Vijayaditya

Vijayaditya
Chalukya king
ReignJuly 696[1] – 733
PredecessorVinayaditya
SuccessorVikramaditya II
IssueVikramaditya II
DynastyChalukyas of Vatapi
FatherVinayaditya

Vijayaditya (died 733) was the Chalukya emperor from July 696 until his death in 733. He succeeded his father, Vinayaditya on to the Chalukya throne. His long reign was marked by general peace and prosperity. Vijayaditya also built a number of temples. He fought against the Pallavas and extracted tributes from Paramesvaravarman II. The Alupas of South Canara who were loyal to the Chalukyas and led by Alupa Chitravahana, brother-in-law of Vijayaditya defeated a Pandyan invasion of Mangalore in 705. Vijayaditya was succeeded by his son Vikramaditya II in 733. Vijayaditya ruled for 18 years.[2]

Source of information and campaigns

Vijayaditya donated a village named Kadamma, located to the south of Purikaranagara, to Sankha-Jinendra (Neminatha) Jain Basadi at Lakshmeshwara, Gadag district in 730 CE.[3]

The Anesejjaya Jain basadi was built by "Kumkumamahadevi", the younger sister of the Chalukya king Vijayaditya.[4]

The Shiggaon plates inscription, dated Saka 630, regnal year 11, records Vijayaditya’s gifts to a Jain monastery at Puligere. Contemporary records indicate that Vijayaditya was a follower of Jainism. The inscription also refers to him with the title Bhaṭṭāraka, which in the Digambara Jain tradition denotes a senior religious authority overseeing prathimādhāri śrāvakas and lay followers.[5][6]

Epigraphist "K. V. Ramesh" notes that the title Bhaṭṭāraka (male) or Bhaṭṭārikā (female) is the highest monastic administrative rank among Digambara Jainism and denotes senior religious authority, not a designation for ordinary śrāvakas or laypersons. In the Digambara tradition, ordinary śrāvakas and prathimādhāris (those who maintain an image or follow daily devotion) practice the core religious duties, but only those who have taken advanced monastic or administrative responsibilities and strictly follow the dharma in its deepest sense are elevated to the rank of Bhaṭṭāraka or Bhaṭṭārikā.[7][8] During the reign of Vijayaditya, an inscription records that he visited Turamara Vishaya and intervened in a conflict between the governor of Turamara Vishaya and the lords of Polagai Cheruvu. The Bana feudatory Banaraja, described as Vikramaditya Bali Indra Kulatilaka, defeated the lords of Polagai Cheruvu on behalf of the Chalukya king.[9] M. S. Nagaraja Rao suggested that the conflict may have arisen from incursions by the Pallavas or their feudatories into Turamara Vishaya between c. 692 and 720 CE, in which case Banaraja's victory represented the repulse of the invading forces. He also noted that the conflict may alternatively have been a local civil war suppressed on behalf of Vijayaditya.[10] According to an interpretation published in the Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India, the Dharmasthala Plates of Vinayaditya refer to the recapture of Mangalapura (modern Mangalore) after its temporary occupation by a Pandya force. The author interprets the inscription as indicating that the city, which formed part of the Alupa territory allied to the Chalukyas of Badami, was recovered by the Alupa ruler Chitravahana with Chalukya support. The study further suggests that the event may correspond to an early Pandya invasion of the west coast and associates it with the reign of the Pandya ruler Kochchadaiyan.[11]

Historian Suryanath U. Kamath likewise notes that the Pandya ruler Kochchadaiyan is believed to have invaded the western coast and laid siege to Mangalore, but states that the Alupa ruler Chitravahana, the brother-in-law of the Chalukya king Vijayaditya, repulsed the invasion.[12]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami" (PDF). Retrieved 8 April 2026.
  2. ↑ Nath sen, Sailendra (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. Routledge. p. 395.
  3. ↑ Singh, Ram Bhushan Prasad (1974). Jainism in Early Medieval Karnataka. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 83. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  4. ↑ Singh, Ram Bhushan Prasad (1974). Jainism in Early Medieval Karnataka. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 27. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  5. ↑ Durga Prasad Dikshit 1980, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Ramesh, K. V., Chalukyas of Vatapi.
  7. ↑ Ramesh, K. V., Chalukyas of Vatapi.
  8. ↑ Bronkhorst, Johannes, The History of Jainism, Brill, 2020.
  9. ↑ Rao, M. S. Nagaraja (1978). The Chalukyas of Badami (Seminar Papers). pp. 98–99.
  10. ↑ Rao, M. S. Nagaraja (1978). The Chalukyas of Badami (Seminar Papers). pp. 98–99.
  11. ↑ "Dharmasthala Plates of Chalukya Vinayaditya". Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India. 21: 29. 1995.
  12. ↑ Kamath, Suryanath U. (1980). A Concise History of Karnataka. p. 69.

Sources


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