EASTERN CHALUKYAS OF VENGI

The eastern chalukyas with vengi as their capital city ruled andhra for over a period of 3 centuries from 7^th century to 10^th century AD.The importance of their age is felt in the contribution made by them inpolitical,social,economic and cultural spheres.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF EASTERN CHALUKYAS OF VENGI:

Politically,though they were from kannada region,credit goes to them for maintaining polotical stability in andhra during transition from ancient to medieval times.Secondly,they were responsible for unifying andhra desa by founding a vast empire consisting of present coastal andhra,rayalaseema and telangana regions.Thus for the 1^st time,the geographicla expression for andhra desa was given.Thirdly,they effectively guarded andhra desa from the invasions of rashtrakutas and kalyani chalukyas.

In the social sphere,amalgamation of forest tribes into the mainstream of the society was achieved by the eastern chalukyas.Panduranga,the commander of gunaga ijayaditya conquered the tribal settlements called boyakottam and brought the Booyas into the fold of the brahmanical society.secondly,the chalukyas founded educational institutions called ghatikas for promoting education.Thirdly,though  many sectarian faiths like pasupathas,kalamukhas and kapalikas appeared in the society,chalukyas could strike a perfect balance among the different sects and maintain communal harmony.

In the economic sphere,expansion of both agriculture and non-agriculture production took place.With their extensive land grantthey substantially contributed for the growth of agriculture.Similarly,by establishing contacts with china and suvarna dweepa,they promoted the external trade.The dynamic and enterprising community of traders called komatis entered andhra and made penukonda as their main cente.They formed into merchant guilds called nagarams and carried out trade.It was due to the efforts of the chalukyas that the currency system in andhr desa was perfected.They were the 1^st to issue gold coins called madas,ghadwanas,silvercoins called ruka and copper coins called chinnam,With their coinage tradition,they became path founders for kakatiyas.

The contribution of chalukyas is quite profound in the cultural sphere,particularly in the field of literature.Teluu emerged as an independent language during their times .Fine arts like music and dance received equal patronage.

The important literary developments of the age were:

1] Telugu as a spoken language evolved under this dynasty.The gradual evolution of telugu is best illustrated in the inscriptions issued by them from time to time.

In the Vipparla inscription of jayasimha,we come across ,for the 1^st time,the telugu prose.

In the panduranga’s Addanki inscription,we come across Taravoja,the telugu prasa.

In the kandukuru inscription,we find seesapadya and in Bezawada inscription,we find Madhyakkara.Thus the basic requisites for the development of telugu literature were introduced during this age.

2] The great translation works started further enriching the telugu  literary tradition.The  Adikavi Nannayya’s translation of Mahabharatha set the trend.His other literary work ‘andhra shabda chintamani’ markded a great development in telugu grammar.

  With Nannechoda’s ‘kumarasambhavam’,a new literary phase started in telugu literature.In his literary work,he used a distinct telugu style called Janu telugu which  became the basis for his succeccor Palakurthi somanna.Further,Kumarasambhavam became the basis for prabhandha yuga in telugu literature.Nannechoda introduced the desi kavitha trend in telugu.

With the devoted shiva kavis,the desikavitha movement started in telugu literature.All the great classics in telugu literature were composed during this period.Palkurthi somanna wrote Basavapuranam,panditaradhya charitamu and chaturveda saram.Paditaradhya himself  wrote shivatatwa saaram which became one of the earliest satakas in telugu literature.Thus sataka literary tradition as such started.

Other popular literary works under the chalukya swere vemulavada bheemakavi’s ‘janasrayam’,and ‘Raghavapandaveeyam’, and pavuluri Mallana’s ‘Ganithasara sangraham’.Bhatti Ramananda wrote Kavvyalankarasutramu.The literary tradtion became a model for the great poets srinatha and allasani peddana in the later course of history of literary development.

In the filed of fine arts like music and dance,the age marked a great development.Chellavva,an exponent in music and dance was patronized by chalukya bheema.The very fact that she was given the title ‘gana gandhara visharada ‘ indicates the development of music during this period.Anka Malika ,a opetic play also developed during this age.

The great sculptural tradition of the age is found in the temples of Alampuram,Mahanandi and Dachepalli.Credit goes to the chalukyas for introducing the Deccan style of temple architecture in andhra and for buildingt the temples at Draksharaman,Bheemeshwaram,samarlakota,amaravathi and palakollu[pancharamas-5shiva shrines]. The navabrahma temple at alampuram and Mahanandi temple at kurnool district also belong to their times.

The chalukyas thus kept intact the great cultural traditions of andhra and passed them on to the succeeding dynasties ,particularly the kakatiyas and reddyrajas.

SOCIETY UNDER EASTERN CHALUKYAS:

The social changes that took place under the chalukyas had a definite bearing on the social changes that followed in andhra in the later course of time.

Important social developments were :

1] the 4 fold caste system was well estblished and caste based occupations were well crystallized.

2]The chaturda varna of sudras improved theit social status by emerging as powerful agricultural community.

3] With the rise of virasaivism and vira vaishnavism,there was a social awakening in andhra and attempts were made to improve the position of the dalits.Brahmanaidu opened tha gates of chennakeswara temple to dalits and adopted  a dalit as his son.

4]Komatis appeared as an enterprising communtiy.They were actually from gouda desha and settled in penukonda.They started the practice of worshipping kanyaka parameswari.

5]In the brahmin community,for the 1st time,we find the community divided into 2 major sects namely vaidiki and niyogi.On the basis of regional variations and occupations,the brahmin community further divided into kammanadu,valanadu and palanadu subcastes.

6] Towards the end of chalukyan era,the brahmin migration process started from andhra desa to tamilnadu .However,kulottunga chola invited tamil brahmins to settle in coastal andhra.These settled tamil brahmins were called arava dravidas.

7] The amalgamation of forest tribes into the main stream of the society was completed when commander panduranga conquered  Boyakottams and brought them under the influence of the brahmanic society.

8] with regard to education,the jain sanghas and their educational centres  called ghatikas played an important role in promoting education.Bezawada and Ramateertham were the main centres for educational activity,whereas rajahmundry and amaravathi continued to be the main centres for brahmmanical learning.For the maintenance of the centres,the chalukyas made liberal grants.Sanskrit,grammar,medicine,mathematics and astronomy were the subjects taught.

9] With regard to position of women,they continued to enjoy freedom and liberty.Women like chellavva excelled in fine arts like dance and music.However,,social evils like prostitution and Devadasi system came to be justified in the society.

10]Abhilashateertha chintamani written by chalikya someswara ,one of the most authentic sources on the chalukyan society talks about whole range of hobbies,past times and entertainments for the people of the age.Kolatam,and geyanatakam appeared as major entertainments of the age.

EASTERN CHALUKYAS RELIGION:

Brahmanism strengthened with shaivism,vaishnavism, and shaktism.The other popular religions like buddhism lost its popularity and jainsim  continued to survive with less patronage.

Within brahmanism,shaivism became quite predominant  with the formation of different shaiva sects like pasupathas,kalamukhas,kapalikas and veerashaivas.The pasupatha sect was founded by Nakulin and was the earliest saiva sect.The kalamukha sect was founded by kalasana,the disciplle of nakulisa.The kapalikas worshipped shakti and shiva.They indulged in uncivilized practices like eating food in skulls,cohabiting with deadbodies and followed panchamudras.

Srisailam,tripuranthakam,alampuram and mahanandi were the main centres for the shaiva sects.

Towards the end of chalukyan era,we find vaishnavism being promoted by Ramanujacharya      with his philosophy of visishtadvaita.The communal clashes between shaivites and vaishnavites started during this preiod when kulottunga chola excommunicated Ramanujacharya from his native place sriperumbudur for preaching vaishnavism.

As a religion,brahmansim experienced great changes:

1] The concept of panchayatana started bt Adishankaracharya assumed great importance,Under the concept,the five dieties shiva,vishnu,surya,shakti and ganesha were worshipped together.This was an attempt on the part   of adishankara to unite different sects within brahmanism into one common religion.

2]Temples became centres of socio-religious and economic activity .The monasteries attached to the temples called mattas came to shelter the sanyasis who inturn promoted religion of brahmanism.

3]The practice of taking out god and goddess out for a procession started.Festive gatherings called Jataras also started.This was testified by Bezawada yuddhamalla's inscriptions which mention about Mahasena's Jatara and Chejerla in guntur district.

4] Worshipping kanyaka parameswari as the goddess of chastity and prosperity started as a practice in the vaishya community.

5] The devadasi system under which dancing girls were attached to temples also appeared for the 1st time.

6] Jainism received relatively less patronage.Ayyana mahadevi,wife of kubja visgnuvardhana,constructed the nidumbavasadi at bezawada  and the king vimaladitya followed jainism.Like brahmanism,jainsim also experienced  formation of different sects like pustaka gaccha,nandi gacha,and mesha pashana gaccha.In the history of andhras,it was the last stage where jainsim was patronized.