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
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
Queen
ereš [LADY] (11x:
ED IIIb, Ebla, Old Babylonian, unknown) wr. ereš "lady, queen; a
quality designation" Akk. bēltu; šarratum
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
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.
_
No comments:
Post a Comment