Alupas - Political History

Political History

The history of clan emerges from obscurity during the rise of Badami Chalukya in the Aihole and Mahakuta inscriptions which claims the Alupas had accepted Chalukya overlordship and become their feudatory. They ruled initially from Mangalore and other times from Udyavara in Udupi and later Barkur. Their first regular full length inscription is the Vaddarase inscription in Kannada is dated to early 7th century. They maintained marital relations with their overlords over the centuries.

Alupas rule confined to the modern districts of Udupi, Mangalore and parts of Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts in the state of Karanataka and part of northern Kerala (Kasaragod district) up to Payashvini river. In the history of India, no other single dynasty has ever ruled for over thousands years. The record that breaks this exception goes to the Alupas who ruled their territory for nearly thousand years. Alupas though originated as a ruler to the coastal region of Karnataka around beginning of the Christian era, it is only around 5th century they made their debut as a dynasty as witnessed in the epigraph of Halmidi. The last ruler's name that we see in the epigraph of Venupura (Moodubidre), belong to the 14th century AD. There are over two hundred stone epigraphs left behind this dynasty and only about one hundred and twenty epigraphs have been read and deciphered so far. The finest record of the early Kannada script is seen in the 7th century AD Copper plate of Belmannu. There is yet another copper plate set of 5 individual plates have surfaced in the beginning of 2007, but no information is known about the ruler, provenance within the district of Udupi or its content.

Alupas put coins into circulation in 8th century AD and continued the tradition till 14th century AD. Their coins carried the dynastic emblem of "Two fishes over a spread Lotus flower, below a royal umbrella". Nearly 180 unique coins have been known so far, of which around 175 coins are published in the book written by Prabhu and Pai. The detailed history, with a proper reference pointers are also seen in the same book.

All their inscriptions are in Kannada and Sanskrit. The earliest known copper plate inscription in Kannada language is attributed to Aluvarasa II, called the Belamannu plates and is dated early 8th century, according to Dr. Gururaj Bhat. This full-length Kannada copper plates in Old Kannada script (early eighth century CE) belongs to the Alupa King Aluvarasa II from Belmannu, Karkala Taluk, Udupi District, and displays the double crested fish, the royal emblem of Alupa kings. The records also refers king with the title Alupendra.

The first known epigraph that talks about the possession of Banavasi Mandala (Banavasi kingdom of Uttara Kannada District) by the Alupas, belongs to the reign of Western Chalukya king Vinayaditya. Te epigraph comes from Jambani of Sagar Taluk, discovered by Dr Gururaj Bhat, mentions about Chitravahana Alupendra in possession of Kadamba mandala. This is in fact the first stone epigraph that points the ruler as a subordinate to Western Chalukya King (8th Century C.E).

Some of the Alupa inscriptions are available in the following URL: http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/south_indian_inscriptions/volume_9/alupas.html