Vengi
Vengi kingdom extended from River
Godavari in the north to Mount MahendraGiri in the southeast and to just south of the banks of River
Krishna in the south of
India. During the
Mauryan times North Vengi was under
Kalinga domination. The
Chalukya Pulakesin II of Badami conquered the Vengi territory from the
Vishnukundina rulers in the seventh century CE and installed his brother
Kubja Vishnuvardhana as the viceroy. He eventually established the
Eastern Chalukya dynasty.
The Eastern Chalukyas acted as the buffer between the
Chola kingdom and the
Western Chalukyas of Kalyani during the 9th and the 10th centuries. During the reign of the
Kulothunga Chola I the Vengi kingdom became partof the Chola empire.
The Vengi territory was part of
Asoka's empire and
Satavahanas were the Mauryan feudatories administering the area. Following Asoka's death and the decline of the Mauryas, Satavahana
Simuka established the Satavahana dynasty, which came to include even the
Magadha and
Bengal at its height.
The Satavahanas lasted for the next four hundred years after which the local cheiftains took control of the kingdom. Prominent among them were
Velanati Cholas, the
Pallavas and the
Eastern Chalukyas. The Eastern Chalukyas of the seventh and eighth century, were a branch of the
Chalukyas of
Badami.
Pulakesin II, the renowned ruler of Chalukyas conquered Vengi (at a battle near Eluru) in
624 CE and installed his brother
Kubja Vishnuvardhana (
624-
641 CE) as its ruler. His dynasty, known as the Eastern Chalukyas, ruled for nearly a century. Vishnuvardhana extended his dominions up to Srikakulam in the north and Nellore in the south.
These later kings occupied a prominent place in the history of Andhra Pradesh. They patronised
Telugu. Since the time of the Eastern Chalukya Gunaga Vijayaditya, inscriptions show Telugu proce and poetry, culminating in the production of literary works. Later on, in the 11th century under the patronage of the then Vengi king,
Rajaraja Narendra I, the great epic,
Mahabharata was translated partly by his court poet,
Nannaya.Rajaraja Chola I invaded the Eastern Chalukya in
999 CE in response to the Western Chalukya interference in the Vengi kingdom. Since then the Cholas were in constant conflict with the Western Chalukyas over the control of the Vengi kingdom.
The early 12th century C.E. was a period of chaos. The Western Chalukyas, who were at first successful in overthrowing the Vengis, were driven out after 2 years by
Vikrama Chola in
1120 C.E. with the help of the local feudatories. But the latter did not rule directly and thought it prudent to leave the kingdom to the feudatories themselves in return of nominal allegiance. The
Telugu Cholas of Tsandavolu (Guntur district) were the foremost among the feudatories. Between
1135 and
1206 C.E., several minor dynasties ruled over parts of Andhra Pradesh recognising the authority of the Telugu Cholas nominally.
By
1208 C.E., Vengi was once again a separate state until the
Vijayanagara empire rose to power in 14th century C.E.
*K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India (Madras, 1976).
