Kirtivarman I’s conquests

01Three enemies

Ravikirti’s Aihole prashasti of 634 sums up Kirtivarman in one line: he was the night of destruction to the Nalas, the Mauryas and the Kadambas, and though his mind was turned from the wives of others, it was drawn to the Lakshmi of his enemies. The Kadambas held Banavasi, the old capital of the western Deccan, and their fall gave the Chalukyas the rich lands of the upper Tungabhadra. The Nalas ruled in the Bastar region and the Mauryas held the Konkan coast.

02Builder of Vatapi

Kirtivarman is also remembered for Vatapi itself. His brother Mangalesha completed the great Vaishnava cave at Badami in 578, the third cave, with its seated Vishnu on Shesha and its Narasimha. The later Mahakuta pillar inscription credits Kirtivarman with conquests across all of India, from Vanga to Chola, which historians treat as court praise. The three conquests in the Aihole record are the ones that stand.

Dynasty · c. 345–540 CEKadamba dynasty of BanavasiMayurasharma, a brahmana student turned warrior after an insult at Kanchi, founded the first kingdom native to Karnataka. Under the Kadambas the Halmidi inscription, the oldest known in Kannada, was cut.Read →