Cālukya Dynasty, Chalukya dynastyChalukya also spelled Chalukya, Calukyaeither of two ancient Indian dynasties. The Western Cālukyas Chalukyas ruled as emperors in the Deccan (i.e., peninsular India) from AD 543 to 757 CE and again from about 975 to about 1189. The Eastern Cālukyas Chalukyas ruled in Veṅgi Vengi (in eastern Andhra Pradesh state) from about 624 to about 1070.

Pulakeśin Pulakeshin I, a petty chieftain of Pattadakal in the Bijāpur Bijapur district , whose reign began in 543, took and fortified the hill fort of Vāṭāpi Vatapi (modern BādāmiBadami) and seized control of the territory between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers and the Western GhātsGhats. After military successes farther north, his son Kīrtivarman Kirtivarman I (reigned 566–597) secured the valuable Konkan coast. The family then turned its attention to the fertile coastal regions to the northwest and east of the peninsula. Pulakeśin Pulakeshin II (reigned c. 610–642) acquired parts of Gujarāt Gujarat and Mālwa Malwa and defied the North north Indian ruler Harṣa Harsa of Kannauj; the boundary between them was fixed on the Narmada (Narbadā) River. About 624, Pulakeśin Pulakeshin II took the kingdom of Veṅgi Vengi from the Viṣṇukuṇḍins Vishnukundins and gave it to his brother Kubja ViṣṇuvardhanaVishnuvardhana, the first Eastern Cālukya Chalukya ruler.

In 641–647 the Pallavas ravaged the Deccan and captured VāṭāpiVatapi, but the Cālukya Chalukya family recovered by 655 and extended its power in GujarātGujarat. By 660 they had acquired land in Nellore district. Vikramāditya Vikramaditya I (reigned 655–680) took Kānchipuram Kanchipuram (ancient KāñcīKanci), then at that time of the Pallava capitaldynasty, in about 670. Another Cālukya Chalukya ruler, Vikramāditya Vikramaditya II (reigned 733–746), again captured, but spared, the city, in 742. His successor, Kīrtivarman Kirtivarman II, was replaced by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Rashtrakuta dynasty in 757.

When the last Rāṣṭrakūṭa Rashtrakuta fell, about 975, Taila founded the second Western Cālukya Chalukya dynasty, named for the more central capital, KalyāṇīKalyani. His great achievement was to subdue the Paramāra Paramara dynasty of MālwaMalwa.

The Cōḷa ( Chola ) king , Rājarāja Rajaraja I , invaded the south Deccan about 993, and repeated Cōḷa Chola invasions of the plateau occurred until about 1021. After many vicissitudes the Cālukya Chalukya dynasty was supplanted by the Kalacuri family under Bijjala, who usurped the throne in about 1156 and reigned until 1167. The Cālukya Chalukya dynasty was restored in the person of Someśvara Someshvara IV, who, however, lost the empire in 1189 to the Yādavas Yadavas (or Sevunas) of Devagiri, the Hoysaḷas Hoysalas of DōrasamudraDorasamudra, and the Kākatīyas Kakatiyas of Warangal—the rulers of the Telugu-speaking parts of the Deccan.

The descendants of Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana constantly Vishnuvardhana had to constantly fight for the riches of Veṅgi Vengi and were pawns in the struggle between the Chalukya Deccan emperors and the Cōḷa Chola kings. The Cōḷas Cholas eventually adopted the Chalukya family, and the two countries were united under Kulottuṅga Kulottunga I (Rājendra Rajendra II), whose reign began in 1070.