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Chalavadi Chalukyas
By
M. Nanjundaswami IPS
An etymological explanation to the genesis of the words Chalavadi, Chaluvadi, Chaluki, Chalukya and the names of the early Kings of the Karu Nadu
The honor and respect meted out to the Holeyas in some of the class one temples1 of Karnataka like Chaluva Narayana temple in Melukote and Chenna Kesava temple in Belur, even though limited for a few days and for some customary practices and celebrations during the annual festivals every year, appears to be the kind of respect and honor meted out to the kings. The kind of respect showed and genuinely honor exhibited to the scion of erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore Kingdom during the annual festival of Dasara in the city of Mysore is quite similar to the honor and reverence attached to the Holeya chiefs in all most all the temples of Karnataka where the village deity is worshiped and taken out in procession during the special puja and the annual offerings done. It would be difficult to prove that somebody other than a Holeya founded these practices sometime on his own in all the disconnected temples throughout the country, if those temples have not been constructed by the Holeyas and if those customs and practices have not been started by the Holeyas. The people who accepted and adopted the culture, language, religion, customs and practices of the Holeyas who held the helm of the affairs of the state as the rulers, land owners and administers looked down upon the Holeyas once they begun to lose the land, status in the society and personal wealth because of series of wars and excessive land grants to the non-agricultural communities that lived upon the sweat of brothers of the Holeyas and exploited them and paid nothing in return to the exchequers of the Holeya kings2. Those land grantees who waited for the arrival of the Holeyas to the temple were the same people who had the greatest other benefits of the free dole outs from the then land lords; Holeyas3. The Holeyas slowly and steadily had begun avoiding the temples as they were unable to go to the temples with the vigor, glamour and grandeur with which they proceeded to the temples earlier and finally stopped going to the temples and gave away the administration of the temples too to the others as they were unable to continue the rituals that involved huge expenditure from their side. The custom of inviting them to the temple and honoring them has begun during the period of the administrative set up that has vanished but the custom of inviting the Holeyas to the temples is continuously practiced every year4.
There is a custom in the Bagala Kote town in the northern Karnataka whereby which the erstwhile rulers of the area belonging to the Desai family go in a royal procession to the house of the Holeya chief in the quarter where all the Holeyas of the town live to receive the fire required to burn the Kama during the Holi festival. The scion of the Desai family offers fruits, silk clothes and money in a plate with respect and garlands the chief of the Holeyas who gives them fire and the chief would in turn honors the Desai too. I witnessed the ceremony in the year 2000 and 2001 in my capacity as the Assistant Superintendent of Police of the Bagala Kote sub-division. Some elders of the family of the Holeyas tell that they were the rulers of the country (Nadu) and now they are called Chalavadis and earlier the people called them Chalukyas. We can agree these words of the Holeyas called Chalavadis (Chaluvadis) and prove their claim with the help of several evidences.
In this regard please see the ‘Badami Chalukyas’ published by Kannada University, Hampi5. Read, Chapter-5, what is the meaning of Polekesi (Pulakesi, Pulikesi)? – Written by- N. Laxmi Narayana Rao, page no. 82. “Dr. Fleet says that Pōlekesi may be the original form as the earliest epigraph of the dynasty (Chālukya) records Pōlekesi6. The pioneer in the field of the epigraphic studies, Dr. Kiel Horn too used the same form of the name. In my opinion the first form of the name Pōlekesi is formed by the combination of two pure Kannada words Pōle7 and Kēsi. The word Pōle means Hōlemane; agricultural family. The word Kēsi8 is a short form of the word Kēsava9. This word is found in the same form in the Kannada literature too. It is noteworthy here that the author of the ‘Shabdhamani Darpana’ has noted his name in the both forms as Kēsi and Kēsava.”
Please, refer the same book, Chapter-6, Chalukya-Pulakesi; etymological analysis. It is written by Hampa Nagarajaiah. I have given below his views.
The Chalukyas belong to the pure Kannada royal family. A plenty of discussions have happened about their origin and their name. I have different stand in comparison to the stand taken by the historians. I don’t intend to add up to the long list of the etymological analysis done so far by the plenty of scholars. There is a further scope to explain the meaning of the word Chalukya based on the linguistics, social, geographical and cultural backgrounds. There are some ancient forms of the word Chalukya in the epigraphs. I have listed them below.
1. Chalkya : Badami inscriptions : 578 AD 2. Chalikya : Mahakuta pillar inscription : 602 AD 3. Chalikya : Mangalesh’s inscription : 7th century 4. Chalukya : Aihole inscription of Pulakesi II : 634 AD 5. Chaluki : SII XVII, 27 634 AD 6. Saluki : SII XI-I 14, 872 AD We can analyze here the cognate words here. Chavulu, Navula; Brackishness, Tamilu, Chavudu, Telugu, Chavudu and Choudu. Chavuluppu – impure soda, soda-saltpeter. Chavulu Mannu – fuller’s earth, earth impregnated with carbonate soda. Jalnela, Javulu nela, Oosha kshaaramrittiike, Chaliya –the state of growing of muddy Tamil-Malayalam word chali – to grow putrid, mud, mire Kesaru – wet soil, mud, mire Tamil- Malayalam; chali, suli, chaduku, jiruku.
Salike10, salāke, Sanskrit-Shalake, iron rod, an agricultural implement
An overall observation of these words would reveal that the words Javalu, Chaliya and Chavulu have originated from a single root. All these words are related to the soil. We can consider the salike, salake and chalukya-saluki are cognates. The ancestors of the Chalukyas were the children of the soil, they were the agricultural plow men; Holeyas. They earned the fiefdom and grew up to become the royal family of the Nadu; country. The important name of the dynasty, Polakesin, helps us in deciding the family as an agricultural family.
The name Polakesin occurs in SII. XX. 4. 683, in Lakshmeshwara (erstwhile Dharwad, present day Gadag district, Shirahatti taluk): SII 5.723: 5.723: SII 6.730: SII7735: SII XI. 136. 1091 in Alur (the present Gadag district, Mundaragi taluk).
The words Pōla(n) and Kēsin have come from the pre-Dravidian and Hala-Gannada. Pōla(Hōla)+Kēsin (Chēsin; one who does) = Pōlakēsin. In Telugu the verb Chēsina means done, Chēsinavāru means those who have done. Kēsin-Chēsin are early forms in the Dravidian tongues with palatalisation. Such several forms found, for example: Kēra-Chēra; a kind of soil, Kēy-Chay; do, Kedaru-Chedar; spread, Geddalu-Chedal; white ant, Kere-Cherevu; lake, pond. The k becomes ch in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam when eE-aA attached as front vowels. It won’t change when non-front vowels a, u and o attached. In Kannada and Tulu it would be k and remains intact irrespective of the vowel attached. For example in Kannada, kiri, key, kēru, kedaru – for these words in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam we find chiri, chey – chēta, chēta, chēruka – cherugu, chedaru as equivalents11. In a seventh century Telugu epigraph we have kēsiri in the Panikēsiri (Panichēsiri).
Polakēsin means one who does land; one who manages land; one who tends land. Okkaltanam keyvon (IA. XIX 690AD, Balligave inscription, page 144-45); it means one who tends land. The agriculturists among the Malavas use the words like hōla mādikondiddāane; he tends land, hōlakeykōndiddane; he tends land hōlageyyi; work in the land.
There are a plenty of inscriptions in Kannada that mention men and women with names similar to Pōlakēsin (one who tends or manages land; Holeya).
1. There was a king called Polaveera (Lord or Hero of land; Holeya) among the Ganga Kings. He was one of the sons of the Durveeneeta (495-535AD); the other son was named Mushkara. The Polaveera King granted Palachchoge village (EC. IX (1990) 537 AD, sixth century, Tagare village inscription, Hasan district, Belur taluk, page no. 472). 2. Pollabbe (mother of land, goddess of land) of NaguLas built the Basadi; a jain shrine (SII. XVIII, 315, 859-60, Ranibennur, Haveri district page no. 420). 3. Pratāpashāliyumappa hollagā(vunda)na guna prbhāvam (the influence of the powerful chief of Holla (Holeya or Poleya) village). (B. K. No. 108 of 1926; BK. 51, 1155) 4. There is an evidence of a Polaveera of Nolambas for having attacked the king Pruthvipati Didiga of Ganga dynasty. A brief synopsis of the ongoing discussion: 1. Chālukyas belonged to the Chalukya (agricultural Holeya) dynasty. They are named by different names like Chaluki, Saluki, Chalukya, Chalikya and Chalkya. We can equate these words with salike; an instrument used to dig and lift up the soil, a pick axe, hoe. Salake; a iron rod, a kind of plow. The Hoysala kings derived their names from the word Sala; a kind of plow and Hoy; drive. So, Hoysala is somebody who drives a plow or tends a plow. 2. The words chaluki-saluki denotes soil, mud. They are Dravidian words and have cognate words in all most all the Dravidian languages. It is wrong to derive these words from Sanskrit; the Dravidian form has been adopted by the Sanskrit. 3. The word Pōlakēsin is also an agricultural term. It denotes owner of the land, one who tends land. 4. Chalukyas belong to an agricultural family. 5. Chalukyas were agriculturalists from the Badami-Shirahatti areas of the northern Karnataka. The Polaveeras (the plowmen, land lords, Holeyas) of this family strengthened themselves to build up a dynasty that swayed over a large track of the land and founded the strong kingdom. The Rashtrakuta kings12 too were agriculturists, it is proved beyond doubt by the emblem that they had. It was a well designed plow it is the kind of plow even used throughout India. It seems the Ganga dynasty was also founded by an agricultural family. 6. The knowledgeable historians have to consider the natural derivation of the word Chalukya from the agricultural term that is closer to the reality and human beings rather than from the imaginary divine genesis of the dynasty13. 7. In the word Belvola (vel+pola(n) = velvola, belvola, belvala) the second half is pola; land.The Chalukyas were kings of the Belvola – 300 country. 8. The Pōlagere (Hōlagere) seems to be the ancient name of the Puligere14 or Purikara town. It is now called Lakshmeshwara. Purikara Nagara is a Sanskrit adoption of the word. We can see similarities between Pōlagere-Puligere and Pōlakēsin-Pulikēsi. 9. The Pōlagere seems to be the original place of the Chalukyas. They have copiously donated to the Sankha Basadi in the town. The Chalukyas of Kalyani and Chalukyas of Badami have repaired the Basadi again and again and granted copiously for the up keeping of the Jain Monastry. Mr. Hampa Nagaraiah has proved classically that the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Gangas were agriculturists. He has based his studies on the sources available in the Indian languages and based on them he has made some hypothesis to draw the conclusions. I agree with him completely and would place before you some of my views based on my Sumerian and Akkadian studies.
In Sumerian Ki15 denotes land, Lu16 denotes a man or a person, the word Sa mans means owner, lord or person of importance. The Same word is pronounced as Sha by the Persians. In Kannada it is equivalent to Cha. So, Chaluki denotes Cha + Lu + Ki = King + person + land, the person who is king of the land.
Sumerian and Kannada Kingship Terms17
King barag [DAIS] (423x: ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian) wr. barag; bara10; bara6; bara7; bara8 "ruler, king; dais, seat" Akk. parakku; šarru; šubtu HUŠma [KING] wr. HUŠ-ma "king" Akk. šarru lugal [KING] (24522x: ED IIIa, ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian, uncertain, unknown) wr. lugal; lu2-gal "lord; master; owner; king; a quality designation" Akk. bēlu; šarru lukur [PRIESTESS] (172x: ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian) wr. lukur "a priestess; (junior) wife of a deified king" Akk. nadītu; qadištu mu lugalak pad [SWEAR] (483x: Old Akkadian, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian, uncertain) wr. mu lugal pad3 "to swear by the king's name" Akk. nīš šarrim tamû saĝ [KING] wr. saĝ4 "king" Akk. šarru taškarin [KING] wr. ĝeštaskarin "king" UNgal [RULER] (69x: ED IIIb) wr. UN-gal "ruler" Akk. šarru; šarratu
Queen
ereš [LADY] (11x: ED IIIb, Ebla, Old Babylonian, unknown) wr. ereš "lady, queen; a quality designation" Akk. bēltu; šarratum UNgal [RULER] (69x: ED IIIb) wr. UN-gal "ruler" Akk. šarru; šarratu
Minister lagar [PRIEST] (21x: ED IIIa, ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Ur III, Old Babylonian) wr. lagar; lagar3; la-bar "a priest" Akk. lagaru sukkal [SECRETARY] (3469x: ED IIIa, ED IIIb, Ebla, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian) wr. sukkal "secretary, civil servant" Akk. sukkallu sukkalmah [OFFICIAL] (14x: ED IIIb, Lagash II, Old Babylonian) wr. sukal-mah "an official" Akk. sukkalmahu
Courtier tiru [COURTIER] (6x: Old Babylonian) wr. tiru; TE.GAL? "courtier" Akk. māri ekallim
I would like to derive the meaning of the word Chalukya based on the above list here now:
Please note we have to pronounce the Dravidian and most of the Sumerian words nasally. Saĝ + Lu + Ki = Sangā + Lu +ki
= Sangā + lu + ki
= Sang + lu + ki
= Sān(San)luki
= Sā(Sa)Lunki
= Chā(Cha)Lunki
= ChaLuki
= ChāLuki
= Chaluki
These words with Ya; of that as a suffix would become ChāLukiya, Chālukiya, ChāLukya or Chālukya. Chā denotes king. Some pronounce it as Shā and some other like in the south Karnataka they pronounce sā. The Iranian kings were called Shā. In the Chamaraja Nagara and Malavally the Malava folks use the word Sā often in their regular talks to address elders and respected people. The word Chāma denotes a great king. Thus several of the Mysore kings were named Chāmarājas. The name of the Chamundeshwari among the Holeyas is Chāmi. It simply means King’s woman or queen or mistress of the king. The goddess Chamundeshwari is said to be the Chami of the god Nanjunda of Nanjana Gud. So, now we can safely understand the word Chalukya as the great king of the land.
I would like to consider here the word Cha has come prior to Sa. The stones required for the construction of the temples at Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal towns were quarried from the Shankara Lingana Gudda hill and Motara Maradi Gudda hill. There is an epigraph (No. 5) on the top of Shankaralingana Gudda Hill. It is given below.
1. Shri. Dharma sangātana kaNi 2. Papakō ājnāvō parama mā 3. Hēshwara The word Sanga means king. So, the quarry belonged to that king who quarried the stones to construct the temples. I would like to say that the Sangama dynasty that ruled the Vijaya Nagara obtained its name from this source. The Chalukyas are called the Salunkis in the Mahar Rashtra.
John Faithful Fleet18 says that “the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang; who traveled in India between A.D. 629 and 646. This person visited the court of Ho-li-sha-fa-t’an-na, otherwise called Shi-lo-o-t’ie-to,i.e. of Harshavardhana – Siladitya of Kanauj; and he describes, and apparently visited, one of the leading cities of the country of Mo-ho-la-ch’a, i.e. Maharashtra, the name of the King of which is given by him as Pu-lo-ki-she”. The notes of Hiuen Tsiang is very much clearly states the status of the Holeyas during his times. He calls the state of Maharashtra as Mohola-cha. It simply means a great land; Mah Hola. The land of the Maha Holeyas; Mahars of the state. And the king was Pulokishe; Polekesi.
The descendants of the Chalukyas are called Chalavadis. The caste of the rich men in India becomes the upper caste and the caste of those who lose power and position becomes the lower caste. This is happening for a quite some time regularly and invariably.
I would like to believe the Chalavadis of Bagalakote when they say that they were the Chalukyan Kings who ruled a greater part of India. I would like to say that their claim is rightful and historically provable.
1. Edgar Thurston, The Castes and tribes of the southern India, see, entry for the Holeyas. 2. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India; from the Stone Age to the 12th centuy, Published by Pearson, pages 490-496, and fourth impression 2013. 3. Ibid pages 573-584. 4. Gustav Oppert, On the Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa or India the Dravidians, read, Religious and Social Privileges enjoyed by Paraiahs, pages 50-56, 1888. 5. ‘Badami Chalukyas’, Read, Chapter-5, what is the meaning of Polekesi (Pulakesi, Pulikesi)? – Written by- N. Laxmi Narayana Rao, page no. 82. Published by Kannada University, Hampi. 6. Editor, Srinivas V. Padigar, Inscriptions of the Calukyas of Badami, see the Polekesi I – inscriptions no. 1-4 and Polekesi II – inscriptions no. 14-33, 440. 7. Gustav Oppert, On the Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa or India the Dravidians, read, ‘Wrong Derivation of the term Holeya and Pulaya’, pages 56-57, 1888. 8. Kes; is found in the pre-Dravidian and Malava. It denotes get work done, manage work, supervise, & etc. Key (Malava); do, perform, & etc. even now the Malavas; Holeyas-Madigas in the south Karnataka use these words in their daily usage. For example: En kes-de? ; What did you do? Ni kes-dna kan-ma namu? ; can’t we see, what you have done? 9. Kēsava (Malava) denotes a manager, supervisor, lord, master &etc. It denotes these days a deified king too. It is taken as equivalent to the lord Vishnu. In this regard to know the word Is please read Part-IV, Chapter-16, in the book Malava – Tirulu Kannada; the first language of India by M. Nanjundaswami IPS. Published by Malava Philological Academy, Bangalore, 2013. 10. Salike or Salake have come from the Malava-Sumerian word Sala; a plow. The Hoysala dynasty got its name from the Hoy + Sala = Drive + Plow. So, Hoysalas tended plow. I would like to consider the Chalukyas too tended plow. Refer, Chapter-21, Hola-Salagala Odeyaru Hoysalaru, from the book Holeyaru-Madaru-Rajaru by M. Nanjundaswami IPS, published by Malava Philological Academy, Bangalore, 2012. 11. Hampa Nagarajaih, ‘Dravida Bhasha Vijnana’ fourth edition 1994. 12. The Rashtrakuta Kings were devotees of the goddess Chandralamba near Sannati, in the Gulburga district. They had a practice of keeping their weapons at the entrance to the sanctorum of the temple and worship them. On the wall against which the weapons were leaned, the priests wrote ‘Malasakanta, Martanda, …’. It shows that the goddess Chandralamba was goddess of the Malavas and Maras. The capital of Rashtrakutas was Malakheda. It shows that it was land of the Malas or Malavas. The Malas and Malavas have been the traditional farmers and they tend plow. I would like to say that the Rashtrakutas inherited their culture and blood built up their kingdom on the erstwhile land of the Malavas. 13. In this regard refer “The Early Dynasties of Canarese Districts”, by John Faithful Fleet. “In later times, there was gradually evolved a legendary history, embodying a variety of inventions devised in order to account for appellation the origin of which had been forgotten in the lapse of time and events of which no very accurate memory had been preserved, which refers the origin of the Chalukyas to Ayodhya or Oudh, and allots them to the Somavamsa, or Lunar Race, in the family of the god Brahman, who sprang from the water-lily that grew from Vishnu’s navel”. pages 337-342. 14. See, Chapter-6 & 7, Part-V, Malava -Tirulu Kannada; the first language of India by M. Nanjundaswami IPS. Published by Malava Philological Academy, Bangalore, 2013. 15. See, Part-III, Chapter-14, entry for Ki, and Part-V, Chapter-3. Ibid. 16. See, Part-IV, Chapter-3. ibid 17. See, Part-III, Chapter-17. Ibid. 18. John Faithful Fleet, Early Dynasties of Canarese Districts, page no. 353.
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