Kulottunga I’s victory at Nangili

01The meykirti

Kulottunga’s inscriptions say that he defeated the Chalukya army at Nangili in the hill country, pursued it by way of Manalur to the banks of the Tungabhadra, and seized Gangamandalam and the land of the Kannadas. Chalukya records naturally tell it differently and claim victories for Vikramaditya. The frontier that resulted, with Gangavadi in Chola hands, lasted until the Hoysala Vishnuvardhana drove the Cholas from Talakad in 1116.

02The two great kings

Kulottunga I and Vikramaditya VI were rivals for half a century. Both came to power by setting aside a relative, both ruled for about fifty years, and their courts produced the Kalingattupparani in Tamil and the Vikramankadevacharita in Sanskrit, two of the great war poems of India. After Nangili the two empires largely left each other’s cores alone and fought over Vengi. Vikramaditya finally took Vengi in 1118, after Kulottunga’s death.

Person · Reigned 1076–1126 CEVikramaditya VIVikramaditya VI, Tribhuvanamalla, ruled the Western Chalukya empire from Kalyani for fifty years and started an era of his own, the Chalukya-Vikrama era, from his accession in 1076. His court gave India Bilhana’s Vikramankadevacharita and Vijnaneshvara’s Mitakshara, the commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti that still shapes Hindu family law.Read →