallavas and Chalukyas was very old so when Pulakeshin II again attacked the Pallavas he was defeated brutally. And Pallavas king Narsimhavarman whose father was killed in the hands of Pulakeshin II got the perfect opportunity to get revenge. It is been said that Pulakeshin II was killed in this war in 642 CE. With the death of Pulakeshin II the huge kingdom collapsed.