Origin and the Early History of the Family:

The inscriptions claim legendary origin to the family of the Kalachuris. According to a record of 1174 A. D. the founder of the family was one Soma, who was a disciple of Ashwathama. On the instructions of his preceptor, he grew beard and moustache, to save himself from the wrath of Parashurama, and thereafter the family came to be known as "Kalachuris", Kalli meaning a long moustache and churi meaning a sharp knife. However, the later records of the dynasty claim that they descended from Brahma, the Creator, who was followed by Atri and Soma (moon), and that in this illustrious lineage came such celebrities like Yadu, Haihaya and Kartavirya Arjuna. Sometimes they called themselves as belonging to the Haihaya (Chedi) family.

The Kalachuris did not originally belong to Karnataka and that they were immigrants from northern region, possibly from central India. They were known as Katachuris, and they had carved out an extensive empire that covered the regions of Malwa, Gujarat, Konkan and Maharashtra. However, its powerful ruler, Buddharaja, sustained a crippling defeat at hands of the Chalukya King Magalesa, which threw the Katachuri power into the limbo of obscurity.

Historians also have been able to identify several Kalachuri ruling families at Tripuri, Gorakhpur, Ratnapur, Rajpur and so on. The Kalachuris were also related to the early Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas by matrimonial alliances. It is also argued that they migrated to the south and made Magaliveda or Mangalavedhe (Mangalavada) their headquarters. They called themselves Kalanjarapuravaradhisvara, which indicates their central Indian origin. Their emblem was Suvarna Vrishabha or the golden bull. They were feudatories of the Chalukyas of Kalyana.

The first notable chief of the Kalachuri family of South,i.e in Karnataka was Uchita, who is said to have been followed by Asaga, Kannam and Kiriyasaga. However under Bijjala I and his son Kannama, the Kalachuri family must have earned considerable political fame. But Kannama's son Jogama became an influential feudatory of the Chalukya Vikramaditya VI, who was matrimonially connected with the Kalachuri Chief. This trend continued during the reign of Jogama's son and successor, Permadi. Though he was only a Mahamandalesvara or a feudatory Chief, his influence in the disintegrating set-up of the Chalukya rule must have been immense.

Bijjala II (C. 1130-1167 A. D.):

Bijjala II succeeded his father, Permadi, as the Mahamandalesvara and ruled over Karhada 4,000 and Tardavadi 1,000 during the reign of Chalukya ruler, Vikramaditya VI. Bijjala was confident of his strength and had realised that under Vikramaditya's successors the Chalukya Empire was showing all the signs of weakness. That indeed provided him enough justification to seek independence. The Balligave inscription speaks of his attitude when it says, "Sovereignty deserves to be enjoyed by one who is a true warrior". The Chikkalagi inscription refers to Bijjala as "Mahabhujabalachakravarti".

Thus by the time Taila III ascended the Chalukya throne, the powerful Kalachuri Chief Billala had begun to pose as a sovereign ruler. His pretensions seemed justified when the Kakatiya ruler Prola II attacked the Chalukya capital and exposed its hollowness. By 1162 A. D. Bijjala seemed to have in fact usurped the Chalukya throne by driving Taila III out of his capital. He proudly assumed the typical Chalukyan titles like Sriprithvivallabha and Parameshvara. His Harihara record says, "Just as Agastya, sprung from a jar of water, sucked the vast ocean, King Bijjala, born in the family of feudatory chiefs, subjugated the whole earth by dint of his prowess".