NO. 61. — 1908.] TAMIL VELALAS. 



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furnished by the following account of the origin of the latter, 

 which is given on page 339 of the second part of the first 

 volume of the " Gazetteer of Bombay " : — 



" In the north, an ascetic, named Harita Panchachika, 

 was engaged in performing a sacrifice ; and as he 

 poured his oblations into the sacrificial hole, a king 

 issued forth from his holy or sacred pot which, in 

 Sanscrit, is called ' Chulukam,' and as he appeared 

 in a ' Chulukam ' he was called " Chulukan " by 

 his contemporaries. But, in later times, his de- 

 scendants, who were at first known as 6 Chulukas,' 

 came to be called ' Chalukkas,' ' Chalukkyas,' and 

 4 Chalukkyas,' these names being only corruptions 

 of the primitive form of their name." 1 

 It is a matter over which we should heartily rejoice indeed 

 that the above legend of the origin of the Chalukkyas is strictly 

 identical with the story of the origin of the Vels of the Tamil 



1 Chalikyas, Chalkyas, Chalukkyas, and Chaulukyas. Tradition — as 

 recorded in a stone tablet inscription at the temple of Lokesvaradeva, 

 at Handarike, in the Haidarabad territories — states that the Chaluk- 

 kyas sprang from a spray of a water -pot (Chulka, Chuluka, Chaluka) 

 when Hariti, who wore five tufts of hair on his head, was pouring out 

 a libation to the gods. — "Ind. Ant.," vol. VI., p. 74. 



According to Bilhana, in his "Vikramankakavya," Brahma was once 

 engaged in his sandhya devotions, when Indra came to him to com- 

 plain of the growing godlessness on earth, and begged him to put an 

 end to it by creating a hero who would be a terror to the evil-doers. On 

 hearing this request, the creator directed his looks towards his chuluka, 

 or water- vessel, and from it sprang a handsome warrior fit to protect the 

 three worlds. From him descended the Chalukkyas. Harita was the first 

 progenitor, and then Manavya arose. — «,' Ind. Ant.," vol. V., p. 317. 



"I do not doubt," says Dr. G. Buhler, " that Chaulikyas (this form 

 occurs in the inscriptions of the Gujarati branch of the Chalukyas) 

 and Chalukyas are only dialectic variations of the same name."-— ' ' Ind. 

 Ant.," vol. VI., p. 182. 



It must be admitted, I incline to think, that the legend of the 

 progenitor of the Chalukkyas issuing out of the sacred jar or pot of 

 a Muni was originally suggested by the name of the tribe, of which 

 those above noticed are modified forms, more or less, of a later 

 date. The form "Chuluka" is, of course, very easily extracted, 

 philologically, from " Chaulukya," but it does not occur in any of the 

 Chaluky a grants hitherto discovered. As it must be conceded , however , 

 that the form of the name must have been such as to suggest the 



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