Western Chalukya Empire: Map & History
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries.
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The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannada dynasty is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in the modern Bidar district of Karnataka state, and alternatively the Later Chalukya from its theoretical relationship to the 6th-century Chalukya dynasty of Badami. The dynasty is called Western Chalukyas to differentiate from the contemporaneous Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, a separate dynasty. Before the rise of these Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta controlled most of the Deccan Plateau and Central India for over two centuries. In 973, seeing confusion in the Rashtrakuta empire after a successful invasion of their capital by the ruler of the Paramara dynasty of Malwa, Tailapa II, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region defeated his overlords and made Manyakheta his capital. The dynasty quickly rose to power and grew into an empire under Someshvara I who moved the capital to Kalyani.
Modern Countries Once Part of Western Chalukya Empire
At its mapped extent, Western Chalukya Empire covered territory in 1 present-day country. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Western Chalukya Empire's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Western Chalukya Empire in Depth
History
Knowledge of Western Chalukya history has come through examination of the numerous Kannada language inscriptions left by the kings (scholars Sheldon Pollock and Jan Houben have claimed 90 percent of the Chalukyan royal inscriptions are in Kannada), and from the study of important contemporary literary documents in Western Chalukya literature such as Gada Yuddha (982 CE) in Kannada by Ranna and Vikramankadeva Charitam (1120) in Sanskrit by Bilhana. The earliest record is dated 957, during the rule of Tailapa II when the Western Chalukyas were still a feudatory of the Rashtrakutas and Tailapa II governed from Tardavadi in present-day Bijapur district, Karnataka. The genealogy of the kings of this empire is still debated.
Economy
Agriculture was the empire's main source of income through taxes on land and produce. The majority of the people lived in villages and worked farming the staple crops of rice, pulses, and cotton in the dry areas and sugarcane in areas having sufficient rainfall, with areca and betel being the chief cash crops. The living conditions of the labourers who farmed the land must have been bearable as there are no records of revolts by the landless against wealthy landlords. If peasants were disgruntled the common practice was to migrate in large numbers out of the jurisdiction of the ruler who was mistreating them, thereby depriving him of revenue from their labor.
Culture
The fall of the Rashtrakuta empire to the Western Chalukyas in the 10th century, coinciding with the defeat of the Western Ganga dynasty by the Cholas in Gangavadi, was a setback to Jainism. The growth of Virashaivism in the Chalukya territory and Vaishnava Hinduism in the Hoysala region paralleled a general decrease in interest in Jainism, although the succeeding kingdoms continued to be religiously tolerant. Two locations of Jain worship in the Hoysala territory continued to be patronised, Shravanabelagola and Kambadahalli. The decline of Buddhism in South India had begun in the 8th century with the spread of Adi Shankara's Advaita philosophy. The only places of Buddhist worship that remained during the Western Chalukya rule were at Dambal and Balligavi.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Western Chalukya Empire (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Western Chalukya Empire: Key Facts
| Capital | Manyakheta |
|---|---|
| Official language | Kannada |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Founded | 973 CE |
| Dissolved | 1189 |
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Facts from Wikidata Q14624218 (CC0).
Western Chalukya Empire Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Western Chalukya Empire appears, with the other states of the time.
Western Chalukya Empire Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 754,152 km² in 1004 CE.
Western Chalukya Empire: Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Western Chalukya Empire exist?
The Western Chalukya Empire is dated to 980 CE – 1187 CE, in the Early Middle Ages era.
What was the capital of the Western Chalukya Empire?
The capital of the Western Chalukya Empire was Manyakheta, Basavakalyan.
How large was the Western Chalukya Empire at its peak?
At its peak in 1004 AD the Western Chalukya Empire covered about 754,152 km².
How did the map of the Western Chalukya Empire change over time?
The Western Chalukya Empire appears on 2 dated world maps in the atlas, from 1000 CE to 1100 CE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.
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