Kubja Vishnuvardhana I "Vishama-Siddhi" also known as Bittarasa (reigned 624–641 AD) was the brother of

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 ...

Pulakeshin II. Vishnuvardhana I ruled the

Vengi Vengi (or Venginadu) is a delta region spread over the Krishna and Godavari River, (also called Godavari and Krishna districts), the region is also known as Godavari Delta, that used to house world famous diamond mines in the Medieval period. The ...

territories in eastern

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

as the viceroy under Pulakeshin II from around 615 AD. Eventually, Vishnuvardhana declared his independence and started the

Eastern Chalukya Eastern Chalukyas, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi, were a dynasty that ruled parts of South India between the 7th and 12th centuries. They started out as governors of the Chalukyas of Badami in the Deccan region. Subsequently, they became ...

dynasty (c. 624) AD. The Eastern Chalukyas ruled the Vengi kingdom for nearly five centuries and had a very close relationship with the imperial

Cholas The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE d ...

Origin of Eastern Chalukyas

Pulakeshin II (608–644), the greatest

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 ...

king, conquered the eastern

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 ...

, corresponding the coastal districts of

616, defeating the remnants of the

Vishnukundina The Vishnukundina dynasty (IAST: Viṣṇukundina) was an Indian dynasty based in Deccan, which ruled modern Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire. ...

kingdom. He appointed his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana as

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

. On the death of Pulakeshin II, the Vengi viceroyalty developed into an independent kingdom. Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi outlived the main Vatapi dynasty by many generations.

Possible reason for the partition

Scholars are not in agreement as to why Vishnuvardhana declared himself king of the eastern Deccan territories of Pulakeshin II. What was the necessity for the partition of Vengi as a separate kingdom from the Badami Chalukyan empire? Hitherto it has been tacitly assumed that this was a formal division and Pulakeshin II conferred independent sovereignty of Vengi on his younger brother. It is improbable that a great warrior like Pulakeshin II could not have administered Vengi as part of his kingdom and felt the need for a separate king. Kopparam plates make it clear that Kubja Vishnuvardhana was ruling only as a subordinate to his brother Pulakeshin II in the Vengi area. A revolution of Kubja Vishnuvardhana can be ruled out of account since he seems to have been very loyal and affectionate towards his brother. Das Kornel posits that Pulakeshin II sent his younger brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana as viceroy to the Vengi region. There, the latter was able to subdue the Vishnukundina King (possibly Janasraya Madhava Varman) and carve out a kingdom for himself. One possible reason could be the turn of events around middle of the 7th century in the Badami Chalukyan kingdom. The last few ruling years of Pulakeshin II ended in disaster. The great

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 ...

king

Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I was a emperor of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630 CE – 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mamallapuram. During his reign famo ...

, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Chalukyas and burnt Badami. Pulakeshin II lost his life in this encounter. There was a period of confusion following these events. The five sons of Pulakeshin fought among themselves and tried to divide the kingdom into independent kingdoms. Pulakeshin's third son

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 ...

became the Chalukya king c. 642 and eventually restored order after defeating his brothers.

Vishnuvardhana's reign

Vishnuvardhana ruled over a kingdom extending from

Nellore Nellore is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of the district, as well as Nellore mandal and Nellore revenue division. It is the List of cities in ...

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...

. He assumed the title of ''Vishamasiddhi'' (conqueror of difficulties). Vishnuvardhana participated in the wars between his brother Pulakeshin II and the Pallava Narasimhavarma I and probably lost his life in battle in 641. His son Jayasimha I succeeded him.

References

*{{cite book , author=Ganguly, Dhirendra Chandra , title=THE EASTERN CALUKYAS, url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.106160/page/n3/mode/2up?q=Bittarasa , year=1937 , publisher=Public Library of India * Durga Prasad, History of the Andhras up to 1565 A. D., P. G. Publishers,

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

(1988)
South Indian Inscriptions
* Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. (1955). A History of South India, OUP,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

(Reprinted 2002). 7th-century Indian monarchs Eastern Chalukyas