Person · Eastern Chalukya king
Chālukya Bhīma I
Also known as Chalukya Bhima I, Bhima I of Vengi, Chalukya Bhima, Dronarjuna
Eastern Chālukya king of Vengi who built the two-storey Bhīmeśvara temples at Drākshārāmam and Sāmarlakota, both named after him. He spent much of his reign in war with the Rāshtrakūtas and was twice captured; the temples are the settled work of the years between.
- Date
- r. 892 – 921
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Eastern Chalukya inscriptions
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
The two temples are near-twins — the same two-storey plan around a liṅga too tall to bathe from the ground, the same upper gallery to reach its head. Building the same solution twice, ninety kilometres apart, is how the Pancharāma set acquired its architectural family resemblance.
The Eastern Chalukya Bhīma I of Vengi has no Wikipedia article of his own; the link goes to the dynasty. He is not the Bhīma I of Gujarat who built Modherā a century later — two kings of the same name in two Chalukya houses.
Connections (2)
- PatronageBhīmeśvara, Drākshārāmam
Chālukya Bhīma I raised the Bhīmeśvara temple at Drākshārāmam around 900, giving it the two-storey plan the tall liṅga demanded. The building is the reason the Pancharāma shards are remembered as a set rather than five local cults: two of the five got the same architecture from the same king.
- PatronageKumārārāma, Sāmarlakota
Kumāra Bhīmeśvara at Sāmarlakota is the near-twin of Drākshārāmam, built by the same king within the same reign, ninety kilometres up the delta. Both carry his name, both rise through two storeys around a liṅga too tall to bathe from the floor, and both keep an upper gallery for the purpose.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Eastern Chalukyas”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
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