_Rajput, Solankhi, Solanki, Chalukya._--This clan was one of the
Agnikula or fire-born, and are hence considered to have probably been
Gurjaras or Gujars. Their original name is said to have been Chaluka,
because they were formed in the palm (_chalu_) of the hand. They
were not much known in Rajputana, but were very prominent in the
Deccan. Here they were generally called Chalukya, though in northern
India the name Solankhi is more common. As early as A.D. 350 Pulakesin
I. made himself master of the town of Vatapi, the modern Badami In the
Bijapur District, and founded a dynasty, which developed into the most
powerful kingdom south of the Nerbudda, and lasted for two centuries,
when it was overthrown by the Rashtrakutas [573]. Pulakesin II. of
this Chalukya dynasty successfully resisted an inroad of the great
emperor Harsha Vardhana of Kanauj, who aspired to the conquest of the
whole of India. The Rashtrakuta kings governed for two centuries,
and in A.D. 973 Taila or Tailapa II., a scion of the old Chalukya
stock, restored the family of his ancestors to its former glory,
and founded the dynasty known as that of the Chalukyas of Kalyan,
which lasted like that which it superseded for nearly two centuries
and a quarter, up to about A.D. 1190. In the tenth century apparently
another branch of the clan migrated from Rajputana into Gujarat and
established a new dynasty there, owing to which Gujarat, which had
formerly been known as Lata, obtained its present name [574]. The
principal king of this line was Sidh Raj Solankhi, who is well known
to tradition. From these Chalukya or Solankhi rulers the Baghel clan
arose, which afterwards migrated to Rewah. The Solankhis are found
in the United Provinces, and a small number are returned from the
Central Provinces, belonging mainly to Hoshangabad and Nimar.