FILLING HISTORY’S BLANK
Amajor problem with the conventional periodisation of Indian history is the assumption that it is possible to have a uniform periodisation and chronological framework for the entire Indian subcontinent. The standard textbook scheme is centred on developments mainly in the north Indian plains. However, the social formations of large parts of the Deccan and southern India have distinctive historical trajectories, as do those of the northeastern parts of the subcontinent. The period from 600 CE onwards saw the formation of several regional polities, such as those of the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Palas, Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cheras. Their emergence was a manifestation of changes at local and regional levels, which these polities incorporated, giving to them specific regional characteristics. Many of them acquired subcontinental dimensions, profoundly influencing historical developments far beyond their core areas.
During the past few decades, a rich historical scholarship has deepened our knowledge of regional polities of the early medieval era. Drawing on this scholarship and his own research, Anirudh Kanisetti has written an erudite popular history of the Vatapi Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas and Kalyani Chalukyas, successive ruling dynasties based in the Deccan, interspersed with accounts of the Pallavas, Eastern Chalukyas and Cholas, particularly when the paths of the latter three intersected with those of the former.
The Chalukyas initially appeared on the political horizon of the western Deccan in the latter half of the sixth century. Kanisetti describes in fascinating detail the transformation of the petty Chalke chieftains into powerful monarchs by the end of the century. By this time, Pulakeshin I, ‘founder’ of the dynasty, had assumed the title ‘Shri-PrithviVallabha’, had performed the sacred Ashwamedha sacrifice, thereby asserting the absolute sovereignty of the monarch, and had laid the foundations of the seat of the Chalukyas—Vatapi (Badami); and his successors had substantially enlarged the territories of the kingdom. At the beginning of the seventh century, Pulakeshin II, an exact contemporary of the great Harsha, was powerful enough to stop his southward march (circa 618 CE).
Meanwhile, the Pallavas were extending their territories in northern Tamil Nadu under another contemporary, Mahendra-Varman I. This brought the Pallavas to the Chalukyan southern frontier. Pulakeshin’s campaign against Mahendra-Varman, undertaken shortly after he had defeated Harsha, halted for the time being the northward expansion of the Pallavas, which was soon resumed under NarsimhaVarman, patron of the famous rock-cut temples at Mamallapuram. The Pallavas won this round; Pulakeshin was slain in battle (642), Vatapi was occupied and sacked, providing resources for the building project at Mamallapuram. Chalukyan power revived under one of Pulakeshin’s sons, Vikramaditya I, who in turn marched into Mamallapuram where he vandalised several sculptures.
The Rashtrakutas as successors of the Chalukyas carried forward their artistic traditions, and went on to build the spectacular Kailashanath temple at Ellora, marking the apogee of rock-cut architecture. The temple complex is the product of the cross-fertilisation of Pallavan and Deccan traditions. Kanisetti remarks that, ‘It is a tragedy that when one of southern India’s most extraordinary such confluences came together, we do not know the name of the person or persons who designed the greatest marvel of the time’. This efflorescence gave to the medieval Deccan its uniqueness. The book does much to highlight the historical significance of a region that does not figure prominently in the popular imagination of India’s medieval past. ■
ANIRUDH KANISETTI’S BOOK IS AN ERUDITE, POPULAR HISTORY OF SUCCESSIVE RULING DYNASTIES BASED IN THE DECCAN