Ruling large sections of southern and central India, the Chalukya dynasty reigned during the 6th and 12th centuries. During this phase, they reigned as three intimately associated but individual dynasties. Pulakeshin I, a petty chieftain of Pattadakal in the Bijapur district of Karnataka, began his reign in AD 543 when he fortified Varapi (modern Badami). He also sized control of the territory between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra rivers and the western Ghats. After military successes further north, his son Kirtivarman I secured the valuable Konkan coast. Pulakeshin II acquired partscof Gujarat and malwa and defied Harsha, the north Indian ruler of Kannauj. later Pulakeshin captured the kingdom of Vengi from the Vishnukundins and gave it to his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana. This marks the beginning of the eastern Chalukya dynasty.

The Chalukya`s of Badami were the ones who ruled from their capital Badami during the middle of the 6th century. Soon after the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi declined and swiftly ascended to fame during the reign of Pulakesi II, the Badami Chalukyas instigates to emphasize on their sovereignty. Subsequent to the demise of Pulakesi II, the Eastern Chalukyas turned into an autonomous empire in the eastern Deccan. They feinted from the resources Vengi until the 11th century. In the western Deccan, the augment of the Rashtrakutas in the middle of 8th century obscured the Chalukyas of Badami prior to the revival by their descendants, the Western Chalukyas in late 10th century. These Western Chalukyas lined from Basavakalyan until the conclusion of the 12th century.

The rise of the Chalukyas symbols a golden age in the history of Karnataka and a significant landmark in the account of South India. With the rise of the Chalukyas of Badami, the political ambiance in South India altered from smaller empires to large empires. History marked the first instance when a South Indian realm undertook the charge of and fused the whole expanse flanked by the Kaveri and the Narmada rivers. The rise of the monarchy, carried with it efficient administration, the expansion of new fangled style of architecture termed as Vesara and the ascend in overseas trade and commerce. The 9th century also witnesses the augmentation of Kannada as a language of literature in the Jaina Puranas, Veerashaiva Vachanas and Brahminical traditions. The 11th century observed the origin of Telugu literature under the support of the Eastern Chalukyas.

Origin of Chalukyas
Although estimations diverge concerning the genesis of the Chalukyas, the accord is held that they were the natives of Karnataka constituency. A varying case is that the Chalukyas were descendants of the "Seleukia" tribe of Iraq and that their divergence with the Pallavas of Kanchi was a prolongation of the clash amid prehistoric Seleukia and "Parthians", the anticipated ancestors of Pallavas. However, this theory has been cordoned off as it seeks to construct ancestry based on analogous sounding tribe names.

A third theory establishes that they were the descendants of a ruler called Kandachaliki Remmanaka, a feudatory of the Andhra Ikshvaku (from an Ikshvaku inscription of 2nd century) was put forward, but has failed to clarify the disparity in ancestry. The Kandachaliki feudatory call themselves Vashisthiputras of the Hiranyakagotra where as Chalukyan writings attend to themselves as Harithiputras of Manavyasagotra, which is incidentally identical to their early overlords, the Kadambas of Banavasi. This makes them descendants of the Kadambas. The Chalukyas also took charge of of the province previously ruled by the Kadambas.

An additional evidence of Eastern Chalukyas matches the northern foundation theory and asserts that one ruler of Ayodhya came south, overpowered the Pallavas and married a Pallava princess. Her child called Vijayaditya is claimed to be the Pulakesi I`s father. However, there exists an inscriptional evidence that the father of Pulakesi I was Ranaranga. While many historians have dismissed the northern derivation theory, it is recommended that a southern immigration is a distinct possibility, requiring assessment.

The absolute deficiency of any allusion to their family connections to Ayodhya in the Badami Chalukya inscriptions and their successive Kannadiga personality is considered due to their former migration into present day Karnataka region where they achieved success as chiefs and kings. Hence, the ancestor`s place of origin may have not been of any implication to the kings of the Badami Chalukya Empire who may have measured themselves inhabitants of the Kannada speaking region. A controversy regarding the caste to which the former Chalukyas belonged had also cropped up.

Substantiation in the inscriptions of 12th century Kashmiri poet Bilhana implies that the Chalukya family belonged to the Shudra caste while other sources assert that they belonged to the Kshatriya caste. The Chalukya inscriptions are in Kannada and Sanskrit. Their inscriptions call them Karnatas and their names use aboriginal Kannada titles such as Priyagallam and Noduttagelvom. The names of some Chalukya kings end with the pure Kannada term arasa (meaning "king" or "chief"). The Rashtrakuta inscriptions articulate about the Chalukyas of Badami as Karnataka Bala (Power of Karnataka). Intellectuals have projected that the word Chalukya originated from Salki or Chalki, a Kannada word for an agricultural implement.

History of Chalukya Dynasty
Inscriptions are the core source of information leading to the history of the Chalukyas of Badami. Significant amid them are the Badami cave inscriptions (578) of Mangalesa, Kappe Arabhatta record of 700, Peddavaduguru writing of Pulakesi II, the Kanchi Kailasanatha inscription and Pattadakal Virupaksha Temple inscriptions of Vikramaditya II all in Kannada provide more evidence of the Chalukya language. The most primitive inscription of the Badami cliff dated 543 of Pulakesi I, the Mahakuta Pillar inscription (595) of Mangalesa and the Aihole inscription dated 634 of Pulakesi II are instances of Sanskrit inscriptions written in old Kannada script.

The supremacy of the Chalukyas witnessed the influx of Kannada as the principal language of inscriptions along with Sanskrit, in regions of the Indian peninsula exterior to what is known as Tamilaham (Tamil country). Numerous coins of the early Chalukyas with Kannada legends have been discovered demonstrating practice of Kannada at the uppermost administrative levels. Inscriptions of the Chalukyas have been translated and recorded by historians of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Legends of Chalukya Dynasty
Vidyapati Bilhana, the renowned poet in the court of Vikramaditya VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty of Kalyana, refers to a legend in his work, Vikramankadeva Charita. Indra once appealed to Brahma to craft a hero who would put a stop to Godlessness in the world and castigate the iniquitous. Supportive to his appeal, Brahma looked into his Chuluka (hollow of the hands) while performing the Sandhya, and lo! A mighty warrior whirled. He was named "Chalukya" and he became the eponymous precursor of the line. Later emerged the two grand heroes, Harita and Manavya who raised the Chalukyas into discrete position. This story is frequent and convoluted in the Ramastipundi grant of Vimaladitya of the Eastern Chalukya family.

A further legend in the Handarike inscription of Vikramaditya VI asserts that the Chalukyas were born in the interior of the Chuluka (hollow of the palm) of the sage Haritipanchashikhi when he was pouring out libations to the Gods. The Chalukyas claimed to have been nursed by the Sapta Matrikas (the seven divine mothers). It was a popular practice to associate South Indian royal family ancestry to a Northern kingdom in ancient times. According to a Western Chalukya inscription of Vikramaditya VI, the Chalukyas formerly flagged down from Ayodhya where fifty-nine kings, and later sixteen more, of this family ruled from Dakshinapatha (South India) where they had voyaged.

Periods in Chalukya History
The Chalukyas lined over the central Indian plateau of Deccan for over 600 years. During this period, they ruled as three closely related, but individual dynasties. These are the Chalukyas of Badami, who lined between the 6th and the 8th century, and the two sibling dynasties of Chalukyas of Kalyani or the Western Chalukya Dynasty and the Chalukyas of Vengi or the Eastern Chalukya Dynasty.

Chalukyas of Kalyani
The Chalukyas invigorated their fortunes in 973 after over 200 years of dormancy when much of the Deccan was under the Rashtrakutas. While the popular theory is that the Kalyani Chalukyas belonged to the Badami Chalukya line, some historians indicating they may have been unrelated to the Early Chalukya family have raised objections. However, it has also been noticed that the Badami Chalukyas had titles like Satyashraya, which is also the name of a Kalyani Chalukya prince and that they used titles ending with Yuddamalla, Rajamalla which was seen commonly in other Chalukya families of the area. Irrespective of their exact origin, the reign of the Kalyani Chalukyas was a golden age in Kannada literature. Tailapa II, a Rashtrakuta feudatory ruling from Tardavadi-1000 (Bijapur district) overthrew Karka II and re-established the Chalukyan kingdom and recovered most of the Chalukya empire. This empire came to be known as the Western Chalukya dynasty or Later Chalukya dynasty.

The Western Chalukyas ruled for another 200 years and were in invariable clash with the Cholas and their cousins the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. Vikramaditya VI is widely considered the greatest ruler of the dynasty. His fifty-year reign is called Chalukya Vikrama Era. The Western Chalukyas went into their final dissolution c.1180 with the rise of the Hoysalas, Kakatiya and Seuna.

Chalukya Cholas
The Chalukya Chola dynasty reined the Chola Empire from 1070 C.E. until the downfall of the empire in the second half of the 13th century. The dynasty was a result of decades of alliances founded on marriages between the Cholas and the Eastern Chalukyas based in Vengi and formed some of the utmost Chola emperors such as Kulothunga Chola I. The scope of the Chola Empire during this period extended from the island of Lanka to Kalinga in the northeast. The Empire also encompassed vigorous political and trade contacts with the marine kingdoms of the Malayan archipelago and China.

Conflict between the Eastern and Western Chalukyas
Towards the last quarter of tenth century C.E., the Deccan in South India was ruled by two Chalukya dynasties, the Western Chalukyas based in Kalyani and the Eastern Chalukyas based in Vengi near the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The Eastern Chalukyan kingdom, founded by Kubja Vishnuvardhana, a brother of Pulakesin II, ruled the area between the Krishna River and the Venkata mountains north of Tondaimandalam from the 7th to the 11th century C.E. Tailapa II, the Chlaukyan king who revived the Western Chalukayan power bringing about the fall of the Rashtrakuta power in Western Deccan in 973 C.E. The relations between the Western and the Eastern Chalukyan kingdoms were mostly antagonistic.

The Eastern Chalukyan alliance with the Chola sovereign exhibited extensive consequences. The alliance destitute the monarch of Vengi of their eccentricity and sovereignty. Vengi ceased to be an autonomous kingdom and became a province of the Chola Empire. The configuration of the Chola-Chalukya alliance and the establishment of Chola pre-eminence over the entire coastal Telugu country disconcerted the political symmetry of the Southern Deccan and plunged the land into ceaseless dynastic warfares. The Chalukyas of Kalyani challenged the Chola ascendancy over the Telugu country, and Vengi into a theatre of a long war, which lasted, with few brief intervals, for the next 135 years.

The history of Vengi during this period is a history of this war; the Eastern Chalukyas, the rulers of the country retreat into the background, leaving the Cholas and the Kalyani Chalukyas to clash the field.

Chalukya Literature
The tenet of the Chalukyas is a key episode in the history of Kannada and Telugu languages. During this time, writing epic narratives and poetry in Sanskrit was very popular. However, during the 9th - 10th century, Kannada language had already seen some of its greatest writers. The three gems of Kannada literature, Adikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna belonged to this period. In the 11th century, Telugu literature came into being under the benefaction of the Eastern Chalukyas with Nannaya Bhatta as its first writer. Famous writers in Sanskrit from this period were Vijnaneshwara who accomplished renown by inscribing Mitakshara- a book on Hindu law. Somesvara III was a magnificent intellectual and king who amassed an encyclopedia of all arts and sciences called Manasollasa.

However no major Kannada literary work has been recovered from the period of the Badami Chalukya though countless works have been referenced in later centuries. The extant Kappe Arabhatta documentation of 700 in tripadi (three line) metre is considered the original work in Kannada poetics. The literary work Karnateshwara Katha, which was quoted later by Jayakirti, fit in to the period of Pulakesi II with the king himself as the hero. Other Kannada writers of this time were Syamakundacharya of 650 who wrote Prabhrita, the celebrated Srivaradhadeva also called Tumubuluracharya of 650 (who wrote Chudamani, a commentary on Tattvartha-mahashastra in 96,000 verses), King Durvinita, and others. The Aihole inscription (634) of Pulakesi II written by court poet Ravi Kirti in old Kannada script and Sanskrit language is considered as an excellent piece of poetry. In Sanskrit, a few stanzas of a poetess called Vijayanaka have been conserved.

The Chalukya era may be seen as the commencement in the synthesis of cultures of northern and southern India making way for the communication of thoughts amid the two regions. This is clear from an architectural point of view in that the Chalukyas generated the Vesara style of architecture, which comprises of elements of the northern nagara and southern dravida styles. The mounting Sanskriti culture fused in a province where local Dravidian vernaculars were popular. Dravidian languages maintain these influences even today. This influence also helped enrich literature in these languages.

The Hindu legal system owes much to the Sanskrit work Mitakshara by Vijnaneshwara in the court of Chalukya Vikramaditya VI. Perhaps the greatest work in legal literature, Mitakshara is a commentary on Yajnavalkya and is a treatise on law based on earlier writings and has found acceptance in most parts of India. An Englishman Colebrooke later translated into English the section on inheritance giving it currency in the British Indian court system. It was during the Chalukya rule that the Bhakti movement gained momentum in south India in the form of Ramanujacharya and Basavanna later spreading to north India.

An annual carnival entitled Chalukya utsava, a three-day festival of music and dance organized by the Government of Karnataka is conducted every year at Pattadakal, Badami and Aihole. The occasion is a celebration of the magnificent achievements of the Chalukyas in the realms of arts, crafts, music and dance. The program, which starts at Pattadakal and ends in Aihole is inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Singers, dancers, poets and other artists from all over the country take part in this event. In the February 26, 2006 celebration, 400 art troupes from diverse parts of the country had taken part. Colorful cut outs of the Varaha the Chalukya emblem, Satyasraya Pulakesi (Pulakesi II), prominent sculptural masterpieces like Durga, Mahishasura-mardhini (Durga killing demon Mahishasura) were seen everywhere.

The program at Pattadakal is named Anivaritacharigund vedike after the renowned architect of the Virupaksha temple, Gundan Anivaritachari. At Badami it is termed Chalukya Vijayambika Vedike while at Aihole, Ravikirti Vedike after the well-known poet and minister in the court of Pulakesi II. RaviKirti is the instigator of the Aihole inscription of 634, considered as a magnum opus in medieval Sanskrit poetry written in Kannada script.