Pallava capital
In his conflict with the Pailavas he almost reached the Pallava capital, but the Pailavas purchased peace by ceding their northern provinces to Pulakesin II. About A.D. 610 Pulakesin II wrested from the Pailavas the region between the Krishna and the Godavari, which came to be known as the province of Vengi. Here was set up a branch of the main dynasty, and it is known as the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. However, Pulakesin’s second invasion of the Pallava territory ended in failure.
The Pallava king Narasimhavarman (A.D. 630668) occupied the Chalukya capital at Vatapi in about A.D. 642, when Pulakesin II was probably killed in fight against” the Pailavas. Narasimhavarman assumed the title of Vatapikonda or the conqueror of Vatapi. He is also said to have defeated the Cholas, the Cheras’, the Pandyas and the Kalabhras.
Towards the end of the seventh century there was a lull in this conflict, which was again resumed in the first half of the eighth century A.D. The Chalukya king Vikramaditya II (A.D. 733745) is said to have overrun Kanchi three times. In 740 he completely defeated the Pailavas.
His victory ended the Pallava supremacy in the far south although the ruling house continued for more than a century afterwards. However, the Chalukyas could not enjoy the fruits of their victory over the Pailavas for long for their own hegemony was brought to an end in 757 by the Rashtrakutas.
Temples
Besides the performance of Vedic sacrifices, I the worship of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, especially of the last two, was getting popular. From the seventh century the Alvar saints, who were great devotees of Vishnu, popularized the worship of this god. The Nayannars rendered a similar service to the cult of Siva. The Pallava kings constructed a number of stone temples m the seventh and eighth centuries for housing these gods.
The most famous of them are the seven rather temples found at Mahabalipuram, at a distance of 65 km from Madras. These were built m the seventh century by Narasimhavarman, who founded the port city of Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram This city is also famous for the Shore Temple, which was a structural construction. In addition to this the Pallavas constructed several structural temples at their capital Kanchi. A very good example was the Kailasanath temple built in the eighth century.
The Chalukyas of Badami erected numerous temples at Aihole from about A.D. 610. Aihole contains as many as 70 temples.
Propagation of Buddhism
The propagation of Buddhism promoted India’s contacts with Sri Lanka, Burma, China and Central Asia. Most probably the Buddhist missionaries were sent to Sri Lanka in the reign of Asoka m the third century B.C. Short inscriptions in Brahmi script belonging to the second and first centuries B.C. have been found in Sri Lanka. In course of time Buddhism came to acquire a permanent stronghold in Sri Lanka. In the early centuries of the Christian era Buddhism spread from India to Burma.
The Burmese developed the Theravada form of Buddhism, and erected many temples and statues in honor of the Buddha what is more significant, the Burmese and Sri Lanka Buddhists produced a rich corpus of Buddhist literature, not to be found m India. All the Pali texts were compiled and commented upon m Sri Lanka. Although Buddhism disappeared from India it continued to command a large following in Burma and Sri Lank*, which is the case even now.
Beginning with the reign of Kaiushka a large number of Indian missionaries went to China, Central Asia and Afghanistan for preaching their religion. From China Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan, and it was in search of Buddhist texts and doctrines that several Chinese pilgrims such as Fahsien and Hsuan Tsang came to India. Eventually this contact proved fruitful to both the countries. A Buddhist colony cropped up at Tun Huang, which was the starting point of the companies of merchants going across the desert. The Indians learnt the art of growing silk from China, and the Chinese learnt from India the art of Buddhist painting.
Historical Ottoman 