Sacred Landscapes in Early Medieval South India: the Chalukya state and society (ca. AD 550-750).

Abstract

This dissertation examines the circumstances under which Chalukya rulers maintained legitimacy for two centuries in the diverse religious and cultural landscape of early medieval south India. The Indian subcontinent in the mid-first millennium AD saw puranic Hinduism emerge, along with numerous religious cults, all sharing religious space alongside established religions like Vedic religion, Buddhism and Jainism. Their interactions engendered material and visual forms affecting art, architecture, political economy, literature and divergent trends in languages and scripts in South Asia. Another significant development was the near simultaneous rise of two complex social institutions: an entrenched and complex caste system and kingship whose legitimacy derived as much from ritual performance and political alliance networks as from military prowess. I argue that local religious forms, practiced by non-elites constrained and shaped the new religious and state symbols that the Chalukyas constructed during their reign. I conducted a systematic archaeological survey of one Chalukya religious and political center - Aihole- to document the natural and cultural landscapes and material evidence for the religious and political functioning of the early Chalukya state and society. The results from this survey combined with my research into Chalukya temple architecture and religious practices have yielded three broad conclusions. First, in five square kilometers of intensive survey I plotted 877 artifact and architectural locations, out of which 836 yielded pottery. The spatial distribution and forms of these domestic utilitarian artifacts across Aihole suggest a sizeable and thriving settlement over most of the first millennium AD. Second, at Aihole the Chalukyas undertook a building program that consciously identified with the locally prevalent theme of memorial spaces. Third, Chalukya rulers created a sacred and political identity that incorporated local religious forms, thus gaining popular legitimacy to reign for two centuries. Future archaeological excavations at Aihole will yield further evidence for understanding the Chalukya built environment in relation to its standing stone monuments. This evidence can then be synthesized with information from inscriptions and comparative archaeological research to better understand the anthropological landscape during Chalukya times.