Chandraditya (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Candrāditya, r. c. 646-649 CE) was a king of the

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

dynasty of

Vatapi Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from CE 540 to 757. It is famous for its rock cut monuments ...

that ruled in the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

region of south India. His father

Pulakeshin II Pulakeshin II (IAST: Pulakeśin, r. c. 610–642 CE) was the most famous ruler of the Chalukya dynasty of Vatapi (present-day Badami in Karnataka, India). During his reign, the Chalukya kingdom expanded to cover most of the Deccan region in p ...

was a powerful emperor, who was defeated and most probably killed during a

Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as fe ...

invasion. Chandraditya was probably among the kings who held the weakened throne for a brief period after Pulakeshin's death, having been preceded by his brother Adityavarman, and Adityavarman's son

Abhinavaditya Abhinavaditya (r. c. 645–646 CE) was a king of the Chalukya dynasty of Vatapi in southern India. He appears to have succeeded his father Adityavarman on the weakened Chalukya throne, in the period following the death of his grandfather Pula ...

. After his death, his wife

Vijaya-Bhattarika Vijaya-Bhattarika (r. c. 650-655 CE) was a member of the Chalukya royal family of Deccan region in southern India. She is known from her Nerur and Kochre grant inscriptions, which call her Vijaya-Bhattarika and Vijaya-Mahadevi respectively. Vi ...

appears to have ruled as a regent on behalf of their minor son. During this period, his brother

Vikramaditya I Vikramaditya I (655–680 CE) was the third son and followed his father, Pulakeshi II on to the Chalukya throne. He restored order in the fractured kingdom and made the Pallavas retreat from the capital Vatapi. Vikramaditya inherited the trad ...

, who later ascended the throne, seems to have restored the Chalukya power as the supreme commander of the Chalukya army.

Sources of information

Chandraditya is known from the Nerur and Kochre (or Kochri) grant inscriptions of his wife Vijaya-Bhattarika (alias Vijaya-Mahadevi). He also finds a mention in the

Kuknur Kuknoor (also known as Kuknur, Kukkanur or Kukanoor) is a town in Kukanoor taluk in the Koppal District of the Indian state of Karnataka, which is located about 40 km northwest of Hospet and 7 km from the Mahadeva Temple in Itagi. Kuk ...

inscription of his younger brother

Political status

Chandraditya was one of the sons of the powerful Chalukya king

, who was defeated and probably killed during the

invasion of the Chalukya capital

around c. 642 CE. The Chalukya power was restored by Pulakeshin's son

around c. 655 CE, and the Chalukya history during the intervening period is uncertain: it is possible that after Pulakeshin's death, his son Adityavarman held the throne, followed by Adityavarman's son Abhinavaditya. The Kuknur inscription of Vikramaditya accords Chandraditya the title ''Bhattaraka''. The royal genealogy section of the Nerur inscription introduces Chandraditya's younger brother Vikramaditya I after his father

, describing Vikramaditya as the restorer of the Chalukya rule. Therefore, scholars such as

J. F. Fleet John Faithfull Fleet C.I.E (1847 – 21 February 1917) was an English civil servant with the Indian Civil Service and became known as a historian, epigraphist and linguist. His research in Indian epigraphy and history, conducted in India over ...

and

D. C. Sircar Dineshchandra Sircar (1907–1985), also known as D. C. Sircar or D. C. Sarkar, was an epigraphist, historian, numismatist and folklorist, known particularly in India and Bangladesh for his work deciphering inscriptions. He was the Chief Ep ...

theorize that Chandraditya was a feudatory ruler. Other scholars, such as D. P. Dikshit, theorize that Chandraditya held the throne after Abhinavaditya, during c. 646-649 CE, based on the following points: * The Nerur and Kochre inscriptions of Chandraditya's wife Vijaya-Bhattarika accord him the imperial titles '' Shri-prithvi-vallabha'' ("beloved of the goddess of wealth and the earth"), ''Parameshvara'' ("supreme lord"), and ''Maharajadhiraja'' ("king of great kings"). * The inscriptions accord Vijaya-Bhattarika the titles of a chief queen: ''Mahishi'', ''Bhattarika'', and ''Mahadevi''. * The inscriptions describe Vikramaditya as the younger brother of Chandraditya and the "dear son" of Pulakeshin, and as the person who restored Chalukya power by defeating hostile kings. However, they do not accord any royal title to Vikramaditya. The inscriptions are dated in the regnal years of Vijaya-Bhattarika, which suggests that Chandraditya was dead when these grants were issued. According to one theory, his wife was ruling as a regent on behalf of their minor son at this time. It is possible that Vikramaditya rose to prominence during this period, and became the de facto ruler, after having restored the dynasty's power as the supreme commander of the Chalukya army. Later, he formally ascended the Chalukya throne, possibly after the son of Chandraditya and Vijaya died (naturally or otherwise).

References

Bibliography

* * {{ref end Early Chalukyas