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early medieval india ⁄ 41
life, invaded Gauda after his death, issuing grants there in 628 as his royal prerogative.
37 Harsa controlled much of North India by this time, but decided to
extend westward, where he had not previously gone. With %a$aNka safely
dead, Harsa tried to expand the empire to the extent enjoyed by the Imperial
Guptas, and Saurastra was in the Chalukya political mandala. Thus, around
630, Harsa pressed westward and encountered the young Maitrika Druvasena
II with such ferocity that the Maitrika monarch took refuge with the Lata
ruler and founder of the Gurjara house there, Dada II, who was himself directly
supervised by the Chalukyas. Pulake$in II could not stand by and see his
territory so dramatically diminished, so the great Chalukya army—already in
possession of most of the Deccan plateau—met the Thaneswar monarch on
the field of battle. Unfortunately for the Vardhanas, Harsa had overestimated
his ability to wage war in the Deccan, and his elephants were overthrown by
the southerners.
Flushed with victory and with the issue of the west decided, Pulake$in II
extended his family’s domain eastward as well and shortly thereafter established
the “Eastern Chalukyas” in Andhrapatha (Krsna and Godavari River
valleys), where they were to remain a force for several centuries. Not satisfied
with his accomplishment, the Chalukya monarch also began a series of campaigns
up the Bay of Bengal, bringing KaliNga under Chalukya rule. To celebrate
his victories, Pulake$in II commissioned the poet Ravikirti to compose
the exuberant Aihole inscription of 634–635, which is explored in more detail
below. 38 Not to be outdone, Harsa began a series of campaigns against Orissa
between 637 and 642, campaigns that once more brought him up against the
area claimed by the Chalukyas. Harsa interrupted his southern policy only
with a brief threat to Kashmir.
Pulake$in II had not just focused on the north, but had conducted campaigns
in the south as well, particularly against Kañcipuram, the capital of the
dynamic and powerful Pallava kingdom. This latter aggression brought the
Chalukyas to grief, however, for what Harsa could not do, the Pallavas accomplished.
In 642, the Pallava prince Narasimhavarman marched north with
his military might and laid waste to the Chalukya capital of Vatapi, killing Pulake$in
II. 39 Even then, the Chalukyas remained a force in Vatapi for the next
century. Indeed, despite their eventual loss of power in their traditional homeland,
in a manner similar to that of the Kalachuris of Madhya Pradesh,
branches of the house of Chalukya continued to operate in various milieus
throughout the early medieval period.
Harsa by this point had moved his capital to the metropolis of Kanauj,
claiming the Maukharis’ city by virtue of authority, a claim he enforced as his