Tripuri and the Kalachurisत्रिपुरी और कलचुरि राजवंश

Overview

For several centuries Tripuri, now Tewar village west of Jabalpur, was the capital of the Kalachuri (or Chedi) kings. The Kalachuris ruled the region called Dahala. At their height in the 11th century, their armies campaigned as far as Varanasi, Prayaga, Malwa and Bengal [1]. Jabalpur’s district administration counts the Kalachuris and the Gonds as the two dynasties that shaped the area [6].

Almost everything we know about them comes from their own copper-plate grants and stone inscriptions. The standard edition of these is V. V. Mirashi’s Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era [2]. Reign dates are therefore scholarly estimates, and they vary between books.

Key moments

• Beginnings. The first named ruler is Vamaraja-deva, estimated at c. 675–700 [1]. The first powerful king was Kokalla I (c. 850–890). At first he acknowledged the Gurjara-Pratihara emperor Bhoja as overlord. Later inscriptions inflate his achievements [1]. The Jabalpur Cantonment Board gives 875 CE as the year the Kalachuris took over the area [3]. That fits within Kokalla’s estimated reign.
• 10th century. Yuvarajadeva I (c. 915–945) is one of the better-known rulers of this period [1].
• The imperial phase.
  • Gangeyadeva (c. 1015–1041) took imperial titles in the 1030s, after campaigns towards Utkala (Odisha) and the Varanasi–Prayaga region [1].
  • His son Lakshmikarna, or Karna (c. 1041–1073), was the dynasty’s most noted commander. He campaigned in Anga and Vanga and against the Chaulukyas and Chalukyas, and he called himself Chakravartin, “universal ruler” [1].
• Decline.
  • Under Yashahkarna (c. 1073–1123), the northern lands including Varanasi passed to the Gahadavalas [1].
  • The Ratnapura branch in Chhattisgarh became independent [1].
  • The last known king is Trailokyamalla, attested to at least 1212. How the dynasty ended is not known [1].
  • The Cantonment Board says Gond chiefs took the area in the 13th century [3].

People and events

Kalachuri inscriptions show a court that mainly patronised Shaivism, but other faiths appear too. One record by a feudatory named Valleka comes from a Jain temple yet uses Shaiva and Vaishnava imagery. Scholars disagree on how typical that was [1].

The capital stood near the Narmada. The marble gorge and the Chausath Yogini temple at Bheraghat are close by. ASI protects the temple, but its page does not name who built it [5].

Why it matters

The Kalachuris put Jabalpur’s region at the centre of north Indian politics for about two hundred years. Their inscriptions are among the main sources for 11th-century India.

What survives today

• The Tewar mound. Listed by ASI as “Karanbel (Tripuri)”, it marks the site of the capital [4].
• Sculpture. Scattered sculpture from the area survives at Bheraghat and in museums.
• The name. Tripuri lived on in the 1939 Tripuri session of the Indian National Congress, which was held near the old site (see Freedom movement).

Visiting

The Tewar site is about 12 km from Jabalpur, and ASI lists no entry fee [4]. Combine it with Bheraghat. See Chausath Yogini Temple.

Myths and documented history

Documented:

• the inscriptions;
• the names and order of the rulers;
• the broad sweep of conquest and decline.

The dynasty’s own claims:

• descent from the Haihaya hero Kartavirya Arjuna.

Disputed:

• descent from the earlier Kalachuris of Mahishmati, which Mirashi proposed but which lacks conclusive evidence [1];
• whether, and for how long, Lakshmikarna held Malwa;
• whether Kokalla I was a Pratihara vassal or independent.

Further reading

• V. V. Mirashi (ed.), Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era, CII vol. IV [2].
• R. K. Sharma, The Kalachuris and Their Times (1980).
• V. V. Mirashi, “The Kalacuris”, in A Comprehensive History of India, vol. 4 (1957).