State Formation Under the Eastern Deccan: 7th Century A.D.

Eastern Chalukyan dynasty was the only dynasty that had its sway over the entire Andhra region for more than five centuries, with the micro-region of Vengi as its capital. Established by Pulakesin II of the Bādāmi Chalukyan dynasty who instated his brother Kubja Vishnu vardhana I as an independent ruler, the new ruling elites of this Eastern branch had to confront various mighty local chiefs who were already well established in the region, before they could establish themselves as powerful ruling elites. Consequently, they had to evolve various mechanisms to consolidate and stabilize their power in a foreign land.

A. ARUNA has obtained her Master's degree and Master of Philosophy degree in History from the University of Hyderabad in 1995 and 1997 respectively. At present she is pursuing Ph.D. in the same University. She is associated with academic bodies like the Indian History Congress and A.P. History Congress and presented a few research papers on medieval history of the Deccan. Currently, she busily engaged in the document programme of Buddhist sites Andhra Pradesh.

This book is an embodiment of the dissertation submitted by the author for the M.Phil degree of the University of Hyderabad in 1997. The work was pursued under the erudite scholarly guidance of Prof. Aloka Parasher Sen to whom I owe a deep sense of gratitude. It is but for her constant pursuance and encouragement that enabled this work to take the book form.

The history of the Eastern Chalukyas is a well-researched topic. Earlier scholarship provides us with rich information about the political, social, economic, and religious conditions of the period. Though much of their study was based on the information available from the inscriptional sources, however their studies garbed under conventionalism failed to understand the nature of State formation under the new ruling elites, namely the Eastern Chalukyas.

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