Kalchuris are one of the major communities of Inida, but divided into many clans and sects due to historical and cultural reasons. The Kalachuris, were also known as Haihayas. Kalli means a long moustache and churi a sharp knife, thus the name Kalchuris. They grow moustache and carrying a knife always as part of tradition or job.

The bloody war between Brahmins lead by Parasurama on one side and the Kshatriyas lead by Sahasrarjuna on the other side which divided the people of vedic origin into two eternal rivals. Parasurama launched a series of wars for 21 times to carry out mass killing of Kshatriyas to avenge the death of his father Jamadagni at the hands of Sahsrarjunas sons.

The Kshatriyas who suffered a mass annihilation at the hands of Brahmins established a separate religion for themselves based on the principles of Shiva (Jina) worship to unitedly fight Brahmin domination. They have associated with with Dravidian warrior kings.

In 2nd century B.C. the great Kalchuri emperor Kharval organised a convention of 3000 Jain monks at Kumari Parvat and Jain Agams were compiled there. Kalachuri kings ruled from many places like Tripuri, Gorakhpur, Ratnapur, Rajpur etc and migrated to the south and made Mangalavedhe or Mangalavada their capital. Their emblem was Suvarna Vrishabha or the golden bull.

Kalchuris ruled over a powerful kingdom comprising Gujarat, Northern Maharashtra, and some parts of Malwa. Kalachuri Empire of Central India (west Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan) was called Chedi or Haihaya and are supposed to be offshoot of Abhira of Traikutika dynasty. They ruled over northern Maharashtra, Malwa and western Deccan from their capital Mahismati situated in the Narmada river valley.

Another famous Kalchuri king was Bijjal ruled from Annigeri, Karnataka in 12th century. Bijjala established the authority over Karnataka after wresting power from the Chalukyas. Bijjala was succeeded by his sons Someshwara and Sangama. Their rule was a short and turbulent and very important from a the socio-religious movement point of view. A new sect called the Lingayat or Virashaiva sect was founded during these times. It is also believed that there are some sections of Reddies having descendancy from Kalchuris. Kalchuris are worshipers of Shiv and Shakti and Kalchuri Kings have constructed many Shiv temples as well as temples of Shakti.

Majority of Kalchuris call themselves as Kalars which is a name given to the people who are engaged in liquor business. There are similar communities in different parts of India involved in same profession and background. Among them are Ezhavas or Thiyyas of Kerala, Billavas and Thiyya billavas of South Kannada region, Edigas of Karnataka, Bhandari of Maharastra, Nadars of Tamilnadu, Gouds of Andhra, Durave and Nalaver of Srilanka are from the same roots.