Successors of the Satavahanas
GAUTAMIPUTRA SRI YAJNA SATAKARNI, who probably ruled towards the close of the second century AD, was the last great king of his house. After his death, the Satavahana empire began to fall to pieces. The Nasik region in Maharashtra seems to have been lost to the Abhira king Isvarasena. The Vakatakas rose to power in Berar and some adjoining tracts. 
The Western Kanarese districts fell into the hands of a line of Satakarnis who received the epithet of Chutukulananda and are sometimes referred to as Chutu-Sata-karnis to distinguish them from the Satavahana Satakarnis of the Imperial line. They hadsatkarni coin their capital at the famous city of Vaijayantipura or Banavasi in north Kanara. The old imperial line continued to rule for some time longer in the Andhra country at the mouth of the Krishna till they were supplanted by the Ikshvakus, the rulers belonging to the Ananda gotra, the Brihatphalayanas, and the Salankayanas, who were succeeded by the Vishnukundins. The Salankayanas already ruled as petty chieftains as early as the second century AD. They must have asserted their independence shortly after the fall of the Imperial Satavahanas. They came into conflict with the northern emperor Samudra Gupta in the fourth century AD. Meanwhile another power had arisen in the far south of India with its capital at Kanchi, modern Conjeeveram near Madras, but exercising control over some of the Kanarese districts and the southern part of the Andhra country at the mouth of the river Krishna. This was the Pallava power. At the time of the famous raid of Samudra Gupta, the most important dynasties in trans-Vindhyan India were the Vakatakas of the Upper Deccan and the Pallavas of Kanchi. The Gupta conqueror does not appear to have come into direct contact with the Vakatakas. He vanquished, however, a chief named Vyaghradeva, who may have been identical with a Vakataka feudatory named Vyaghradeva. Chandra Gupta II, the son and successor of Samudra Gupta, on the other hand, established direct relations with his Vakataka neighbours and gave his daughter Prabhavati in marriage to their king Rudrasena II. The Vakatakas in their turn were linked by matrimonial alliances with several dynasties beyond the Godavari. The descendants of Rudrasena II and Prabhavati continued to rule in the Deccan for several generations till the rise of the Vishnukundins and their rivals and contemporaries, the Chalukyas of Vatapi and the Katachchuris or Kalachuris of Nasik and Malwa.
The Great Pallavas
To the south of the Vakatakas lay the realm of the Pallavas of Kanchi, one of whose early kings, Vishnugopa, was captured and then liberated by Samudra Gupta about the middle of the fourth century AD. The name Vishnugopa was borne by several members of the Pallava dynasty, and it is not known in what relationship the contemporary of Samudra Gupta stood to the famous Sivaskandavarman who is mentioned in the early Prakrit records of the family as a “righteous king of great kings” and the performer of the horse-sacrifice. Inscriptions mention the names of several later Pallava monarchs whose dominions embraced not only Kanchi but considerable parts of the Telugu and Kanarese districts. The suzerainty of some of them was acknowledged by the early Gangas of eastern and southern Mysore and the early Kadambas who supplanted the Chutu-Satakarnis of Vaijayanti. We learn from the Lokavibhaga that one of the Pallava kings who bore the name of Simhavarman ascended the throne in AD. 436.
The history of the family becomes more definite from the time of Simhavishnu, who must have come to the throne in the latter half of the sixth century AD. This king is credited with having seized the country of the Cholas and vanquished all his southern neighbours, including the ruler of Ceylon. The conquest of Ceylon is also mentioned as an achievement of his grandson Narasimhavarman. Simhavishnu was a Vaishnava, and magnificent reliefs representing the king and two of his consorts have been discovered in the Varaha cave at Mamallapuram.
The successor of Simhavishnu was his son, Mahendravarman 1, whose reign saw the beginning of the great struggle between the Pallavas and their northern enemies the Chalukyas of Vatapi for the mastery of Southern India. The struggle was continued for several generations. The Chalukya king Pulakesin II, is said to have caused the splendour of the Pallava lords to be obscured by the dust of his army and to vanish behind the walls of Kanchipura. On the other hand, Narasimhavarman I, son and successor of Mahendravarman, is said to have vanquished Pulakesin in many battles and stormed his capital, Vatapi. The struggle was renewed by Vikramaditya I, son of Pulakesin II, who claims to have caused the destruction of the family of Narasimha and captured the city of Kanchi. The Pallava records, however, inform us that the Chalukya attack was finally repulsed. Undaunted by their failures, the Chalukyas once more overran the Pallava dominions under the leadership of Vikramaditya II, great-grandson of Vikramaditya I,
in the first half of the eighth century AD. They routed King Nandivarman Pallavamalla and took the city of Kanchi. The Pallavas were now threatened by enemies from the south as well as the north. The Pallava advanced up to the banks of the Kaveri and engaged in deadly conflicts with the decadent empire of Kanchi. The coup de grace was given by Aditya Chola who defeated Aparajita Pallava and took possession of his kingdom towards the and of the ninth century AD.
The epoch of the Pallavas of Kanchi is memorable in the political and cultural history of India. They built up the first great empire south of the Penner and the Tungabhadra, and carried their arms as far as Ceylon. Many of the Vaishnava Alvars and the Saiva Nayanars (saints) flourished during their rule.
The Early Chalukyas
The Chalukyas, sworn enemies of the Pallavas of Kanchi, rose to power in Karnata or the Kanarese-speaking country in the sixth century AD, and had their first capital at Vatapi, modern Badami in the Bijapur district of the Bombay Presidency. Like the Chutu-Satakarnis and the Kadambas of Vaijayanti, they are represented as belonging to the Manavya gotra and being Haritiputras. In later times they claimed descent from the lunar race. Certain inscriptions of a branch of the family refer their origin to Ayodhya and one tradition connects the dynastic name with Brahmadeva’s Chuluka or hand hollowed out for the reception of water. Some writers believe that the Chalukyas were in reality connected with the Chapas and the foreign Gurjara tribes of the north, but there is very little to be said in support of this conjecture. Inscriptions distinguish between Chalukyas and Gurjaras, and the characteristic nomenclature of the line is distinctly southern.
The real founder of the dynasty of Vatapi was Pulakesin I, who signalised his accession to power by the performance of the horse-sacrifice. His sons, Kirtivarman I and Mangalesa, extended the empire in all directions and vanquished the neighbouring rulers, including the Mauryas of the Konkan, the Kadambas of Vaijayanti and the Kalachuris of northern Maharashtra and Malwa. The Kadamba capital was finally reduced by Pulakesin II, son of Kirtivarman, the most famous king of the line. In the course of a long reign extending from about AD 609 to 642, Pulakesin II not only consolidated his authority in Maharashtra but overran nearly the whole of the Deccan from the banks of the Nerbudda to the region beyond the Kaveri, thus reviving the memory of the glorious days of Gautamiputra Satakarni. He repulsed an attack by Harsha of Kanauj and claims to have humbled the pride of Mahendravarman of Kanchi. He annexed Pishtapura in the Godavari district, the government of which was entrusted to his younger brother, Kubja Vishnuvardhana. Hiuen Tsang, who visited his kingdom about AD 641, bears testimony to the fear inspired by the king and the stern vindictive character of his people. According to some authorities, he interchanged letters and presents with the king of Persia, but the matter is not free from doubt. The last days of the king were not happy. The Pallava king, Narasimhhavarman I, son and successor of Mahendravarman I, retrieved the disasters of his father’s reign, inflicting crushing defeats on Pulakesin and destroying his capital, Vatapi.
The Chalukya power was revived by Vikramaditya 1, son of Pulakesin II, who renewed the struggle against his southern enemies. His exploits were emulated and even surpassed by his great-grandson, Vikramaditya II, who actually entered the Pallava capital. A feudatory Chalukya chieftain, belonging to a junior branch of the royal line stationed in South Gujarat, distinguished himself in a struggle with the formidable Tajikas, who are identified with the Arabs of Sind. In or about 753, the son and successor of Vikramaditya 11 was overthrown by a chief named Dantidurga who laid the foundation of the next great empire of Karnata and Maharashtra, that of the Rashtrakutas.
