Introduction
He is pride of karnataka , he is not only greatest ruler of the Chalukya dynasty but also he expanded his empire till gujarat by defeating northern kings including king harshvardhan
Yes i was was talking about Immadi Pulikeshi who is one of the greatest emperor in indian history
After defeating harshvardhan in battle , pulikeshi had choice of capturing whole north india, but he decides not to capture
But question pops in everyone’s mind
What stopped pulikeshi by capture north india even after winning battle with king harshavardhana ?
Who is this Immadi Pulikeshi and why he is so great among chalukya dynasty ?
For next 2 minutes im going to tell you , interesting facts of Immadi Pulikeshi who expanded his empire from karnataka to gujarat , stay tuned and read full article
- Lets start from the end of 5th century CE where pulakeshi was born to the king Kirttivarman I who was ruler of the Chalukya dynasty
- By the time of his birth, kirttivarman 1 was ruling chalukya empire which is parts of todays Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh and not to forget badami was capital city of chalukya empire
- Pulakeshi was raised in guidance of his grandmother where she taught him self defending skills ,war skills , sword fight and many different skills which emperor needed
- At the time of his fathers death, pulakeshi was to young to rule empire and it was his uncle Mangalesha who claimed throne of chalukya in place of pulikeshi and later mangalesha decides to kill pulikeshi on the hunger of ruling chalukya empire
- It was in year 610CE where pulakeshi fights battle near anantapur fort with his uncle mangalesha , where he not just defeated him but also killed him in battle and becomes new king of chalukya empire
- After death of Mangalesha, Pulakeshi faced many opposition with those people who were loyal to Mangalesha and also with those who wanted to take advantage of chalukyas throne ,
- it was Mangalesha loyal’s , Appayika and Govinda who captured parts of chalukya territory , where pulakeshi wage war and defeated them near Bhima river
- Later he decides to expand his empire , where he captured by waging war on Banavasi of Kadambas, Gangas of Talakad, Alupas and not to forget they allianced with pulikeshi after battle
- at the time Mahendraverman was ruling kanchi who was pallava king and southern neighbours of chalukya and it was pulakesh who decides to capture southern part of india and wage war on pallavas
- Pallavas and chalukya fought many small battles and It was in battle near Pallalura where chalukyas defeated pallavas army and captured much part of territory except kanchi
- After defeating southern neighbours , pulakeshi eyes for Malavas and Gurjaras who were northern neighbours of chalukya and expands his empire from karnataka to gujarat by defeating them And for kingdom development he decides to crown his brother as new king of Vengi
- Everything was fine until , harshavardana eyed to capture chalukya ,Yes i was talking about india's one of the greatest king who ruled north part of india till narmada river and not to forget harshvardhan become king at the age of 16
- Harshvardan’s army was bigger than pulakeshi’s army ,and it was in battle near narmada riverbank where everyone thought ,harshavardhana would win easily on pulikeshi but with different war strategies , pulakeshi was defeating harshavardhana
- it was harshavardhana who got to know that his military was losing in front of pulakesh army and decides to withdraw battle on agreement
- In agreement , harshvardhan told that he will never attack south india and gave a glorifying name to pulakeshi as great king of south
- without any ego pulakeshi accepted harshvardan’s agreement with respect and not to forget pulakeshi attacked harshavardan to defend his empire ,
- Suppose if pulakeshi rejected his agreement , then chalukya’s empire would have spread across india easily making largest empire in india
- Chinese traveller Xuanzang mentioned in a book about pulakeshi’s army and his war elephants and in same book he also mentions that , war elephants were fed with alcoholic food to kill enemy fearlessly
- As time passes , his sons started to fight for kingdom and it was in year 642CE pallava’s king Narasimha-varman I attacks on chalukyas , where his son’s joins hands with enemy on the hunger of kingdom
- it was his 3rd son Vikramaditya I who left chalukyas capital badmi where Narasimha-varman I attacks on badami , but it was pulakeshi who want to save chalukyas capital and decides to defend pallavas
- With expanding empire to building temples pulakeshi ruled chalukya empire for almost golden 33 years And it was in year 642 CE where pulakeshi was killed by Narasimha-varman I in battle ground of badami
- For almost 13 year badami was under the rule of pallavas , and it was his 3rd son Vikramaditya I who recaptured badami and re establish chalukyas empire
- Even today we can see marvelous architecture of chalukyas who ruled large parts of southern and central India between 6th to 12th century
Thats the end of short and simplified story of south india king and pride of karnataka pulakeshi
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