The Deccan domination: A new book dives into the rich history of the Chalukya dynasty
The Hindu
The Chalukya emperors and their successors reigned over the vast Deccan plateau for nearly 500 years. But very little is known about them
“There is not, was not, nor will ever be a city on this Earth like Kalyana,” proclaimed Vijnaneshvara, a renowned Deccan scholar, in the late 11th century. He was referring to the vast metropolis where he dwelt: a place of grand political tumult; of marvellous cultural production in Sanskrit and old Kannada; of trade with the farthest corners of the world. It was studded with markets and temples and palaces built by generations of kings — members of a dynasty known as the Chalukyas.
For nearly 500 years, Kalyana, located today in Karnataka’s Bidar district, cast a shadow over the Deccan, a landmass nearly the size of Germany and many times more populous. Today, most Indians would be hard-pressed to point to this once great metropolis on a map.
The history of Kalyana, its Chalukya rulers, and their empire — like those of so many cities, dynasties and polities in the history of the Indian subcontinent — has been forgotten. Asking why this has happened tells us a great deal about who and what we choose to remember, and may offer us a way to do a little more justice to our vast, multicentric, and morally complex past.