History of Chhattisgarh- 04 History of Kalchuri of Chhattisgarh- 01

History of Chhattisgarh – History of Kalchuri of Chhattisgarh -01

 Important topic for CGPSC/CGVYAPAM EXAMS

Introduction

Kalchuri ruler have any important place in the history of India and Chhattisgarh. For about 1200 hundred years Kalchuri ruled various places of India from 550-1750 AD. Kalchuri have a glorified history there is hardly any dynasty in the history of India that would have run its rule for such a long period. The king of India used to feel proud in connecting themselves with the famous kings and dynasty is mentioned in The Puranas. This tradition continued with Kalchuri also.   Kalchuri established their connection with the first king of earth named Manu who is believed to be of Haihaya dynasty. कार्त्यवीर्य Kartavirya who was found in the lineage of Manu and its descendant are called Kalchuri. The Kalchuri Monarch felt proud saying themselves the descendant of Haihaya Sahastrarjuna”. That is why they have mentioned in the inscription of Haihaya.   According to Amoda copper plate inscription, Ratanpur’s Kalchuri ruler defeated Prithvi Dev I connected his dynasty to the Haihaya dynasty.

They were also called to belong to Chedy dynasty, which was one of the Mahajanapada among the 16 Mahajanapadas. Among the seven Kula Shaktiman Parvat was one of them, which has been identified as Sihawa mountainof Chhattisgarh. From this Mahanadiand Sakri named river have emerged. In this Mahabharat Chedi ruler Shishupal have been mentioned .   Mahishman of Haihaya dynasty that ruled the city of Mahishmati which was the first capital of Kalchuri. From here only the Kalchuri expanded their empire in the North and South Region the main Tula of mahishmati are as follows-

Kalchuri Rulers

Krishna Raj 552-575 AD

He issued the coins named Krishnaraj Rupak of silver. (रूपा/रौप्य- चांदीकेसिक्के) By this time the Vakatak rule have ended. So using this opportunity Krishna Raj conquered Gujarat, North Maharashtra and Vidarbha and established its rule.  

Shankargarh

Krishnaraj’s successor was his son Shankargarh. He retained the Empire received from his father. No evidence of expansion of Empire is found.  

Buddharaj

Budhraj was successor of shankargarh. After getting the Throne he fought with Chalukya ruler Manglesh in which Manglesh won. But in the meantime civil war started in the Chalukya Dynasty which gave some relief to budhraj and restore his capital again. Pulakeshin II defeated Mongols and achieved success in Civil War. Pulakeshin II expanded his Empire by defeating the frontier kings with his clever mind. In this campaign he also defeated Budhraj and captured a large part of his territory. This decreased the impact of Kalchuri for some period and the history of Kalchuri for 150-175 years was dark.

Reference – Hindi Granth Academy Chhattisgarh and other govt. websites
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