Satyasraya - Wars With The Cholas

Wars With The Cholas

The Cholas responded with a two-pronged attack on the Vengi kingdom and on the Western Chalukya territory itself. The Chola armies were led by Rajendra Chola I. According to Chalukya records, Rajendra marched up to Donur, deep inside the Chalukya country, near what is modern Bijapur. He subsequently raided and captured Banavasi (apparently capturing the Kadamba feudatory of Satyashraya) and also conquered large parts of the Raichur Doab. In a subsequent lightning raid by another Chola regiment consisting of ace cavalrymen and a fleet of over 6000 well-armed elephants with four men with swords and arches above them, the Cholas sacked the Chalukyan capital of Manyakheta itself and Satyashraya had to flee the battlefield in dire haste. Raja Raja Chola I entered into war with the Chalukyas following the maxim that attack is the best form of defence, by attacking Chalukya positions right in their capital Manyakheta (Mannaikadakkam in Tamil records), while deploying several other divisions to attack Chalukya positions in Vengi, and chased the Chalukya forces from Vengi to the lower Deccan plateau, near Kulpak (Kollippakkei in Chola records), which is around 45 miles north of modern Hyderabad. These tough measures compelled Satyashraya to withdraw his forces from Vengi because his own capital Manyakheta had been seized by the Chola Crown Prince Rajendra Chola I. The vanquished Satyashraya, thereafter, was forced to shift south of Manyakheta the capital of his kingdom and issued inscriptions for several years, as 'Satyashraya ruling from Kogali' (or from Kadambalige) (near Chitradurga district in Modern Karnataka). Rajendra Chola returned the territories to him and his forces returned to the Chola country with many riches accumulated from this grand victory. Apparently, Satyasraya was decapitated in his war with Rajendra Chola for he was succeeded by his son Vikramaditya V within two years. The Cholas, presumably because of this, also preferred to strengthen their position in Vengi rather than focus on the Chalukya country, for there were no clashes between the Cholas and the Western Chalukyas during the reign of Vikramaditya V.