When Visvanātha died the
southern territory also was again united under Vira Ballāla III,
the last great Hoysala.
southern territory also was again united under Vira Ballāla III,
the last great Hoysala.
Cambridge History of India - v3 - Turks and Afghans
It was in this year .
## p. 476 (#524) ############################################
476
(CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
that the Chālukya king Vikramāditya died, and his great con-
temporary Kulottunga died about a decade earlier and was succeeded
by his son Vikraina Chola. This last seems to have carefully checked
Hoysala aggression in the south so that Vishnu had to devote
himself to acquiring territory in the north. Vikramāditya was
succeeded by his son Sõmēsvara, with the title 'Bhūlõkamalla. '
During the first year of his reign the boundaries of the Hoysala
territory are defined exactly, as before, with Sāvimalai for the
northern limit. The new succession seems to have stimulated
Vishnu's activities afresh, and this renewed activity seems to have
frightened Sõmēsvara. Even while Vikramāditya was alive this
aggressive activity of the Hoysala chieftain attracted the attention
of the king, who deputed a number of his more loyal governors,
chief among them the Kadambas of Goa and the Sinda chieftain of
Elberga, to check the rising Hoysala. The Sinda chieftain Achugi II
who like the Hoysala Ereyanga, Vishnu's father, laid claim to
having rendered valuable services to Vikramāditya in his usurpa-
tion, seems to have inflicted a check if not a defeat on Vishnu's
general Gangarāja, which constrained him to suspend activities for
some time. These were renewed after the death of the great king.
In 1130 we find the Hoysalas supreme over the whole of the present
territory of Mysore with some territory in the region of Kongu
along the foothills of the Ghāts, together with portions of the
district of Dhārwār, Nolambavādi or Eastern Mysore being in large
part still out of thc Hoysala territory. Even within the narrow
limits of this territory he had enemies yet to overcome, such as the
Chengālva and Kongālva chiefs along the Western Ghats. Gangarāja
seems to have been so devoted to the Jain faith that he is given
credit for having restored all the Jain shrines destroyed during
the repeated invasions of the Cholas, and made Mysore shine like
Köpana (Koppal in the Nizāın’s dominions). For some year Vishnu
was chiefly engaged in the north against the chiefs on the frontier
for the final acquisition of Banavāsi and Nolambavādi. For, in spite
of the Mysore records, inscriptions of Sõmēsvara III show a series
of governors in charge of Banavāsi, and Vira-Pandya is said to
have been ruling from Uchangi-durga, the province of Nolambāvadi
32,000 Chālukya records of 1137 for the first time show Vishnu-
vardhana to be the Mahāmandalēsvara in charge of Gangavādi,
Nolambavādi and Banavāsi, constituting the whole of the present
State of Mysore. This year, therefore, may be regarded as marking
an epoch in the rise of the Hoysalas to independence, and the ten
years between the death of Vikramāditya and this must have been
## p. 477 (#525) ############################################
XVIII)
DECLINE OF THE CHÄLUKYAŚ
477
Even so,
a period of struggle to reach this assured position.
Bankāpur in Dhārwār must be regarded as the northern limit of his
conquests, all Hoysala statements to the contrary notwithstanding.
Vishnuvardhana then must be credited with having succeeded in
uniting the whole of the modern Mysore State under his rule ; but
he did not venture to assume the royal dignity. During the re-
maining years of his life he devoted himself to securing his position
on the northern frontier where things were moving fast towards
disruption. He marked his accession to royal power in this year
by the performance of the royal act of tulā purusha? . ' He weighed
himself against gold and distributed it among Brāhmans and other
deserving recipients of charitable gifts. The next year he had to
repulse an invasion of Dvārasamudra by Jagad. dēva and himself
laid siege to Hangal in Dhārwār thereby making it clear that his
position in the north was far from certain.
In this same year, 1138, the Chālukya Sõmēsvara III died and
was succeeded by his son Jagadēkamalla in the Chalukya kingdom.
Vishnu renewed his aggressions, taking advantage of the new succes.
sion, but was again baulked by the activities of the loyal governors
of the kingdom. His activity ceased in 1141 or soon after, and though
he was virtually independent he never ventured to assume the
royal title. He was succeeded by his son Vijaya Narasimha, who is
generally said to have been crowned at his birth. He was a child
of eight at his accession, and his territory could be preserved only
by the efforts of his father's generals in the struggle that followed
the disruption of the Chālukya kingdom,
Vikramāditya's long reign of fifty-two years was, as has already
been remarked, one of peace, except for one invasion of the Chola
territory and the occasional checks that had to be administered to
the rising ambitions of the Hoysala feudatory in the last years of his
reign. Vikramāditya had occasionally to carry on wars across the
Narbada ; but these wars were not of frequent occurrence. At his
l
death his kingdom extended from Broach to Erode and from Man-
galore to the Sītābaldi hills in the Central Provinces. This vast
territory was parcelled out into a number of viceroyalties ; the
Seunas or Yādavas with a capital at Sinnar near Nāsik and later
at Deogiri ; the Silāharas of the northern and southern Konkan-
and of Kolhāpur, and the Kadambas of Goa and Hangal. East
of these were the territories of the Sindas at Elberga, of the
Guttas of Guttal in Dhārwār, and of the Rattas of Saundatti in
1 Ep. Car. Bl. 17, cf. 1136.
? Ibid, vi, Cin. 161
3 lbid v, p. xviii.
## p. 478 (#526) ############################################
478
(CH.
HINDU STATES İN SOUTHERN INDIA
Belgaum. Then came the royal domain, namely, all the Nizām's
dominions except the most easterly part, the Khammamet division,
and lastly the viceroyalty in the Central Provinces with its capital
at Sītābaldi'. This leaves out Banavāsi, Nolambavādi and Ganga-
vādi under the Hoysalas, although up to the last years of Vishnu-
vardhana almost, other viceroys continued to be appointed for the
two former. This great kingdom passed in 1128 to his son Sõmēs.
vara III, who was succeeded in 1138 by his son Pērma Jagadēka-
malla who ruled till 1150. In this reign comes to notice a young
man of promise whose father was governor of Tardavādi 1000, a
district round Bijāpur, an alternative capital of the Chālukyas.
This was Bijjala. He became governor of the same province as his
father, and later was appointed viceroy of Nolambavādi and Bana.
vāsi, governing these provinces by deputies while he himself remained
at the capital like the Sayyid brothers under the Mughul emperor
Farrukhsiyar. This change in the position of Bijjala is already
noticeable under Jagadēkamalla ; but when the latter was succeeded
by his brother Taila III, his power grew perceptibly till in 1156 he
became virtually ruler, though Taila reigned nominally till 1163.
Another enterprising ruler about this time was rising on the
horizon of history on the eastern frontier. After the accession of
Vikrama Chola the Eastern Chālukya dominions fell into disorder,
and an enterprising chief between the two Chālukya kingdoms
found his opportunity. Just within the frontier of the Eastern
Chālukyas is the hamlet of Anamakonda, the ancestral capital of
the Kākatiyas, known generally as the Kākatiyas of Warangal,
which his son Prola founded and whither he had shifted the capital.
This Prola lays claim to having defeated Tailapa some time in his
reign, and it was very likely that this took place in 1155. This
external shock combined with the loss of hold on the Mahāmanda-
lēsvaras must have thrown Tailapa into the arms of Bijjala, who
for the time proved the saviour of the empire. Bijjala having thus
acquired power gradually assumed royal state. His usurpation was
opposed alike by the loyal Sindas, in spite of their family alliance
with him, and by the Pāndyas of Nolambavādi, but Bijjala succeeded,
and he and his three sons continued to rule the kingdom for twenty
years, from 1163 to 1183 when Bomma or Brāhma, son of Bijjala's
general Kāmadeva or Kāvana, restored the son of Taila III under
the title Somèsvara IV. Sömēsvara IV ruled till 1189, and his
rule was confined to the southern and south-western parts of his
dominions. A combination of some of his chiefs against him and
1 Fleet : Bom. Gaz. 1, Pt. i, pp, 450-1.
!
## p. 479 (#527) ############################################
Xvni
YADAVAS AND KÅKATİYAS
479
his loyal feudatories the Sindas compelled him to retire to the
northern frontier of his dominions, and nothing more was heard of
him. In the scramble for territory that followed two leading powers
divided the kingdom, the Yādavas of Deogir and the Hoysalas of
Dvārasamudra, the Kākatīyas of Warangal taking a humbler share
of the spoil.
Narasimha succeeded to the throne as a boy and ruled for thirty•
two years. His reign was co-eval with the reigns of Jagadekamalla
and Taila III, and ran into a part of the usurpec Bijjala's reign.
Though Vishnuvardhana's title to Banavāsi and Nola mbavādi had
been in a way recognised in 1137 or 1138 under Sömēsvara III,
other royal officers continued to be appointed for the viceroyalty of
each of these provinces. These were included in the commissioner-
ship of the southern treasury' held by Bijjala himself. As a matter
of fact no Hoysala inscriptions have co. ne from these provinces
dated before the reign of Vira Ballāla II. During the reign of
Narasimha therefore these provinces may be taken to have been
outside his territory though his general Bokimayya or Bokana
brought under subjection to him the Tulu, the Changālva, the
Kongālva territories, and Bayalnādu (Wainād) in 1155. The same
general marched upon Bankapura, then in the occupation of the
Kadambas, and defeated them. It was during this period that
Bijjala was carrying out his scheme of usurpation, and Narasimha
obtained some successes both against other viceroys and Bijjala
himself by means of the opposition set up to Bijjala's usurpation.
In the course of this struggle Narasimha was gradually able to
impose his influence upon both Nolambavādi and Banavāsi, leaving
his son to complete the conquests of these provinces. Narasimha
died in 1173, and was succeeded by his son Vira Ballāla II, who
ruled for forty-seven years, from 1173 to 1220.
Vira Ballāla's reign coincided in the earlier part with the reign
of Bijjala's sons, extending from 1167 to 1186, and he took advantage
of the unpopularity of the usurpation to consolidate his own king-
dom. Vira Ballāla had already distinguished himself under his
father's general Tantrapāla Hemmādi in the conquest of the hill
territories and those of the Kongālva, Changälva and others. From
the date of his accession references to Chālukya overlordship dis-
appear from inscriptions, as in fact it was the period of usurpation
by the Kalachūryas. Although Vira Ballāla did not assume formal
independence and even recognised the overlordship of Sankama.
the third son of Bijjala, he was more or less independent. About
the year 1178 he brought under subjection the province of
## p. 480 (#528) ############################################
480
CH,
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
Nolambavādi after capturing its capital Ucchangidurga. He restored
the capital to Vijaya Pāndya on his submission. The loyalist opposi-
tion to the usurpers does not appear to have died out, and the
Hoysalas seem to have acted against the Pandyas of Nolambavādi
with the countenance of the last usurper. This brought on an in-
vasion of the Hoysala territory by the loyalist general Bamma who
restored the Chālukya dynasty by setting Sömēsvara IV on his
ancestral throne in 1183. Sõmēsvara was compelled to retire to the
southwest of his dominions before the rising power of the Yādavas
under Bhillama on the one side, and that of the Kākatiyas under
Prola and his son Pratā parudra I on the other. This extension of
the Yādava power brings the Hoysalas and the Yādavas face to face
on the banks of Mālprabhā and then the Krishna. It was in this
neighbourhood that a battle was fought, at Soratūr near Gadag,
where Bhillama Yādava was finally defeated, and the fort of Lokundi
in Dhārwār was occupied by Vira Ballāla in 1190. He captured
besides other fortified places in the same neighbourhood, between
the present Mysore frontier and the Krishna. Sömēsvara had dis-
appeared before this as a reuslt of a defeat suffered by him from
his feudatories, and this victory gave Vira Ballāla the occasion for
assuming formal independence, as no suzerain remained. The loyal
Sindas had already been overpowered, and there was no power
between the Hoysalas and the Yādavas. The Mālprabhā and the
Krishna formed the boundary between these two contending powers
on the western side of the Chālukya dominions, the eastern territory
passed into the hands of the Kākatiyas. Vira Ballāla therefore
assumed in 1191-92 the titles of a paramount power, and signalised
the event by starting an era in his name. The remaining thirty
years of his reign were devoted to the work of settling a definitive
northern frontier for the Hoysalas and consolidating the territory
acquired by them.
During this period the Chola kingdom on the south remained
intact except for the loss of hold on the northern part of the terri-
tory which, during the period of the Kylachūrya usurpation, was
fast passing into the hands of the rising power of the Kākatiyas,
Vikrama Chola was followed by a succession of three rulers who
managed to keep their territory free from disturbance except for
the attempt of the Pāndyas in the distant south to regain their
independence. This was kept well under control on the whole till
the Pāndyas enlisted on their side the support of the powerful con-
temporary Celyon ruler Parākrama Bāhul. With this new accession
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invadrs, Lect. I.
## p. 480 (#529) ############################################
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III
Map 7
72
78
co
84
es
Tropic of
Cancer
BENGAL
N. LĀTA
Dhår
No Bendte
ODDA
Tépil
Wains
Srubeldi
S. LĀTA
Nasik
20
Mahanadi
S Cuttack
Udayagiri
Mahendragiri
20
DAVAS
Deogiei
Penganga
Vziragarh
Jagdalpuro,
1
Sinnar
zu
AI
Warenez
NGA
Sinkáchalam
Vizagapatana
Kalyani
Mänfra
Godau
Blitar
avari
KAL
'Etagiri
(CH)
Bijapur
9
Kespo
Nasze
Tungaunddra. Kudelsangama
SIND
16
15
Kulpak
Rajahmandry
Mallched
Elore
Iz Kellner
PENG
Becnica
O Bidani
Mudgal
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Krishna Amavati
wastür
Con Saundatio Gades
clbyre
D
a
K Koppal Kampli
ual Cagiri
Goned
Hãngel
gar
Nellore
Balageri
и •Корре.
Käkehast
Kolar
MADRAS
Chingleput
Table
Mahabalipur
Banevzal
• Parti
NOLAMBĀS
BANAVĀS
Belair Yedetor
CA
AVĀDI
NPLAY HILLS
o
S. Pennar
Kanců
NAMALAI
Karür
HILLS
10
Ncsapatam
Trichinopoly Tanjore
Pi. Kalimit
Modern Tondi,
Recand
10
VENÃO
SOUTH INDIA
about A. D. 1100
The boundary between the Chola and Chakikyas
Empires under Kulottunga I and Vikramaditya VI
is shown thus: -
Countries and Peoples thus BENGAL
Mountains . . . WESTERN CHATS
Towns
Bijapur
Rivers
Mahanadi
Seiko SANDY
Kouf
C. Comorin
Adam's
Peak
100 50
200
Scales
0
100
English Miles
100 200
Kilorgetres
100
300
76
80
84
es
## p. 480 (#530) ############################################
条
## p. 481 (#531) ############################################
XVIII)
THE PANDYAS
481
of strength there was a greater effort on the side of the Pandyas
to assert their independence, and this brought on a great war
between the Cholas and the Ceylonese. The Cholas managed ulti-
mately to turn the Ceylonese back into their island territory, and
punished the Pāndyas adequately for having thus brought on a
protracted war. While the war was still in progress the young
prince who distinguished himself in it succeeded to the throne under
the name of Kulottunga III, and ruled almost throughout the reign
of Vira Ballāla II. Severe punishment quelled the Pāndyas, but
sowed the seeds of future bitterness? . During this war Vira Ballāla
had so strengthened himself as to secure his dominions against
attack. Kulottunga died in 1216 and was succeeded by his son
Rājarāja III and Vira Ballāla's reign continued up to AD. 1220.
The two families seem to have entered into a marriage alliance,
as one of the queens of Vīra Ballāla bore the name Chola Mahā.
dēvi. The death of these great rulers created a new set of circum-
stances and gave the opportunity for a forward advance of the
Hoysalas.
Kullottunga III was succeeded by his son Rājarāja III who
reigned till 1246. Almost simultaneously with him came to the Pān:
dya throne an enterprising prince Māravarman Sundara Pandya I
whose period of reign extended from 1216 to 1239. Almost the first
act of this Pāndya's reign seems to be the organisation of an advance
upon the Chola territory with a view to taking vengeance for the
disgrace to which Kulottunga had subjected his predecessors.
Records of his ninth year claim for him the credit of having captured
and burnt the towns of Tanjore and Uraiyūr in the course of a
successful invasion of the Chola territory. This invasion must have
taken place therefore before the year 1225. From the inscrip:
tional records of Rājarāja III himself it is clear that the first few
years of his reign were peaceful. The Pāndya invasion therefore
must have taken place somewhere about the year 1220. For the
next half-century the feature of the history of the Tamil country
is the effort of the Pandyas not merely to reign their independence,
but to extend their authority over the Chola kingdom. This Chola-
Pāndya struggle provided the occasion for Hoysala intervention in
the Tamil country, and resulted in bringing about the dominance
of the Hoysala power in the south under their greatest ruler Vīra
Sõmēsvara. He fortified a permanent capital for himself at Kan-
nanūr-Vikramapura, five miles north of the island of Srirangam
in the Chola country, and his authority, was acknowledged from
is India and her Muhammadan Invaders, p. 11.
0,H. I, III,
31
## p. 482 (#532) ############################################
482
[CH.
HINDU STATE IN SOUTHERN INDIA
Pāndharpur in the Southern Marātha country to the extreme limit
of the Tinnevelli district.
Vira Ballāla continued to reign till 1220, and, according to the
usual practice, he had his son Narasimha II anointed to the succes-
sion about the . year 1217-18. With the accession of this ruler
begins Hoysala intervention in the Chola country. From inscrip-
tions in the Madura district and other sources we learn that he
intervened to protect the dominions of the Cholas from the attacks
of Māravarman Sundara Pandya I, but his help profited his ally
dittle, for by 1225 the Pāndya had destroyed the Chola cities of
Tanjore and Uraiyūr and soon afterwards occupied the capital
Mudikonda-Solapuram (Gangaikonda-Solapuram) and was anointed
in the hall of the great temple at Chidambaram, and it was only
by submitting to the conqueror that Rājarāja III regained his
kingdom. This must have happened before the year 1236-37,
very probably before 1230. The weakening of the Chola power by
this successful Pandya invasion made it possible for the Chola feu-
datroy Kö-Perum Singa (Sans. Mahārāja Simha) of Sēndamangalam
in South Arcot, the son and successor of the Pallava ch ſtain vho
was responsible for turning the Ceylonese out of the Pāndya terri-
tory in the war of Pāndya succession to declare his independence
of his Chola overlord. He either invaded the Chola country or
otherwise involved it in a war, and made Rājarāja III prisoner in
his own capital of Sēndamangalam. This insolence called for the
intervention of Hoysala Narasimha II who took the Magara or
Magadai kingdom, the eastern part of the Salem district, and sent
forward two of his generals to attack Sēndamangalam itself and
release the Chola ruler, who was imprisoned there. They succeeded
in this and restored Rājarāja III to his position of authority. It
was probably in this war that Narasimha himself marched towards
Srirangam with a view to preventing the Pāndyas from invading
the Chola country, carried the war into the Pāndya country, and
is said to have set up a pillar of victory. at Rāmēsvaram. In this
southern campaign he seems to have associated with himself his
young son Sõmēsvara who came to the throne in 1233 and ruled till
1264. In the course of these southern campaigns of Narasimha, the
Yādavas had been active on the northern frontier and had gained
some success as for south as Balagāmi in 1213, but they were easily
beaten back during the reign of Narasimha.
Sõmēsvara's accession marks the beginning of a more vigorous
reign both in the south and in the north. He carried on a successful
war against the contemporary Yādava ruler Krishna Kandara, and
## p. 483 (#533) ############################################
XVIII ]
SOMESVARA HOYSALA
483
extended his boundary northwards to the river Krishna as an
inscription of his in Pandharpur near Sholapur of 1236 indicates.
But his activities were chiefly along the Chola-Pāndya frontier
which called for his presence so constantly that he erected for him-
self a royal city there and ruled his kingdom from that distant
southern capital, except for one short interval in the middle of his
reign when he is said to have been in his ancestral Hoysala terri-
tory proper. As early as 1236 we find him in residence in the
Pāndyamandala which is said to have been acquired by his strength
and valour. Probably about this time or earlier, in the reign of his
father, the Hoysala entered into a marriage alliance with the Pān-
dyas, so that, in inscriptions of Māravarman Sundara Pāndya II of
about this date, the Hoysala monarch is called 'uncle Sõmsēvara,'
and a record of this Pāndya ruler in the Tinnevelli district namas
a village granted at the request of Sõmēsvara, Vikrama-Somi-
Chaturvēdimangalam in honour of this uncle. It was about this
time, or a few years later, that a younger brother of Rājarāja III,
afterwards Rājēndra III, became so actively hostile to his elder
brother that Sõmēsvara's intervention was called for as against this
new rival. Rājēndra had under his rule all the northern territory
of the Cholas, extending from the coast between Nellore and
Kānchi across to the Hoysala frontier, and was the most important
feudatory in the kingdom during the first twenty-five years of his
brother's reign. He appears to have become hostile some time
about 1242 or 1243, perhaps on account of Rājarāja's subserviency
to the Hoysala, who dominated from his central position in Kanna-
nür both the Pāndya and the Chola kingdoms. As a matter of fact,
the Chola power was little more than a feudatory of Sõmēsvara.
Rājēndra therefore rose as a rival claimant and had to fight against
Sõmēsvara rather than the nominal ruler, his brother. Both sides
claim the victory. They seem however to have ultimately come to
an understanding as Rājēndra is said to have let his brother rule for
yet another three years, and at last killed him. With the accession
of Rājēndra to power there was a change in the political relations
between the Chola and the Hoysala, and the accession of another
Pāndya to the throne in the person of Jaāvarman Tundara Pāndya I
in 1251 brought the Pāndyas into hostility to Sõmēsvara. How
actually this change of relations came about is not recorded, but
soon after his accession the Pāndya set out on a campaign which
lasted for more than ten years and carried the war successfully
through the Chola country as far north as Nellore. According to a
full prasasti which details the deeds of this great Pāndya, he began
31-2
## p. 484 (#534) ############################################
484 HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA (ch.
by an invasion of the Travancore country and, having compelled
the Chera ruler to submit, iarched into the Chola country. There
he defeated a number of Sõmēsvara's generals, and took Sēnda-
mangalam. He expelled from Kānchi the Telugu Choda chieftains
and was anointed there. He then invaded the territory of the
Telugu Chodas themselves, defeated and killed in battle Gandago-
pala of Nellore, and placed one of his brothers, who submitted, on
the throne instead, thus carrying the war to the frontier of the
Kākatiya territory, whence he turned back towards his capital. On
the return journey we find him in occupation of the Hoysala
capital, Vikramapura, in 1264-65, and it was either in this year, or
the end of the previous one, that he defeated and slew Sõmēsvara
in battle and brought this victorious campaign to a close by
magnificent gifts to the great temple of Srirangam, which according
to this record had suffered at the hands of the Hoysalas. They Hoy.
sala Sõmēsvara is said to have built the front gopura of the Siva
temple at Jambukēsvaram. He was probably an ardent Saiva and
had neglected the Vishnu temple at Srirangam. That is what is
hinted at in the first verse of the elaborate Sundara Pāndya in-
scription at Srirangam. He is said to have weighed himself against
gold and jewels, mounting his elephant in full panoply of war, and
made a grant of the money which he himself appropriated for the
various works of extension and restoration to the great Vishnu
temple. He was anointed again in the Vishnu temple and crowned
with the crown nagarodaya.
Sõmēsvara had two sons of whom one, Narasimha III, the son
of queen Bijjala Rāni, was left in charge of the ancestral dominions
of the Hoysalas. Nearly ten years before his death he associated
with himself his other son Vira Rāmanātha, son of his queen Dēvala
Mahādēvi. The activities of the Yādavas probably called for this
division, and Narasimha III as regent of his father had to resist
more than one invasion. In 1276 the Yādava general Sāluva
Tikkama reached the capital, Dvārasamudra, but was beaten back
by the efforts of the prince. Vira Rāmanātha continued to rule
from Kannanūr, and some of his inscriptions are found in Tanjore
Sendalai and Mannargudi, so that the Hoysala Rāmanātha may
be reckoned among the rulers of the south. Narasimha reigned till
1292 when he was succeeded by his son, Ballāla III. Ramanātha
ruled his extensive territory with an alternative capital Kundāni
in the Salem district and waged war against his own brother in the
south of Mysore. He died shortly after his brother, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Visvanātha, who seems to have ſuled for three
## p. 485 (#535) ############################################
XVIII)
FOUR KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH
485
years after the death of his father.
When Visvanātha died the
southern territory also was again united under Vira Ballāla III,
the last great Hoysala.
The accession of Vira Ballāla marks a point in South Indian
History, when India south of the Vindhyas assumes, as it were, a
new political division and stands divided into four important king.
doms, two of which were situated in the Deccan and the other two
in the Peninsula. Of these four kingdoms three had formed part of
the Chālukya kingdom, the northern most being the kingdom of the
Yādavas, with their capital at Deogir. The Yādavas and the Hoy-
salas contributed most to the dismemberment of the Chālukya
empire, and when dismemberment came benefited most by occu-
pying compact blocks of territory. The river Krishna may roughly
be regarded as the frontier between the two, that being the frontier
for which the wars of the previous centuries were waged, whatever
were the dynasties actually ruling to the north and south of it.
The Yādava kingdom occupied the whole of the western half of the
Deccan, and its eastern frontier may be marked by a line drawn
roughly from somewhere east of Bījāpur through Gulbarga, Yādgir
Kalyāni, north east to Mahūr proceeding further north eastwards ;
all the territory west of it belonged to the Yādavas of Deogir. The
territory on the eastern side extending to the lower course of the
river Krishna belonged to the Kākatiyas, who as feudatories of the
later Chalukyas had their territory in the Nizām's dominions with
a capital at Anamkonda, which later on they transferred to their
own fortified citadel of Warangal. Therefrom the dynasty extended
its territory chiefly at the expense of the waning power of the
Eastern Chālukyas. During the long reign of Ganapati, perhaps
the greatest among this dynasty, the southern frontier was settled
for them at the lower course of the river Krishna by the reduction
of the Telugu Choda chiefs of Nellore by Jatāvarman Sundara
Pāndya I. His daughter Rudrama or Rudrāmba, who succeeded,
was well able to maintain the territory bequeathed to her and hand
it over in fullness of time to her grandson Pratāparudra II, who
came to the throne about the same time as Vira Ballāla III. With
the advent of Jatāvarman Sundara Pāndya the Chola territory had
been reduced to subordination to him. With the death of the
Hoysala Sõmēsvara, who had practically reduced the Cholas to a
position of complete insignificance and held their territory under
his own authority, so that under his son Vira Rāmanātha what had
been the Chola kingdom was generally regarded as the territory of
the Hoysala Rāmanātha, the Hoysala hold was gradually slackening
## p. 486 (#536) ############################################
486
( CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
1
while yet Vīra Rāmanātha was alive, chiefly from the pressure of
the Pāndyas from the south. When the last great Pāndya, Mara-
varman Kulasēkhara, ascended the throne in 1268 he seems to have
gradually increased the pressure so much that he is often referred
to as being in his capital Jayankonda-Solapuram, which is only
about six miles from the regular Chola capital Gangaikonda-Sõla.
puram. Under this great ruler, whose reign lasted till 1311, the
Chola territory had definitely become Pāndyan, and the Telugu
Chodas of Nellore, with their territory taking in the central block
of the Nellore district and the Ceded Districts adjoining, constituted
a buffer state between the Kākatiyas in the north and the Pāndyas
in the south along the whole length of the Coromandel coast. The
Hoysala frontier and the Pandya frontier ran together along the
whole length of it. Beginning from somewhere near Adoni, not far
from the banks of the Krishna, this frontier ran close to the foot-
hills of the Eastern Ghāts along the eastern frontiers of the present
day Mysore territory, and proceeding westwards as far as thc
Nilgiris through the two Kongus, north and south. The Hoysalas
as the central power remained in touch with the remaining three
powers, and had to maintain their frontier against all three. While
therefore they have had occasionally to go to war against their
northern neighbours, more often against the Yādavas than against
the Kākatīyas, they had to be considerably more active and con.
stantly vigilant along the total length of their southern and eastern
frontier. The position of these four powers was such and their
interests so divided that when the first Muhammadan invasions
deluged the territory of the Yādavas of Deogir there was no
common motive or interest among the four powers to adopt a con-
certed policy, or take common action.
Such common action was hardly called for from the character
of the first invasions under 'Alā-ud-din Khalji. The first invasion
was no more than a plundering raid ; and the next one under him
was little more. It was the advent of Malik Kāfür with more defi.
nite instructions from his master to reduce the southern Hindu
states to the position of tributaries that aroused these states to the
real danger of the Muhammadan invasions. Even then the four
kingdoms were so divided and separate in interests that the mis-
fortune which befell one kingdom hardly evoked any active inter-
vention on the part of the others. The Muhammadan conquests at
first introduced hardly any sensible change in the political condi-
tion of the kingdoms, involving no more than nominal subordination
and the payment of tribute annually if it could be enforced. Hence
## p. 487 (#537) ############################################
XVIII)
ÈÅRLI MUSLIM INVASIONS
487
Deogir fell and Warangal ſell after two invasions and a raid was
undertaken against the Hoysala capital of Dvarasamudra. The
kings of the three kingdoms were treated almost similarly by 'Alā-
ud-din. They were regarded as feudatories of high rank in the
empire liable to tribute and subjected to occasional extortion when
they gave cause by failure to send tribute. As often happened in
Southern India, a pretext for intervention in the affairs of the
Pāndya kingdom presented itself to the Muslims. Vīra and Sundara,
the sons of the great Pāndya, Māravarman Kulasēkhara, contended
for their father's throne, and Sundara, being worsted, appealed to
'Alā-ud-dīn Khalji for help. Malik Kālūr, then occupied with the
-
Hoysalas, invaded the Tamil kingdom, placed Sundara Pandya on
the throne, and took advantage of the occasion to march through
the Chola and Pāndya country as far south as Rāmēsvaram, his
chief object being to secure the treasure accumulated in the temples
of Southern India and gain possession of the elephants in the
stables of the South Indian monarchs. Malik Kāſūr returned to the
north after his magnificent march across peninsular India, carrying
elephant loads of treasure unheard of before. This success confirmed
his position at court. 'Alā-ud-din's illness and Malik Kāſūr's in-
trigues gave the south respite from foreign aggression, and enabled
a Malabar ruler to descend from his mountains and carry his arms
successfully across the whole of the Pāndya and Chola territory as
far as Nellore. This was Ravivarman Kulasēkhara, who, starting
from the Travancore country, defeated the Pandya, and marched
northwards occupying Tiruvadi in South Arcot, then Kānchi and
then Poonamalle, going as far north as Nellore itself. He left in-
scriptions in all these places and was anointed in Tiruvadi and
Kānchi, and, on his return journey, in Srirangam. He was however
expelled by the officers of Pratāparudra II, who penetrated as far
south as Jambukēsvaram in the island of Srirangam, where one of
them left an inscription. Thus the four states of Southern India
were leſt to themselves, and their tribute naturally ſell into arrears.
When Mubārak ascended the throne he had virtually to re-
conquer India south of the Vindhyas. He showed great energy in
the early years of his reign, marched to Deogir and, having extin-
guished the ruling dynasty, made Deogir the first Muhammadan
province in the south, and planted along its southern frontier a
number of Muhammadan garrisons in salient points. This seems to
have given the first warning to the Hoysala monarch, who adopted
the policy of the Indian reed, bending down when the flood runs
high, and standing up again when it has passed. The Hoysala
## p. 488 (#538) ############################################
488
ch.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
replied to this menace by planting garrisons along his northern fron-
tier, but so unobtrusively that his Muhammadan neighbours failed
to notice it. Muhammadan invasions under the Tughluqs continued
as before. The overthrow of the Kakatiyas and the accession of Mu-
hammad Tughluq heralded a more aggressive policy in the Deccan.
Muhammad's activities in the south have been related in Chapter VI.
By 1328 he had occupied both Madura and its outer salient
Kannanūr, the Hoysala capital in the Chola country north of the
island of Srirangam, and the Hoysala Vira Ballāla replied by begin-
ning the fortification of Hampi as a substitute for Kampli, which
had been destroyed during the rebellion of Bahā-ud-din Gurshāsp.
He further strengthened the garrisons along the northern frontier,
and moved southwards to occupy Tīruvannāmalai as a more suitable
centre from which to watch Muhammadan garrisons in the south
and Muhammadan movements from the north. This active move-
ment of the Hoysala disconcerted the Muhammadan governor of
Ma'bar, and Muhammad had to send further contingents and other
governors. Jalāl-ud-din Ahsan Shāh, the last officer sent by him
ruled in the name of his master for about five years, and proclaimed
his independence in 1331. This rebellion was followed by others in
the north, so that the south was left entirely to itself, and Jalāl-ud-
din could enjoy a short period of independence. This interval of
difficulty to Muhammad the Hoysala took advantage of to the full
and gradually extended his authority southwards into the Chola
country, and was even prepared, about 1340, to plan and carry
out a sweeping movement as far south as Rāmēs varam itself! . As a
provision against contingencies in this dangerous enterprise of his
he had his son anointed to the throne in the holy place of Hampi
under the designation of Vira Virūpāksha Ballāla, in honour of the
god Virūpāksha of Hampi, one of the long established holy places
of the Hindus. His movements were so far successful that the
northern garrisons held their positions efficiently and prevented the
Muhammadans from coming into the south, if they ever made an
effort at all. On the south he was able to isolate Madura, and even
separate Kannanūr from it, so that in 1342 the garrison of Madura
felt that there was no alternative for them except to make a
desperate sally, as Kannanūr was so closely besieged that the fall
of the place, which was imminent, would mean inevitably the fall of
Madura. In a battle fought at Trichinopoly in 1342 Vīra Ballāla
was taken prisoner at the moment of victory, and put to death. His
son apparently succeeded, and perhaps also fell, like his father, in
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invaders. p. 172 et seq.
See p. 149.
## p. 489 (#539) ############################################
Xv11)
FOUNDATION OF VIJAYANAGAR
489
.
battle two or three years after his succession to the throne. The
rulers fell, but the officers who had charge of the various garrisons
planted across the northern frontier, continued the good work.
Among these, five brothers had charge of important garrisons along
the northern frontier. The eldest, Harihara or Hariyana Odiyar, had
the southern Marātha territory under his charge with his head-
quarters at Bankāpur or Goa. What was hitherto Banavāsi 12,000
and the coast country over against Mysore on the west were under
his authority. Hampi and Dvārasamudra with an alternative at
Penukonda were in charge of the third brother Bukka. Nellore
and Udayagiri with the dependent territory were in charge of the
second brother Kampa. The two youngest of the five brothers were
subordinate governors, one at Āraga near Tirthalli in Mysore and
the other at Penukonda. Behind all these at Mulbāgal was placed
the young and enterprising son of Bukka, by name Kumāra Kam-
pana. He is described in Indian chronicles as having held the
position of door-keeper to the Hoysala monarch. The five brothers
and this prince were the officers of the Hoysalas who were primarily
responsible for the foundation of Vijayanagar.
Muhammad Tughluq's aggressive policy in the south menaced
the Hindus with the complete destruction of their civilisation and
religion. It was with difficulty that disaffection was suppressed even
in the provinces directly under Muhammadan rule. The Kākatīya
ruler had learned prudence by bitter experience; his young sons
had no reason for the same caution. They seem to have thrown
themselves heart and soul into the movement originated by the
Hoysalas. With the death of the Hoysala monarchs, both father and
son, the mantle of leadership fell upon their officers, and the five
brothers and the son of one of them stood out as leaders of this
movement, possibly with the active assistance of the Brāhman sage
Vidyāranya, whose association with the movement gives a clear in-
dication of its character.
Various stories are related of the foundation of Vijayanagar.
The fortification of the city that afterwards became Vijayanagar
must, however, be regarded as the deliberate work of the last
great Hoysala ruler, Vira Ballāla III. It was founded soon after
the destruction of Kampli by the army of Muhammad and the
immediately following invasion of the Hoysala capital of Dvāra-
samudra. The fortifications were probably completed by about
1336, the traditional date ascribed to its foundation, and the fact
that the Ballāla prince was anointed about the year 1340 in the
holy place of Hampi, confirms this view. From 1335 onwards the
## p. 490 (#540) ############################################
490
CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
(
Hoysala power had to face the Muslim in two directions. The
northern frontier was put into a state of defence and on the south
the Muhammadan kingdom of Madura was attacked. In the early
campaigns of 'Alā-ud-din Bahman Shāh, the founder of the Bahmani
kingdom, figure the names of three chieftains, Harihara, Bukka and
Kampa, disguised as Harib (Hariyappa), Kapras (Bukkapparazu),
and Kampras (Kamparazu). Earlier than this we have the state.
ment of Ibn Batūta that the Muhammadan Sultan of Honowar was
a subordinate of the Hindu chieftain Horaib (Hariyappa). It is
thus clear that the arrangement made by Ballāla III continued
through the reign of his son, and lasted even longer. The last
known date of Hariyappa or Harihara is 1346, the year preceding
that in which Bahman Shāh assumed independence. During the
next five years the Bahmani kingdom was open to attack from
the north, and was not free for aggressive action on its southern
frontier. When Bahman Shāh passed away Bukka was the sole
representative of the Hoysala wardens of the marches, and succeeded
to the kingdom and the responsibilities of the Hoysalas. His son
Kumāra Kampana waged a successful war against the Sambuvarāya
chieftains of the pālār basin and the Sultans of Madura. In the
early years of Muhammad Shāh Bahmani I both the Muhamniadan
and Hindu powers alike had to keep watch on the movements of
Fīruz Shāh Tughluq, as his attitude towards the southern rebels,
Muhammadan and Hindu, had not yet become clear. When Fīrūz
definitely declared that he would not interfere in the affairs of
the south-, the two powers stood face to face, and then began the
great duel which lasted practically all the time that the empire of
Vijayanagar was in existence.
The earlier wars between the lately established kingdoms of
the Deccan and Vijayanagar are described in Chapter xv. Mu-
hammad I died in 1377, and Bukka followed him a year later.
After the destruction of the Muhammadan kingdom of Madura in
13772 Vijayanagar was free to employ its whole strength against its
northern neighbour, and, notwithstanding the victories of Mujāhid
Shāh Bahmni in that year, ventured to describe himself as “emperor
of the south' among other imperial titles; and claimed to be 'one
that established the Vedas, and maintained the four castes and
orders, and as 'the publisher of the commentaries on the Vedas. '
It was in this work of the founders of Vijayanagar that the Brāhmans,
Vidyāranya and his brother Sāyana, had a share. The Hindu king-
a
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invaders, p. 186, and Elliot, III, p. 339.
2 See p. 150.
>
## p. 491 (#541) ############################################
XVIII)
FIRST DYNASTY OF VIJAI ANAGAR
491
dom of Vijayanagar stood for all that constituted Hindu civilisation
and culture in the south. The five brothers and prince Kampana
continued the policy of the last Hoysalas, and Harihara II reaped
the fruits of their labours. With him, therefore, the kingdom may
be said to begin.
The first dynasty, which lasted up to the year 1487, a little
over a century the formal assumption of the royal title by
Harihara II, counted six rulers. As before in South Indian history
the Rāichūr Doāb, the land between the river Krishna and the
Tungabhadra, formed the bone of contention between the states
to the north and the south of the former river.
With the accession of Harihara's successor, Dēvarāya I, began
a period of wars which lasted for forty years, more or less con-
tinuously, and have been already described in Chapter XV. The
accession of Devarāya Il marked the zenith of the prosperity of
Vijayanagar under the first dynasty.
When Devarāya II had been on the throne for about ten years
a change of rulers took place in Orissa to the north of the territory
of Warangal which exercised great influence upon the history of
Vijayanagar during the next century. In 1435, the last year of
the reign of Ahmad I, Bahmani, the enterprising and ambitious
Kapilesvaradeva ascended the throne of Orissa. By that time the
territory of Warangal had been annexed by the Bahmani kingdom,
but the Telingana coast was as yet unconquered, and was open to
the enterprise of rising power of Orissa. The Bahmani kingdom
had been involved in wars with the Sultan of Khāndesh, the Marātha
chieftains on the western and south-western frontier, and the Gond
chieftain, Raja Narsingh Kherla. Kapilēsvara took advantage
of these difficulties to extend his territory gradually along the coast
to the Godāvarī, and extended his raids as far south as Nellore and
Udayagiri. A new danger thus threatened Vijayanagar. In the
years immediately preceding 1440 Vijayanagar took the offensive
and attacked the Bahmani kingdom, but was worsted. An investi-
gation of the causes of the defeat led to the conclusion that the
superiority of the Muhammadan forces lay in their Turkish force
of mounted archers, and Dēvarāya took steps immediately to remove
the defect by enlisting a special force of 2000 Muhammadan archers,
cantoning them in a special quarter of the city where they had a
mosque and a separate slaughter-house, and respecting their senti.
ment so far as to place a copy of the Koran in front of his throne,
so that the obeisance made before the monarch was offered to the
Koran. This force was not the first Muhammadan contingent in
## p. 492 (#542) ############################################
492
(CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
the Vijayanagar armies. The last Hoysala is said to have had a
contingent of 20,000 Muhammadans in the battle at Trichinopoly.
Inscriptions state that Dēvarāya I, a predecessor of Devarāya II,
employed a force of Muhammadan cavalry. Devarāya employed
these troops to train other archers, so that in the course of the
next few years he had a body of 60,000 archers ready to take the
field'. With this reformed army he sent an expedition into the
Bahmani kingdom in 1443 which achieved considerable success
against the Bahmani forces. During the absence of the army an
abortive attempt on Dēvarāya's life was made by one of his relatives.
It was soon after this incident that 'Abd-ur-Razzāq, the ambassador
of Shāh Rukh from Samarqand, who had been for some time in
Calicut, came to Vijayanagar and stayed a few months in the capital.
From his account it appears that by 1442 the fortifications, temples,
palaces, and public buildings of Vijayanagar had been completed.
The city occupied a space of about sixty-four square miles, and had
the seven enclosures - the accepted numbers of circuits for a first-
class city. The three outermost enclosures contained only fields
intended for cultivation, with the huts of those engaged on the land.
The four inner enclosures were occupied by houses, the innermost
containing the palace and its precincts. A number of channels
had baen led into the city from the Tungabhadra; one of them yet
goes by the name Rāya channel They were intended partly for
the purpose of cultivation and partly for the water-supply of the
city. Even allowing for exaggeration in Abd-ur-Razzāq's account,
Vijayanagar under Dévarāya II must have been a splendid city,
and exceedingly well fortified. Dēvarāya II lived for six years
after this date and died in February 1449, a brother of the same
name having predeceased him by three years. Dēvarāya II, by
far the greatest ruler of the first dynasty, was excelled only perhaps
by Krishnadevarāya of all the kings of Vijayanagar. Under him
the kingdom as a whole had been well knit together and brought
under an ordered administration, chiefly through the genius of the
great Danayak' of 'Abd-ur-Razzaq, the Brāhman minister Lakkana
or Lakshmi-dhara. Lakkana and his brother Madana were governors
of important divisions in the south and passed from province to
province by way of official promotion. There were other governors
besides, each in his own province, and all of them were kept well
in hand by the ruler and his chief ministers. The only frontier
that caused anxiety was the northern frontier, and that through
the activities of the monarch of Orissa. When Dēvarāya II died,
1 See p. 406.
## p. 493 (#543) ############################################
XVII ]
SĀLUVA NARASIMHA
493
а
therefore, the kingdom was in the most satisfactory condition and
passed on without dispute to his eldest living son, Mallikārjuna.
Dēvarāya II had lost in the course of his lifetime one or two of
his
grown up sons in the wars against the Muslims. It is also said
that in the massacre which ended in the attempt upon his life, one
of his grown up sons was killed. It seems probable therefore that
Mallikārjuna succeeded to the throne comparatively young. The
accession of this new ruler was taken advantage of by the two
northern powers, the Bahmani kingdom and the Hindu state of
Orissa. They made a combined attack and laid siege to the capital.
Young Mallikārjuna succeeded in repulsing them about the year
1450, and ruled for nearly ten years in peace. About the end of
this period we hear of him in residence in Penugonda with his
minister Timma 'on business connected with the administration of
the kingdom of Narasimha. ' This could only mean that he moved
eastward from the capital and was for some time on the frontiers
of the territory of the rising chieftain Sāluva Narasimha either to
protect his own dominions, or, as is more likely, to be prepared
to support Narasimha against the ruler of Orissa and his Muslim
allies. Neither inscriptions nor other sources of information avail-
able to us so far tell us any more about him than that he continued
to rule till 1467 or 1468. The kingdom appears to have continued
intact during the whole of his reign.
It was during his reign that the Sāluva chieſtain, whose ances-
tral territory lay around Chandragiri or Nārāyanavanām in the
modern district of Chittūr, and whose ancestors for a few genera-
tions had been working loyally in behalf of the kingdom, comes
into prominent notice. Mangū or Mangirāja of this family bore an
honourable share in the southern campaigns of prince Kampana,
and his successors, several of them held important positions in the
state, and one of them had married into the royal family. Narasimha
or Narasingha found an opportunity for signal achievement in the
aggressive activities of the monarchs of Orissa who had penetrated
certainly as far as Nellore, and either at this time or a little later,
as far south as the South Arcot district. He developed his resources
early and gradually extended his influence in the neighbouring
provinces of the kingdom of Vijayanagar so as to be able to offer
effective resistance to these aggressions. He was so far successful
that his control was more or less acknowledged over the greater
Gangadasapratapavilasam, India Office Catalogue of MSS, by Julius Eggeling,
No. 1610. 'Alā-ud-din Ahmad Bahmani was in no position to supply a large
contingent for the prosecution of this campaign.
1
## p. 494 (#544) ############################################
494
[CH
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
part of the kingdom. Having thus consolidated his position he
marched into the southern possessions of Orissa and gradually
pushed the invaders back so that when the attention of Muhammad
Shāh Bahmani III was drawn to the political condition of the
Telingāna coast about 1476, he found Sāluva Narasimha posted in
great strength on the banks of the Godāvari at Rājahmundry.
Muhammad's efforts to dislodge him do not appear to have been
attended with success, and he had to content himself merely by
carrying a raid across his territory as far south as Kānchi'. While
Narasimha was opposing the Bahmani king, a change had taken
place in the kingdom of Vijayanagar ; either Mallikārjuna died, or
was put to death by a younger brother, by name Virūpāksha. This
latter, whether guilty of his brother's death or no, put to death all
who could dispute his possession of the throne, and carried on the
administration so inefficiently and oppressively that the eastern
and southern provinces transferred their allegiance to Narasimha.
On the west coast his maladministration caused the Arab horse-
traders who had settlements on the west coast to transfer their
places of business from the ports of the kingdom to those beyond
the Vijayanagar frontier. Sāluva Narasimha decided that the only
way of saving the kingdom was to depose Virūpāksha and seize the
throne for himself, and in 1487 Narasa, who commanded his troops,
deposed the tyrant and assumed the government of the kingdom
on behalf of his master. This was the first usurpation in the king-
dom, and Narasimha found his justification in the perils which
menaced it. Virūpāksha's reign corresponded with the reign of
Purushottama Gajapati of Orissa. Purushottama's records assert
that he penetrated as far south as Kānchi, carried off a princess of
Kānchi, and married her in peculiarly romantic circumstances. .
Narasimha ruled as king for six years, during which period he
recovered most of the revolted provinces, but failed to conquer the
Rāichūr Doāb, which was retained by the Bahmani kingdom, or to
recover Udayagiri, which remained in the possession of the raja
of Orissa. On his death-bed he entrusted the kingdom and his two
sons to Narasa, begging him to carry on the administration, to
enthrone whichever of his two sons should prove the fitter for rule,
and to recover Rāichūr, Umagal, and Udayagiri. Narasa placed
one of Narasimha's young sons on the throne, but this prince died
as the result of wounds that he received in an expedition into the
Rāichūr Doāb. Narasa circumvented court intrigues, placed the
second son of Narasimha upon the throne, and carried on the
1 Şee pp. 417. 419,
## p. 495 (#545) ############################################
xvu)
KRISHNADEVARAYA
495
administration as before. He died in 1505, and it was his son, Vira
Narasimha, that deposed the Sāluva ruler Narasimha II.
This second usurpation caused widespread rebellion and Nara-
simha was engaged during the four or five years of his reign in
attempting to recover the revolted provinces. He was successful
on the whole, but the enterprising Gangarāja Ummattūr remained
in rebellion, in the territory round Kānchi. Vira Narasimha leſt
some infant sons and three grown up brothers, and charged his
faithful minister Säluva Timma, as Nuniz records, to put out the
eyes of the ablest of his grown-up brothers, and place on the throne
one of his sons. The minister proved false to the dying sovereign
and remained true to the interests of the kingdom; and placed
the youngest brother, marked for mutilation, upon the throne in
1509. Thus ascended the throne the great king Krishnadevarāya of
Vijayanagar.
Krishna ascended the throne at a critical moment in the history
of South India.
## p. 476 (#524) ############################################
476
(CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
that the Chālukya king Vikramāditya died, and his great con-
temporary Kulottunga died about a decade earlier and was succeeded
by his son Vikraina Chola. This last seems to have carefully checked
Hoysala aggression in the south so that Vishnu had to devote
himself to acquiring territory in the north. Vikramāditya was
succeeded by his son Sõmēsvara, with the title 'Bhūlõkamalla. '
During the first year of his reign the boundaries of the Hoysala
territory are defined exactly, as before, with Sāvimalai for the
northern limit. The new succession seems to have stimulated
Vishnu's activities afresh, and this renewed activity seems to have
frightened Sõmēsvara. Even while Vikramāditya was alive this
aggressive activity of the Hoysala chieftain attracted the attention
of the king, who deputed a number of his more loyal governors,
chief among them the Kadambas of Goa and the Sinda chieftain of
Elberga, to check the rising Hoysala. The Sinda chieftain Achugi II
who like the Hoysala Ereyanga, Vishnu's father, laid claim to
having rendered valuable services to Vikramāditya in his usurpa-
tion, seems to have inflicted a check if not a defeat on Vishnu's
general Gangarāja, which constrained him to suspend activities for
some time. These were renewed after the death of the great king.
In 1130 we find the Hoysalas supreme over the whole of the present
territory of Mysore with some territory in the region of Kongu
along the foothills of the Ghāts, together with portions of the
district of Dhārwār, Nolambavādi or Eastern Mysore being in large
part still out of thc Hoysala territory. Even within the narrow
limits of this territory he had enemies yet to overcome, such as the
Chengālva and Kongālva chiefs along the Western Ghats. Gangarāja
seems to have been so devoted to the Jain faith that he is given
credit for having restored all the Jain shrines destroyed during
the repeated invasions of the Cholas, and made Mysore shine like
Köpana (Koppal in the Nizāın’s dominions). For some year Vishnu
was chiefly engaged in the north against the chiefs on the frontier
for the final acquisition of Banavāsi and Nolambavādi. For, in spite
of the Mysore records, inscriptions of Sõmēsvara III show a series
of governors in charge of Banavāsi, and Vira-Pandya is said to
have been ruling from Uchangi-durga, the province of Nolambāvadi
32,000 Chālukya records of 1137 for the first time show Vishnu-
vardhana to be the Mahāmandalēsvara in charge of Gangavādi,
Nolambavādi and Banavāsi, constituting the whole of the present
State of Mysore. This year, therefore, may be regarded as marking
an epoch in the rise of the Hoysalas to independence, and the ten
years between the death of Vikramāditya and this must have been
## p. 477 (#525) ############################################
XVIII)
DECLINE OF THE CHÄLUKYAŚ
477
Even so,
a period of struggle to reach this assured position.
Bankāpur in Dhārwār must be regarded as the northern limit of his
conquests, all Hoysala statements to the contrary notwithstanding.
Vishnuvardhana then must be credited with having succeeded in
uniting the whole of the modern Mysore State under his rule ; but
he did not venture to assume the royal dignity. During the re-
maining years of his life he devoted himself to securing his position
on the northern frontier where things were moving fast towards
disruption. He marked his accession to royal power in this year
by the performance of the royal act of tulā purusha? . ' He weighed
himself against gold and distributed it among Brāhmans and other
deserving recipients of charitable gifts. The next year he had to
repulse an invasion of Dvārasamudra by Jagad. dēva and himself
laid siege to Hangal in Dhārwār thereby making it clear that his
position in the north was far from certain.
In this same year, 1138, the Chālukya Sõmēsvara III died and
was succeeded by his son Jagadēkamalla in the Chalukya kingdom.
Vishnu renewed his aggressions, taking advantage of the new succes.
sion, but was again baulked by the activities of the loyal governors
of the kingdom. His activity ceased in 1141 or soon after, and though
he was virtually independent he never ventured to assume the
royal title. He was succeeded by his son Vijaya Narasimha, who is
generally said to have been crowned at his birth. He was a child
of eight at his accession, and his territory could be preserved only
by the efforts of his father's generals in the struggle that followed
the disruption of the Chālukya kingdom,
Vikramāditya's long reign of fifty-two years was, as has already
been remarked, one of peace, except for one invasion of the Chola
territory and the occasional checks that had to be administered to
the rising ambitions of the Hoysala feudatory in the last years of his
reign. Vikramāditya had occasionally to carry on wars across the
Narbada ; but these wars were not of frequent occurrence. At his
l
death his kingdom extended from Broach to Erode and from Man-
galore to the Sītābaldi hills in the Central Provinces. This vast
territory was parcelled out into a number of viceroyalties ; the
Seunas or Yādavas with a capital at Sinnar near Nāsik and later
at Deogiri ; the Silāharas of the northern and southern Konkan-
and of Kolhāpur, and the Kadambas of Goa and Hangal. East
of these were the territories of the Sindas at Elberga, of the
Guttas of Guttal in Dhārwār, and of the Rattas of Saundatti in
1 Ep. Car. Bl. 17, cf. 1136.
? Ibid, vi, Cin. 161
3 lbid v, p. xviii.
## p. 478 (#526) ############################################
478
(CH.
HINDU STATES İN SOUTHERN INDIA
Belgaum. Then came the royal domain, namely, all the Nizām's
dominions except the most easterly part, the Khammamet division,
and lastly the viceroyalty in the Central Provinces with its capital
at Sītābaldi'. This leaves out Banavāsi, Nolambavādi and Ganga-
vādi under the Hoysalas, although up to the last years of Vishnu-
vardhana almost, other viceroys continued to be appointed for the
two former. This great kingdom passed in 1128 to his son Sõmēs.
vara III, who was succeeded in 1138 by his son Pērma Jagadēka-
malla who ruled till 1150. In this reign comes to notice a young
man of promise whose father was governor of Tardavādi 1000, a
district round Bijāpur, an alternative capital of the Chālukyas.
This was Bijjala. He became governor of the same province as his
father, and later was appointed viceroy of Nolambavādi and Bana.
vāsi, governing these provinces by deputies while he himself remained
at the capital like the Sayyid brothers under the Mughul emperor
Farrukhsiyar. This change in the position of Bijjala is already
noticeable under Jagadēkamalla ; but when the latter was succeeded
by his brother Taila III, his power grew perceptibly till in 1156 he
became virtually ruler, though Taila reigned nominally till 1163.
Another enterprising ruler about this time was rising on the
horizon of history on the eastern frontier. After the accession of
Vikrama Chola the Eastern Chālukya dominions fell into disorder,
and an enterprising chief between the two Chālukya kingdoms
found his opportunity. Just within the frontier of the Eastern
Chālukyas is the hamlet of Anamakonda, the ancestral capital of
the Kākatiyas, known generally as the Kākatiyas of Warangal,
which his son Prola founded and whither he had shifted the capital.
This Prola lays claim to having defeated Tailapa some time in his
reign, and it was very likely that this took place in 1155. This
external shock combined with the loss of hold on the Mahāmanda-
lēsvaras must have thrown Tailapa into the arms of Bijjala, who
for the time proved the saviour of the empire. Bijjala having thus
acquired power gradually assumed royal state. His usurpation was
opposed alike by the loyal Sindas, in spite of their family alliance
with him, and by the Pāndyas of Nolambavādi, but Bijjala succeeded,
and he and his three sons continued to rule the kingdom for twenty
years, from 1163 to 1183 when Bomma or Brāhma, son of Bijjala's
general Kāmadeva or Kāvana, restored the son of Taila III under
the title Somèsvara IV. Sömēsvara IV ruled till 1189, and his
rule was confined to the southern and south-western parts of his
dominions. A combination of some of his chiefs against him and
1 Fleet : Bom. Gaz. 1, Pt. i, pp, 450-1.
!
## p. 479 (#527) ############################################
Xvni
YADAVAS AND KÅKATİYAS
479
his loyal feudatories the Sindas compelled him to retire to the
northern frontier of his dominions, and nothing more was heard of
him. In the scramble for territory that followed two leading powers
divided the kingdom, the Yādavas of Deogir and the Hoysalas of
Dvārasamudra, the Kākatīyas of Warangal taking a humbler share
of the spoil.
Narasimha succeeded to the throne as a boy and ruled for thirty•
two years. His reign was co-eval with the reigns of Jagadekamalla
and Taila III, and ran into a part of the usurpec Bijjala's reign.
Though Vishnuvardhana's title to Banavāsi and Nola mbavādi had
been in a way recognised in 1137 or 1138 under Sömēsvara III,
other royal officers continued to be appointed for the viceroyalty of
each of these provinces. These were included in the commissioner-
ship of the southern treasury' held by Bijjala himself. As a matter
of fact no Hoysala inscriptions have co. ne from these provinces
dated before the reign of Vira Ballāla II. During the reign of
Narasimha therefore these provinces may be taken to have been
outside his territory though his general Bokimayya or Bokana
brought under subjection to him the Tulu, the Changālva, the
Kongālva territories, and Bayalnādu (Wainād) in 1155. The same
general marched upon Bankapura, then in the occupation of the
Kadambas, and defeated them. It was during this period that
Bijjala was carrying out his scheme of usurpation, and Narasimha
obtained some successes both against other viceroys and Bijjala
himself by means of the opposition set up to Bijjala's usurpation.
In the course of this struggle Narasimha was gradually able to
impose his influence upon both Nolambavādi and Banavāsi, leaving
his son to complete the conquests of these provinces. Narasimha
died in 1173, and was succeeded by his son Vira Ballāla II, who
ruled for forty-seven years, from 1173 to 1220.
Vira Ballāla's reign coincided in the earlier part with the reign
of Bijjala's sons, extending from 1167 to 1186, and he took advantage
of the unpopularity of the usurpation to consolidate his own king-
dom. Vira Ballāla had already distinguished himself under his
father's general Tantrapāla Hemmādi in the conquest of the hill
territories and those of the Kongālva, Changälva and others. From
the date of his accession references to Chālukya overlordship dis-
appear from inscriptions, as in fact it was the period of usurpation
by the Kalachūryas. Although Vira Ballāla did not assume formal
independence and even recognised the overlordship of Sankama.
the third son of Bijjala, he was more or less independent. About
the year 1178 he brought under subjection the province of
## p. 480 (#528) ############################################
480
CH,
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
Nolambavādi after capturing its capital Ucchangidurga. He restored
the capital to Vijaya Pāndya on his submission. The loyalist opposi-
tion to the usurpers does not appear to have died out, and the
Hoysalas seem to have acted against the Pandyas of Nolambavādi
with the countenance of the last usurper. This brought on an in-
vasion of the Hoysala territory by the loyalist general Bamma who
restored the Chālukya dynasty by setting Sömēsvara IV on his
ancestral throne in 1183. Sõmēsvara was compelled to retire to the
southwest of his dominions before the rising power of the Yādavas
under Bhillama on the one side, and that of the Kākatiyas under
Prola and his son Pratā parudra I on the other. This extension of
the Yādava power brings the Hoysalas and the Yādavas face to face
on the banks of Mālprabhā and then the Krishna. It was in this
neighbourhood that a battle was fought, at Soratūr near Gadag,
where Bhillama Yādava was finally defeated, and the fort of Lokundi
in Dhārwār was occupied by Vira Ballāla in 1190. He captured
besides other fortified places in the same neighbourhood, between
the present Mysore frontier and the Krishna. Sömēsvara had dis-
appeared before this as a reuslt of a defeat suffered by him from
his feudatories, and this victory gave Vira Ballāla the occasion for
assuming formal independence, as no suzerain remained. The loyal
Sindas had already been overpowered, and there was no power
between the Hoysalas and the Yādavas. The Mālprabhā and the
Krishna formed the boundary between these two contending powers
on the western side of the Chālukya dominions, the eastern territory
passed into the hands of the Kākatiyas. Vira Ballāla therefore
assumed in 1191-92 the titles of a paramount power, and signalised
the event by starting an era in his name. The remaining thirty
years of his reign were devoted to the work of settling a definitive
northern frontier for the Hoysalas and consolidating the territory
acquired by them.
During this period the Chola kingdom on the south remained
intact except for the loss of hold on the northern part of the terri-
tory which, during the period of the Kylachūrya usurpation, was
fast passing into the hands of the rising power of the Kākatiyas,
Vikrama Chola was followed by a succession of three rulers who
managed to keep their territory free from disturbance except for
the attempt of the Pāndyas in the distant south to regain their
independence. This was kept well under control on the whole till
the Pāndyas enlisted on their side the support of the powerful con-
temporary Celyon ruler Parākrama Bāhul. With this new accession
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invadrs, Lect. I.
## p. 480 (#529) ############################################
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III
Map 7
72
78
co
84
es
Tropic of
Cancer
BENGAL
N. LĀTA
Dhår
No Bendte
ODDA
Tépil
Wains
Srubeldi
S. LĀTA
Nasik
20
Mahanadi
S Cuttack
Udayagiri
Mahendragiri
20
DAVAS
Deogiei
Penganga
Vziragarh
Jagdalpuro,
1
Sinnar
zu
AI
Warenez
NGA
Sinkáchalam
Vizagapatana
Kalyani
Mänfra
Godau
Blitar
avari
KAL
'Etagiri
(CH)
Bijapur
9
Kespo
Nasze
Tungaunddra. Kudelsangama
SIND
16
15
Kulpak
Rajahmandry
Mallched
Elore
Iz Kellner
PENG
Becnica
O Bidani
Mudgal
Richar
Krishna Amavati
wastür
Con Saundatio Gades
clbyre
D
a
K Koppal Kampli
ual Cagiri
Goned
Hãngel
gar
Nellore
Balageri
и •Корре.
Käkehast
Kolar
MADRAS
Chingleput
Table
Mahabalipur
Banevzal
• Parti
NOLAMBĀS
BANAVĀS
Belair Yedetor
CA
AVĀDI
NPLAY HILLS
o
S. Pennar
Kanců
NAMALAI
Karür
HILLS
10
Ncsapatam
Trichinopoly Tanjore
Pi. Kalimit
Modern Tondi,
Recand
10
VENÃO
SOUTH INDIA
about A. D. 1100
The boundary between the Chola and Chakikyas
Empires under Kulottunga I and Vikramaditya VI
is shown thus: -
Countries and Peoples thus BENGAL
Mountains . . . WESTERN CHATS
Towns
Bijapur
Rivers
Mahanadi
Seiko SANDY
Kouf
C. Comorin
Adam's
Peak
100 50
200
Scales
0
100
English Miles
100 200
Kilorgetres
100
300
76
80
84
es
## p. 480 (#530) ############################################
条
## p. 481 (#531) ############################################
XVIII)
THE PANDYAS
481
of strength there was a greater effort on the side of the Pandyas
to assert their independence, and this brought on a great war
between the Cholas and the Ceylonese. The Cholas managed ulti-
mately to turn the Ceylonese back into their island territory, and
punished the Pāndyas adequately for having thus brought on a
protracted war. While the war was still in progress the young
prince who distinguished himself in it succeeded to the throne under
the name of Kulottunga III, and ruled almost throughout the reign
of Vira Ballāla II. Severe punishment quelled the Pāndyas, but
sowed the seeds of future bitterness? . During this war Vira Ballāla
had so strengthened himself as to secure his dominions against
attack. Kulottunga died in 1216 and was succeeded by his son
Rājarāja III and Vira Ballāla's reign continued up to AD. 1220.
The two families seem to have entered into a marriage alliance,
as one of the queens of Vīra Ballāla bore the name Chola Mahā.
dēvi. The death of these great rulers created a new set of circum-
stances and gave the opportunity for a forward advance of the
Hoysalas.
Kullottunga III was succeeded by his son Rājarāja III who
reigned till 1246. Almost simultaneously with him came to the Pān:
dya throne an enterprising prince Māravarman Sundara Pandya I
whose period of reign extended from 1216 to 1239. Almost the first
act of this Pāndya's reign seems to be the organisation of an advance
upon the Chola territory with a view to taking vengeance for the
disgrace to which Kulottunga had subjected his predecessors.
Records of his ninth year claim for him the credit of having captured
and burnt the towns of Tanjore and Uraiyūr in the course of a
successful invasion of the Chola territory. This invasion must have
taken place therefore before the year 1225. From the inscrip:
tional records of Rājarāja III himself it is clear that the first few
years of his reign were peaceful. The Pāndya invasion therefore
must have taken place somewhere about the year 1220. For the
next half-century the feature of the history of the Tamil country
is the effort of the Pandyas not merely to reign their independence,
but to extend their authority over the Chola kingdom. This Chola-
Pāndya struggle provided the occasion for Hoysala intervention in
the Tamil country, and resulted in bringing about the dominance
of the Hoysala power in the south under their greatest ruler Vīra
Sõmēsvara. He fortified a permanent capital for himself at Kan-
nanūr-Vikramapura, five miles north of the island of Srirangam
in the Chola country, and his authority, was acknowledged from
is India and her Muhammadan Invaders, p. 11.
0,H. I, III,
31
## p. 482 (#532) ############################################
482
[CH.
HINDU STATE IN SOUTHERN INDIA
Pāndharpur in the Southern Marātha country to the extreme limit
of the Tinnevelli district.
Vira Ballāla continued to reign till 1220, and, according to the
usual practice, he had his son Narasimha II anointed to the succes-
sion about the . year 1217-18. With the accession of this ruler
begins Hoysala intervention in the Chola country. From inscrip-
tions in the Madura district and other sources we learn that he
intervened to protect the dominions of the Cholas from the attacks
of Māravarman Sundara Pandya I, but his help profited his ally
dittle, for by 1225 the Pāndya had destroyed the Chola cities of
Tanjore and Uraiyūr and soon afterwards occupied the capital
Mudikonda-Solapuram (Gangaikonda-Solapuram) and was anointed
in the hall of the great temple at Chidambaram, and it was only
by submitting to the conqueror that Rājarāja III regained his
kingdom. This must have happened before the year 1236-37,
very probably before 1230. The weakening of the Chola power by
this successful Pandya invasion made it possible for the Chola feu-
datroy Kö-Perum Singa (Sans. Mahārāja Simha) of Sēndamangalam
in South Arcot, the son and successor of the Pallava ch ſtain vho
was responsible for turning the Ceylonese out of the Pāndya terri-
tory in the war of Pāndya succession to declare his independence
of his Chola overlord. He either invaded the Chola country or
otherwise involved it in a war, and made Rājarāja III prisoner in
his own capital of Sēndamangalam. This insolence called for the
intervention of Hoysala Narasimha II who took the Magara or
Magadai kingdom, the eastern part of the Salem district, and sent
forward two of his generals to attack Sēndamangalam itself and
release the Chola ruler, who was imprisoned there. They succeeded
in this and restored Rājarāja III to his position of authority. It
was probably in this war that Narasimha himself marched towards
Srirangam with a view to preventing the Pāndyas from invading
the Chola country, carried the war into the Pāndya country, and
is said to have set up a pillar of victory. at Rāmēsvaram. In this
southern campaign he seems to have associated with himself his
young son Sõmēsvara who came to the throne in 1233 and ruled till
1264. In the course of these southern campaigns of Narasimha, the
Yādavas had been active on the northern frontier and had gained
some success as for south as Balagāmi in 1213, but they were easily
beaten back during the reign of Narasimha.
Sõmēsvara's accession marks the beginning of a more vigorous
reign both in the south and in the north. He carried on a successful
war against the contemporary Yādava ruler Krishna Kandara, and
## p. 483 (#533) ############################################
XVIII ]
SOMESVARA HOYSALA
483
extended his boundary northwards to the river Krishna as an
inscription of his in Pandharpur near Sholapur of 1236 indicates.
But his activities were chiefly along the Chola-Pāndya frontier
which called for his presence so constantly that he erected for him-
self a royal city there and ruled his kingdom from that distant
southern capital, except for one short interval in the middle of his
reign when he is said to have been in his ancestral Hoysala terri-
tory proper. As early as 1236 we find him in residence in the
Pāndyamandala which is said to have been acquired by his strength
and valour. Probably about this time or earlier, in the reign of his
father, the Hoysala entered into a marriage alliance with the Pān-
dyas, so that, in inscriptions of Māravarman Sundara Pāndya II of
about this date, the Hoysala monarch is called 'uncle Sõmsēvara,'
and a record of this Pāndya ruler in the Tinnevelli district namas
a village granted at the request of Sõmēsvara, Vikrama-Somi-
Chaturvēdimangalam in honour of this uncle. It was about this
time, or a few years later, that a younger brother of Rājarāja III,
afterwards Rājēndra III, became so actively hostile to his elder
brother that Sõmēsvara's intervention was called for as against this
new rival. Rājēndra had under his rule all the northern territory
of the Cholas, extending from the coast between Nellore and
Kānchi across to the Hoysala frontier, and was the most important
feudatory in the kingdom during the first twenty-five years of his
brother's reign. He appears to have become hostile some time
about 1242 or 1243, perhaps on account of Rājarāja's subserviency
to the Hoysala, who dominated from his central position in Kanna-
nür both the Pāndya and the Chola kingdoms. As a matter of fact,
the Chola power was little more than a feudatory of Sõmēsvara.
Rājēndra therefore rose as a rival claimant and had to fight against
Sõmēsvara rather than the nominal ruler, his brother. Both sides
claim the victory. They seem however to have ultimately come to
an understanding as Rājēndra is said to have let his brother rule for
yet another three years, and at last killed him. With the accession
of Rājēndra to power there was a change in the political relations
between the Chola and the Hoysala, and the accession of another
Pāndya to the throne in the person of Jaāvarman Tundara Pāndya I
in 1251 brought the Pāndyas into hostility to Sõmēsvara. How
actually this change of relations came about is not recorded, but
soon after his accession the Pāndya set out on a campaign which
lasted for more than ten years and carried the war successfully
through the Chola country as far north as Nellore. According to a
full prasasti which details the deeds of this great Pāndya, he began
31-2
## p. 484 (#534) ############################################
484 HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA (ch.
by an invasion of the Travancore country and, having compelled
the Chera ruler to submit, iarched into the Chola country. There
he defeated a number of Sõmēsvara's generals, and took Sēnda-
mangalam. He expelled from Kānchi the Telugu Choda chieftains
and was anointed there. He then invaded the territory of the
Telugu Chodas themselves, defeated and killed in battle Gandago-
pala of Nellore, and placed one of his brothers, who submitted, on
the throne instead, thus carrying the war to the frontier of the
Kākatiya territory, whence he turned back towards his capital. On
the return journey we find him in occupation of the Hoysala
capital, Vikramapura, in 1264-65, and it was either in this year, or
the end of the previous one, that he defeated and slew Sõmēsvara
in battle and brought this victorious campaign to a close by
magnificent gifts to the great temple of Srirangam, which according
to this record had suffered at the hands of the Hoysalas. They Hoy.
sala Sõmēsvara is said to have built the front gopura of the Siva
temple at Jambukēsvaram. He was probably an ardent Saiva and
had neglected the Vishnu temple at Srirangam. That is what is
hinted at in the first verse of the elaborate Sundara Pāndya in-
scription at Srirangam. He is said to have weighed himself against
gold and jewels, mounting his elephant in full panoply of war, and
made a grant of the money which he himself appropriated for the
various works of extension and restoration to the great Vishnu
temple. He was anointed again in the Vishnu temple and crowned
with the crown nagarodaya.
Sõmēsvara had two sons of whom one, Narasimha III, the son
of queen Bijjala Rāni, was left in charge of the ancestral dominions
of the Hoysalas. Nearly ten years before his death he associated
with himself his other son Vira Rāmanātha, son of his queen Dēvala
Mahādēvi. The activities of the Yādavas probably called for this
division, and Narasimha III as regent of his father had to resist
more than one invasion. In 1276 the Yādava general Sāluva
Tikkama reached the capital, Dvārasamudra, but was beaten back
by the efforts of the prince. Vira Rāmanātha continued to rule
from Kannanūr, and some of his inscriptions are found in Tanjore
Sendalai and Mannargudi, so that the Hoysala Rāmanātha may
be reckoned among the rulers of the south. Narasimha reigned till
1292 when he was succeeded by his son, Ballāla III. Ramanātha
ruled his extensive territory with an alternative capital Kundāni
in the Salem district and waged war against his own brother in the
south of Mysore. He died shortly after his brother, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Visvanātha, who seems to have ſuled for three
## p. 485 (#535) ############################################
XVIII)
FOUR KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH
485
years after the death of his father.
When Visvanātha died the
southern territory also was again united under Vira Ballāla III,
the last great Hoysala.
The accession of Vira Ballāla marks a point in South Indian
History, when India south of the Vindhyas assumes, as it were, a
new political division and stands divided into four important king.
doms, two of which were situated in the Deccan and the other two
in the Peninsula. Of these four kingdoms three had formed part of
the Chālukya kingdom, the northern most being the kingdom of the
Yādavas, with their capital at Deogir. The Yādavas and the Hoy-
salas contributed most to the dismemberment of the Chālukya
empire, and when dismemberment came benefited most by occu-
pying compact blocks of territory. The river Krishna may roughly
be regarded as the frontier between the two, that being the frontier
for which the wars of the previous centuries were waged, whatever
were the dynasties actually ruling to the north and south of it.
The Yādava kingdom occupied the whole of the western half of the
Deccan, and its eastern frontier may be marked by a line drawn
roughly from somewhere east of Bījāpur through Gulbarga, Yādgir
Kalyāni, north east to Mahūr proceeding further north eastwards ;
all the territory west of it belonged to the Yādavas of Deogir. The
territory on the eastern side extending to the lower course of the
river Krishna belonged to the Kākatiyas, who as feudatories of the
later Chalukyas had their territory in the Nizām's dominions with
a capital at Anamkonda, which later on they transferred to their
own fortified citadel of Warangal. Therefrom the dynasty extended
its territory chiefly at the expense of the waning power of the
Eastern Chālukyas. During the long reign of Ganapati, perhaps
the greatest among this dynasty, the southern frontier was settled
for them at the lower course of the river Krishna by the reduction
of the Telugu Choda chiefs of Nellore by Jatāvarman Sundara
Pāndya I. His daughter Rudrama or Rudrāmba, who succeeded,
was well able to maintain the territory bequeathed to her and hand
it over in fullness of time to her grandson Pratāparudra II, who
came to the throne about the same time as Vira Ballāla III. With
the advent of Jatāvarman Sundara Pāndya the Chola territory had
been reduced to subordination to him. With the death of the
Hoysala Sõmēsvara, who had practically reduced the Cholas to a
position of complete insignificance and held their territory under
his own authority, so that under his son Vira Rāmanātha what had
been the Chola kingdom was generally regarded as the territory of
the Hoysala Rāmanātha, the Hoysala hold was gradually slackening
## p. 486 (#536) ############################################
486
( CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
1
while yet Vīra Rāmanātha was alive, chiefly from the pressure of
the Pāndyas from the south. When the last great Pāndya, Mara-
varman Kulasēkhara, ascended the throne in 1268 he seems to have
gradually increased the pressure so much that he is often referred
to as being in his capital Jayankonda-Solapuram, which is only
about six miles from the regular Chola capital Gangaikonda-Sõla.
puram. Under this great ruler, whose reign lasted till 1311, the
Chola territory had definitely become Pāndyan, and the Telugu
Chodas of Nellore, with their territory taking in the central block
of the Nellore district and the Ceded Districts adjoining, constituted
a buffer state between the Kākatiyas in the north and the Pāndyas
in the south along the whole length of the Coromandel coast. The
Hoysala frontier and the Pandya frontier ran together along the
whole length of it. Beginning from somewhere near Adoni, not far
from the banks of the Krishna, this frontier ran close to the foot-
hills of the Eastern Ghāts along the eastern frontiers of the present
day Mysore territory, and proceeding westwards as far as thc
Nilgiris through the two Kongus, north and south. The Hoysalas
as the central power remained in touch with the remaining three
powers, and had to maintain their frontier against all three. While
therefore they have had occasionally to go to war against their
northern neighbours, more often against the Yādavas than against
the Kākatīyas, they had to be considerably more active and con.
stantly vigilant along the total length of their southern and eastern
frontier. The position of these four powers was such and their
interests so divided that when the first Muhammadan invasions
deluged the territory of the Yādavas of Deogir there was no
common motive or interest among the four powers to adopt a con-
certed policy, or take common action.
Such common action was hardly called for from the character
of the first invasions under 'Alā-ud-din Khalji. The first invasion
was no more than a plundering raid ; and the next one under him
was little more. It was the advent of Malik Kāfür with more defi.
nite instructions from his master to reduce the southern Hindu
states to the position of tributaries that aroused these states to the
real danger of the Muhammadan invasions. Even then the four
kingdoms were so divided and separate in interests that the mis-
fortune which befell one kingdom hardly evoked any active inter-
vention on the part of the others. The Muhammadan conquests at
first introduced hardly any sensible change in the political condi-
tion of the kingdoms, involving no more than nominal subordination
and the payment of tribute annually if it could be enforced. Hence
## p. 487 (#537) ############################################
XVIII)
ÈÅRLI MUSLIM INVASIONS
487
Deogir fell and Warangal ſell after two invasions and a raid was
undertaken against the Hoysala capital of Dvarasamudra. The
kings of the three kingdoms were treated almost similarly by 'Alā-
ud-din. They were regarded as feudatories of high rank in the
empire liable to tribute and subjected to occasional extortion when
they gave cause by failure to send tribute. As often happened in
Southern India, a pretext for intervention in the affairs of the
Pāndya kingdom presented itself to the Muslims. Vīra and Sundara,
the sons of the great Pāndya, Māravarman Kulasēkhara, contended
for their father's throne, and Sundara, being worsted, appealed to
'Alā-ud-dīn Khalji for help. Malik Kālūr, then occupied with the
-
Hoysalas, invaded the Tamil kingdom, placed Sundara Pandya on
the throne, and took advantage of the occasion to march through
the Chola and Pāndya country as far south as Rāmēsvaram, his
chief object being to secure the treasure accumulated in the temples
of Southern India and gain possession of the elephants in the
stables of the South Indian monarchs. Malik Kāſūr returned to the
north after his magnificent march across peninsular India, carrying
elephant loads of treasure unheard of before. This success confirmed
his position at court. 'Alā-ud-din's illness and Malik Kāſūr's in-
trigues gave the south respite from foreign aggression, and enabled
a Malabar ruler to descend from his mountains and carry his arms
successfully across the whole of the Pāndya and Chola territory as
far as Nellore. This was Ravivarman Kulasēkhara, who, starting
from the Travancore country, defeated the Pandya, and marched
northwards occupying Tiruvadi in South Arcot, then Kānchi and
then Poonamalle, going as far north as Nellore itself. He left in-
scriptions in all these places and was anointed in Tiruvadi and
Kānchi, and, on his return journey, in Srirangam. He was however
expelled by the officers of Pratāparudra II, who penetrated as far
south as Jambukēsvaram in the island of Srirangam, where one of
them left an inscription. Thus the four states of Southern India
were leſt to themselves, and their tribute naturally ſell into arrears.
When Mubārak ascended the throne he had virtually to re-
conquer India south of the Vindhyas. He showed great energy in
the early years of his reign, marched to Deogir and, having extin-
guished the ruling dynasty, made Deogir the first Muhammadan
province in the south, and planted along its southern frontier a
number of Muhammadan garrisons in salient points. This seems to
have given the first warning to the Hoysala monarch, who adopted
the policy of the Indian reed, bending down when the flood runs
high, and standing up again when it has passed. The Hoysala
## p. 488 (#538) ############################################
488
ch.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
replied to this menace by planting garrisons along his northern fron-
tier, but so unobtrusively that his Muhammadan neighbours failed
to notice it. Muhammadan invasions under the Tughluqs continued
as before. The overthrow of the Kakatiyas and the accession of Mu-
hammad Tughluq heralded a more aggressive policy in the Deccan.
Muhammad's activities in the south have been related in Chapter VI.
By 1328 he had occupied both Madura and its outer salient
Kannanūr, the Hoysala capital in the Chola country north of the
island of Srirangam, and the Hoysala Vira Ballāla replied by begin-
ning the fortification of Hampi as a substitute for Kampli, which
had been destroyed during the rebellion of Bahā-ud-din Gurshāsp.
He further strengthened the garrisons along the northern frontier,
and moved southwards to occupy Tīruvannāmalai as a more suitable
centre from which to watch Muhammadan garrisons in the south
and Muhammadan movements from the north. This active move-
ment of the Hoysala disconcerted the Muhammadan governor of
Ma'bar, and Muhammad had to send further contingents and other
governors. Jalāl-ud-din Ahsan Shāh, the last officer sent by him
ruled in the name of his master for about five years, and proclaimed
his independence in 1331. This rebellion was followed by others in
the north, so that the south was left entirely to itself, and Jalāl-ud-
din could enjoy a short period of independence. This interval of
difficulty to Muhammad the Hoysala took advantage of to the full
and gradually extended his authority southwards into the Chola
country, and was even prepared, about 1340, to plan and carry
out a sweeping movement as far south as Rāmēs varam itself! . As a
provision against contingencies in this dangerous enterprise of his
he had his son anointed to the throne in the holy place of Hampi
under the designation of Vira Virūpāksha Ballāla, in honour of the
god Virūpāksha of Hampi, one of the long established holy places
of the Hindus. His movements were so far successful that the
northern garrisons held their positions efficiently and prevented the
Muhammadans from coming into the south, if they ever made an
effort at all. On the south he was able to isolate Madura, and even
separate Kannanūr from it, so that in 1342 the garrison of Madura
felt that there was no alternative for them except to make a
desperate sally, as Kannanūr was so closely besieged that the fall
of the place, which was imminent, would mean inevitably the fall of
Madura. In a battle fought at Trichinopoly in 1342 Vīra Ballāla
was taken prisoner at the moment of victory, and put to death. His
son apparently succeeded, and perhaps also fell, like his father, in
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invaders. p. 172 et seq.
See p. 149.
## p. 489 (#539) ############################################
Xv11)
FOUNDATION OF VIJAYANAGAR
489
.
battle two or three years after his succession to the throne. The
rulers fell, but the officers who had charge of the various garrisons
planted across the northern frontier, continued the good work.
Among these, five brothers had charge of important garrisons along
the northern frontier. The eldest, Harihara or Hariyana Odiyar, had
the southern Marātha territory under his charge with his head-
quarters at Bankāpur or Goa. What was hitherto Banavāsi 12,000
and the coast country over against Mysore on the west were under
his authority. Hampi and Dvārasamudra with an alternative at
Penukonda were in charge of the third brother Bukka. Nellore
and Udayagiri with the dependent territory were in charge of the
second brother Kampa. The two youngest of the five brothers were
subordinate governors, one at Āraga near Tirthalli in Mysore and
the other at Penukonda. Behind all these at Mulbāgal was placed
the young and enterprising son of Bukka, by name Kumāra Kam-
pana. He is described in Indian chronicles as having held the
position of door-keeper to the Hoysala monarch. The five brothers
and this prince were the officers of the Hoysalas who were primarily
responsible for the foundation of Vijayanagar.
Muhammad Tughluq's aggressive policy in the south menaced
the Hindus with the complete destruction of their civilisation and
religion. It was with difficulty that disaffection was suppressed even
in the provinces directly under Muhammadan rule. The Kākatīya
ruler had learned prudence by bitter experience; his young sons
had no reason for the same caution. They seem to have thrown
themselves heart and soul into the movement originated by the
Hoysalas. With the death of the Hoysala monarchs, both father and
son, the mantle of leadership fell upon their officers, and the five
brothers and the son of one of them stood out as leaders of this
movement, possibly with the active assistance of the Brāhman sage
Vidyāranya, whose association with the movement gives a clear in-
dication of its character.
Various stories are related of the foundation of Vijayanagar.
The fortification of the city that afterwards became Vijayanagar
must, however, be regarded as the deliberate work of the last
great Hoysala ruler, Vira Ballāla III. It was founded soon after
the destruction of Kampli by the army of Muhammad and the
immediately following invasion of the Hoysala capital of Dvāra-
samudra. The fortifications were probably completed by about
1336, the traditional date ascribed to its foundation, and the fact
that the Ballāla prince was anointed about the year 1340 in the
holy place of Hampi, confirms this view. From 1335 onwards the
## p. 490 (#540) ############################################
490
CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
(
Hoysala power had to face the Muslim in two directions. The
northern frontier was put into a state of defence and on the south
the Muhammadan kingdom of Madura was attacked. In the early
campaigns of 'Alā-ud-din Bahman Shāh, the founder of the Bahmani
kingdom, figure the names of three chieftains, Harihara, Bukka and
Kampa, disguised as Harib (Hariyappa), Kapras (Bukkapparazu),
and Kampras (Kamparazu). Earlier than this we have the state.
ment of Ibn Batūta that the Muhammadan Sultan of Honowar was
a subordinate of the Hindu chieftain Horaib (Hariyappa). It is
thus clear that the arrangement made by Ballāla III continued
through the reign of his son, and lasted even longer. The last
known date of Hariyappa or Harihara is 1346, the year preceding
that in which Bahman Shāh assumed independence. During the
next five years the Bahmani kingdom was open to attack from
the north, and was not free for aggressive action on its southern
frontier. When Bahman Shāh passed away Bukka was the sole
representative of the Hoysala wardens of the marches, and succeeded
to the kingdom and the responsibilities of the Hoysalas. His son
Kumāra Kampana waged a successful war against the Sambuvarāya
chieftains of the pālār basin and the Sultans of Madura. In the
early years of Muhammad Shāh Bahmani I both the Muhamniadan
and Hindu powers alike had to keep watch on the movements of
Fīruz Shāh Tughluq, as his attitude towards the southern rebels,
Muhammadan and Hindu, had not yet become clear. When Fīrūz
definitely declared that he would not interfere in the affairs of
the south-, the two powers stood face to face, and then began the
great duel which lasted practically all the time that the empire of
Vijayanagar was in existence.
The earlier wars between the lately established kingdoms of
the Deccan and Vijayanagar are described in Chapter xv. Mu-
hammad I died in 1377, and Bukka followed him a year later.
After the destruction of the Muhammadan kingdom of Madura in
13772 Vijayanagar was free to employ its whole strength against its
northern neighbour, and, notwithstanding the victories of Mujāhid
Shāh Bahmni in that year, ventured to describe himself as “emperor
of the south' among other imperial titles; and claimed to be 'one
that established the Vedas, and maintained the four castes and
orders, and as 'the publisher of the commentaries on the Vedas. '
It was in this work of the founders of Vijayanagar that the Brāhmans,
Vidyāranya and his brother Sāyana, had a share. The Hindu king-
a
1 S. India and her Muhammadan Invaders, p. 186, and Elliot, III, p. 339.
2 See p. 150.
>
## p. 491 (#541) ############################################
XVIII)
FIRST DYNASTY OF VIJAI ANAGAR
491
dom of Vijayanagar stood for all that constituted Hindu civilisation
and culture in the south. The five brothers and prince Kampana
continued the policy of the last Hoysalas, and Harihara II reaped
the fruits of their labours. With him, therefore, the kingdom may
be said to begin.
The first dynasty, which lasted up to the year 1487, a little
over a century the formal assumption of the royal title by
Harihara II, counted six rulers. As before in South Indian history
the Rāichūr Doāb, the land between the river Krishna and the
Tungabhadra, formed the bone of contention between the states
to the north and the south of the former river.
With the accession of Harihara's successor, Dēvarāya I, began
a period of wars which lasted for forty years, more or less con-
tinuously, and have been already described in Chapter XV. The
accession of Devarāya Il marked the zenith of the prosperity of
Vijayanagar under the first dynasty.
When Devarāya II had been on the throne for about ten years
a change of rulers took place in Orissa to the north of the territory
of Warangal which exercised great influence upon the history of
Vijayanagar during the next century. In 1435, the last year of
the reign of Ahmad I, Bahmani, the enterprising and ambitious
Kapilesvaradeva ascended the throne of Orissa. By that time the
territory of Warangal had been annexed by the Bahmani kingdom,
but the Telingana coast was as yet unconquered, and was open to
the enterprise of rising power of Orissa. The Bahmani kingdom
had been involved in wars with the Sultan of Khāndesh, the Marātha
chieftains on the western and south-western frontier, and the Gond
chieftain, Raja Narsingh Kherla. Kapilēsvara took advantage
of these difficulties to extend his territory gradually along the coast
to the Godāvarī, and extended his raids as far south as Nellore and
Udayagiri. A new danger thus threatened Vijayanagar. In the
years immediately preceding 1440 Vijayanagar took the offensive
and attacked the Bahmani kingdom, but was worsted. An investi-
gation of the causes of the defeat led to the conclusion that the
superiority of the Muhammadan forces lay in their Turkish force
of mounted archers, and Dēvarāya took steps immediately to remove
the defect by enlisting a special force of 2000 Muhammadan archers,
cantoning them in a special quarter of the city where they had a
mosque and a separate slaughter-house, and respecting their senti.
ment so far as to place a copy of the Koran in front of his throne,
so that the obeisance made before the monarch was offered to the
Koran. This force was not the first Muhammadan contingent in
## p. 492 (#542) ############################################
492
(CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
the Vijayanagar armies. The last Hoysala is said to have had a
contingent of 20,000 Muhammadans in the battle at Trichinopoly.
Inscriptions state that Dēvarāya I, a predecessor of Devarāya II,
employed a force of Muhammadan cavalry. Devarāya employed
these troops to train other archers, so that in the course of the
next few years he had a body of 60,000 archers ready to take the
field'. With this reformed army he sent an expedition into the
Bahmani kingdom in 1443 which achieved considerable success
against the Bahmani forces. During the absence of the army an
abortive attempt on Dēvarāya's life was made by one of his relatives.
It was soon after this incident that 'Abd-ur-Razzāq, the ambassador
of Shāh Rukh from Samarqand, who had been for some time in
Calicut, came to Vijayanagar and stayed a few months in the capital.
From his account it appears that by 1442 the fortifications, temples,
palaces, and public buildings of Vijayanagar had been completed.
The city occupied a space of about sixty-four square miles, and had
the seven enclosures - the accepted numbers of circuits for a first-
class city. The three outermost enclosures contained only fields
intended for cultivation, with the huts of those engaged on the land.
The four inner enclosures were occupied by houses, the innermost
containing the palace and its precincts. A number of channels
had baen led into the city from the Tungabhadra; one of them yet
goes by the name Rāya channel They were intended partly for
the purpose of cultivation and partly for the water-supply of the
city. Even allowing for exaggeration in Abd-ur-Razzāq's account,
Vijayanagar under Dévarāya II must have been a splendid city,
and exceedingly well fortified. Dēvarāya II lived for six years
after this date and died in February 1449, a brother of the same
name having predeceased him by three years. Dēvarāya II, by
far the greatest ruler of the first dynasty, was excelled only perhaps
by Krishnadevarāya of all the kings of Vijayanagar. Under him
the kingdom as a whole had been well knit together and brought
under an ordered administration, chiefly through the genius of the
great Danayak' of 'Abd-ur-Razzaq, the Brāhman minister Lakkana
or Lakshmi-dhara. Lakkana and his brother Madana were governors
of important divisions in the south and passed from province to
province by way of official promotion. There were other governors
besides, each in his own province, and all of them were kept well
in hand by the ruler and his chief ministers. The only frontier
that caused anxiety was the northern frontier, and that through
the activities of the monarch of Orissa. When Dēvarāya II died,
1 See p. 406.
## p. 493 (#543) ############################################
XVII ]
SĀLUVA NARASIMHA
493
а
therefore, the kingdom was in the most satisfactory condition and
passed on without dispute to his eldest living son, Mallikārjuna.
Dēvarāya II had lost in the course of his lifetime one or two of
his
grown up sons in the wars against the Muslims. It is also said
that in the massacre which ended in the attempt upon his life, one
of his grown up sons was killed. It seems probable therefore that
Mallikārjuna succeeded to the throne comparatively young. The
accession of this new ruler was taken advantage of by the two
northern powers, the Bahmani kingdom and the Hindu state of
Orissa. They made a combined attack and laid siege to the capital.
Young Mallikārjuna succeeded in repulsing them about the year
1450, and ruled for nearly ten years in peace. About the end of
this period we hear of him in residence in Penugonda with his
minister Timma 'on business connected with the administration of
the kingdom of Narasimha. ' This could only mean that he moved
eastward from the capital and was for some time on the frontiers
of the territory of the rising chieftain Sāluva Narasimha either to
protect his own dominions, or, as is more likely, to be prepared
to support Narasimha against the ruler of Orissa and his Muslim
allies. Neither inscriptions nor other sources of information avail-
able to us so far tell us any more about him than that he continued
to rule till 1467 or 1468. The kingdom appears to have continued
intact during the whole of his reign.
It was during his reign that the Sāluva chieſtain, whose ances-
tral territory lay around Chandragiri or Nārāyanavanām in the
modern district of Chittūr, and whose ancestors for a few genera-
tions had been working loyally in behalf of the kingdom, comes
into prominent notice. Mangū or Mangirāja of this family bore an
honourable share in the southern campaigns of prince Kampana,
and his successors, several of them held important positions in the
state, and one of them had married into the royal family. Narasimha
or Narasingha found an opportunity for signal achievement in the
aggressive activities of the monarchs of Orissa who had penetrated
certainly as far as Nellore, and either at this time or a little later,
as far south as the South Arcot district. He developed his resources
early and gradually extended his influence in the neighbouring
provinces of the kingdom of Vijayanagar so as to be able to offer
effective resistance to these aggressions. He was so far successful
that his control was more or less acknowledged over the greater
Gangadasapratapavilasam, India Office Catalogue of MSS, by Julius Eggeling,
No. 1610. 'Alā-ud-din Ahmad Bahmani was in no position to supply a large
contingent for the prosecution of this campaign.
1
## p. 494 (#544) ############################################
494
[CH
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
part of the kingdom. Having thus consolidated his position he
marched into the southern possessions of Orissa and gradually
pushed the invaders back so that when the attention of Muhammad
Shāh Bahmani III was drawn to the political condition of the
Telingāna coast about 1476, he found Sāluva Narasimha posted in
great strength on the banks of the Godāvari at Rājahmundry.
Muhammad's efforts to dislodge him do not appear to have been
attended with success, and he had to content himself merely by
carrying a raid across his territory as far south as Kānchi'. While
Narasimha was opposing the Bahmani king, a change had taken
place in the kingdom of Vijayanagar ; either Mallikārjuna died, or
was put to death by a younger brother, by name Virūpāksha. This
latter, whether guilty of his brother's death or no, put to death all
who could dispute his possession of the throne, and carried on the
administration so inefficiently and oppressively that the eastern
and southern provinces transferred their allegiance to Narasimha.
On the west coast his maladministration caused the Arab horse-
traders who had settlements on the west coast to transfer their
places of business from the ports of the kingdom to those beyond
the Vijayanagar frontier. Sāluva Narasimha decided that the only
way of saving the kingdom was to depose Virūpāksha and seize the
throne for himself, and in 1487 Narasa, who commanded his troops,
deposed the tyrant and assumed the government of the kingdom
on behalf of his master. This was the first usurpation in the king-
dom, and Narasimha found his justification in the perils which
menaced it. Virūpāksha's reign corresponded with the reign of
Purushottama Gajapati of Orissa. Purushottama's records assert
that he penetrated as far south as Kānchi, carried off a princess of
Kānchi, and married her in peculiarly romantic circumstances. .
Narasimha ruled as king for six years, during which period he
recovered most of the revolted provinces, but failed to conquer the
Rāichūr Doāb, which was retained by the Bahmani kingdom, or to
recover Udayagiri, which remained in the possession of the raja
of Orissa. On his death-bed he entrusted the kingdom and his two
sons to Narasa, begging him to carry on the administration, to
enthrone whichever of his two sons should prove the fitter for rule,
and to recover Rāichūr, Umagal, and Udayagiri. Narasa placed
one of Narasimha's young sons on the throne, but this prince died
as the result of wounds that he received in an expedition into the
Rāichūr Doāb. Narasa circumvented court intrigues, placed the
second son of Narasimha upon the throne, and carried on the
1 Şee pp. 417. 419,
## p. 495 (#545) ############################################
xvu)
KRISHNADEVARAYA
495
administration as before. He died in 1505, and it was his son, Vira
Narasimha, that deposed the Sāluva ruler Narasimha II.
This second usurpation caused widespread rebellion and Nara-
simha was engaged during the four or five years of his reign in
attempting to recover the revolted provinces. He was successful
on the whole, but the enterprising Gangarāja Ummattūr remained
in rebellion, in the territory round Kānchi. Vira Narasimha leſt
some infant sons and three grown up brothers, and charged his
faithful minister Säluva Timma, as Nuniz records, to put out the
eyes of the ablest of his grown-up brothers, and place on the throne
one of his sons. The minister proved false to the dying sovereign
and remained true to the interests of the kingdom; and placed
the youngest brother, marked for mutilation, upon the throne in
1509. Thus ascended the throne the great king Krishnadevarāya of
Vijayanagar.
Krishna ascended the throne at a critical moment in the history
of South India.
