No More Learning

Before the
days of the Vijayanagar king Achyuta, the place seems to have
been generally known as Vāsantikāpura, apparently from the temple
of the village goddess now popularly called Vāsantamma, or more
formally Vāsantikādēvi. It had the alternative name Sasakapura
(hare-town) with it modern equivalent Sosevur, and it was here
that the Hoysalas had their origin.
The Hoysalas were a family of petty hill chiefs of the Western
Ghāts, and each ruler, even in the days of their highest prosperity
styled himself, “the man among the hill chiefs” (Malaparol-Ganda).
The first reference to the Hoysalas in inscriptions is found in a
Chola record of A. D. 1007. The first member of the family of any
note was Nripakāma, who is mentioned in . 1022. The highest
achievement of this chief was the assistance that he rendered to
the chief of Banavāsi against his enemies, who are described by
name. The origin of his epithet, 'the Base,' has not been traced,
but it probably explains the omission of his name from the later
genealogies. In a record of 1026 he is said to have been defeated
by the Kongālva feudatory of the Cholas, Rajendra Chola Prithvi
Kongālva. He is himself given the title Rājamalla Perumānadi'i
in another record, a clear indication that he was a Ganga feudatory,
who bore his overlord's title. His son was Vinayāditya’ the first
important member of the family to figure in the records of the
suzerain power, ihat of the Chālukyas. The period of Nripakāma
and his son
a period of wars between the Cholas and the
Chālukyas for the possession of Mysore. It was by distinguished
service in these wars that these chieftains rose to importance.
Vināyaditya's full style is Tribhuvana Hoysala, and later genealo-
gies generally begin with his name. His headquarters were yet at
Sasakapura, while in the days of his grandson, his successor, the
capital was shiſted to Belūrs. In the records of the great Chālukya
ruler Sömēsvara Āhavamalla 1044 - 1069, Vinayāditya's name occurs
as the Mahāmandalēsvara of Gangavādi, 96,000. This vast province,
1 Ep. Car. vi, Mg. 19.
2 Ibid. v, Ag. 141.
3 Ibid. vi, Cm. 160 and iv, Ng. 32.
was


## p. 472 (#520) ############################################

472
[ CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
which included almost the whole of the modern districts of Mysore,
Bangalore and Kolar, was a province of the Cholas at the time, and
was divided by them into three districts. The appointment of a
Chālukya governor over this province at the time, with a capital
far removed from the region itself, means that the governorship
was the wardenship of the southern marches, where there would be
ample opportunity for achieving distinction in war. It was from
this struggle for the possession of what now constitutes the plateau
of Mysore that the Hoysalas emerged into importance and suc-
ceeded ultimately in carving out for themselves from the
membered Chālukya kingdom a state which became the most
influential power in the succeeding period of South Indian
history.
Reverting to the history of this struggle between the kingdoms,
the Cholas had the upper hand to begin with, and carried all before
them in the days of Rājarāja and his son, leaving to the Chālukyas
the possession of only Banavāsi, one of the three divisions of what
is now the State of Mysore. It has already been stated that Rājendra
held possession of important fortresses on this frontier which are
oſten described as "the key to the south,' or 'the bolt against the
south. ' He seems to have inflicted a defeat upon his contemporary
Chālukya Jayasimha, but does not appear to have pressed the enemy
farther. When he died, in the forty fourth year of his reign, he was
succeeded by three of his sons, one after another. His immediate
successor carried the war into his enemy's country, as far north
as Kolhāpur itself. By this time the Chālukya territories were
under the rule of Somēsvara Āhavamalla (or 'the Great in War').
Sõmēsvara was able to hold up the Chola army at Koppa on the
Krishna, a few miles south east of Kolhāpur, and after a strenuous
fight the day went against the Cholas, Rājādhirāja falling in battle.
His younger brother, who brought up reinforcements, retrieved the
fortunes of the day, and claims to have set up a pillar of victory in
Kolhāpur itself. The war continued between Sõmēsvara and the
next Chola brother who succeeded these two with varying fortunes.
In the course of one of the wars Sõmēsvara seems to have entrusted
the southern division of his kingdom, the most vulnerable at the
time, to his second and most talented son, who afterwards ascended
the throne as Vikramāditya. This Prince did his utmost to main-
tain his position in the south and carried the war into the Chola
country itself, but was checked on the banks of the Tungabhadra
by the energetic Chola ruler Vīra Rājēndra. Vikramaditya tried
diplomacy when war failed, and seems to have created a diversion


## p. 473 (#521) ############################################

Vin]
VIKRAMĀDITYA CHĀLUKYA
473
against Vira Rājēndra on
Rājëndra on the eastern Chālukya frontier. He
ultimately succeeded in coming to an understanding with Vira
Rājēndra in regard to the debatable frontier, the treaty being
sealed by the marriage of Prince Vikramāditya with Vira Rājēndra's
daughter. While these negotiations were still in progress, the
Chālukya king Sõmēsvara had an attack of a malignant fever and
died, in obedience to religious advice, by drowning himself in the
Tungabhadra. His eldest son Sõmēsvara succeeded to the throne.
At the same time the other enterprising Chālukya prince Kulot-
tunga attempted to seize the Chola throne. Records bearing on this
affair are laconic, merely stating that Vikramāditya entered the
Chola capital Gangaikonda-Solapuram, a new foundation of Rājēn-
dra, the Gangaikonda Chola, and placed on the throne his brother-
in-law, who, however, was immediately deposed by his subjects.
Whether Kulottunga, the Chālukya, prince, had any share in this
is not known; but that he actually occupied the throne and suc-
ceeded to the kingdom is undoubted. His father died seven years
before this at Rājahmundry, his ancestral capital. There is nothing
to show that Kulottunga ever occupied his father's throne at Raja-
mandri. He seems to have remained in the territory of the Cholas
in the region round Kānchi, and let others govern the Eastern
Chālukya territory, perhaps in his name. Kulottunga occupied the
Chola throne from 1070 to 1118 at least, and his contemporary
Vikramāditya ascended the throne six years later and continued
to rule till 1128.
In all these transactions between the Cholas and the Chālukyas,
both diplomatic and warlike, the Governors of Gangavādi and
Nolambavādi have had their share. While inscriptions of Vira
Rājēndra claim for him the credit of having granted to Vikra-
māditya, the Chālukya prince, the Yauvarājya or the position of
heir-apparent to the Chālukya kingdom, Hoysala inscriptions of
1100 claim for Ereyanga the son of Vinayāditya the Hoysala
governor of Gangavādi, that he caused Tribhuvanamalla's (Vikra-
māditya's) eleder brother to sheathe his sword. His father-in-law
Irukkapāla similarly lays claim to having defeated Bhuvanaikamalla
(the Chālukya king Sõmēsvara), and gave the kingdom to Vikra-
māditya whose right-hand Ereyanga, the Hoysala prince, is described
to have been. It becomes thus clear that, not withstanding the
statements in Bilhana's Vikramāoka-dēvacharitam, Vikramāditya
planned and carried out the usurpation, and, in this enterprise, he
had the assistance of the southern chiefs. Ereyanga seems to have
taken part in the distant northern expeditions of the Chālukyas,


## p. 474 (#522) ############################################

474
[CH.
HINDU STATES IN SOUTHERN INDIA
as he claims a victory at Dhār in Malva, then under the successors
of the great Bhoja. Ereyanga obviously died before his father and
left three sons by his wife Echaladēvi, the daughter of the Nolamba
chief referred to already.
Vinayāditya was succeeded in the governorship of Gangavādi
96,000, by his eldest grandson Ballāla I in 1101. His capital was
at Bēlūr, with which the Hoysala dynasty was throughout the
period of their rule associated, though Dvārasamudra became later
on an alternative capital. The territorry under Ballāla I is given
the same boundaries as that of his grandfather, and he is said to
have paid a visit to the family capital Sosevur. In A. D. 1103 he
made a re-grant of Sindagere to Mariāne Dandanāyaka as wages
for wet-nursing his three daughters whom Ballāla married in the
same pavilion at Bēlür. The next year he led an expedition against
the Changālva chiefs whose territory lay in the Hole-Narasipur
taluk of the Hassan district of Mysore. He conducted a successful
expedition the same year with his younger brother Vishnu into
the neighbouring Pandya dominions of Nolambavādi, and had to
repulse an invader, Jagad-dēva, who had penetrated as far as
Dvārasamudra. An inscription of Ballāla's time is dated in Chālukya.
Vikramāditya's era (K. 55).
Ballāla I was succeeded by his younger brother Bitti-dēva
(Vishnu-dēva), better known by his later titles Vishnuvardhana.
He was the founder of Hoysala greatness, and his titles are carried
down in later inscriptions not only to his successors generally,
some of them posthumously to his predecessors. His name is
found mentioned for the first time in a record of 1100, associated
with that of his brother Ballāla I. Records of Ballāla I do not
go beyond 1105, at which date or soon after Vishnu must have
ascended the throne. His real exploits however begin ten years
later, according to the inscriptions, making it possible that Ballāla
continued his reign even for some time after 1106. Notwithstanding
all previous claims to conquest, Vishnu's signal achievements consist
of the conquest of Gangavādi and the partial conquest of Nolamba-
vādi, which together constitute his claim to greatness, as among one
of the greatest of Vikramāditya's Mahāmandalsēvaras. A number
of generals claim the conquest of Gangavādi, and inscriptions
generally make a great deal of these conquests. Vishnu even
assumes two special titles from this conquest namely, “Vira-
Ganga' and 'Talakādu-gonda' (taker of Talakād). This conquest
of Gangavādi took place before 1117. Vishnu took the province
after overthrowing the Chola generals Adiyama, Dāmõdara and


## p. 475 (#523) ############################################

XVIII ]
CONQUESTS OF THE HOYSALAS
475
Narasimhavarma. This conquest was apparently real, as Vishnu
was able to undertake a tour through the territories of Gangayādi
in the course of which at the Vijayāditya-mangala (mod, Betman-
gala) his niece, the daughter of his brother Udayāditya, died. At
about the same time he carried on a successful expedition against
Nolambavādi and won a victory over the Pāndya ruler of the
country at Dumme, on the borderland between Shimoga and Chittal.
droog districts. By the year 1117, therefore, Vishnu had become
master of Gangavādi 96,000, and had made himself felt in Nolamba-
vādi also. Inscriptions of Vishnu mark the year as an epoch in the
history of the Hoysala power. A number of inscriptions chiefly
the one at Bēlür, inscribed on the occasion of the dedication of the
temple after Vishnu had adopted the teachings of Rāmānuja, the
Vaishnava apostle, give an elaborate history of his conquests and
sum up his achievements previous to the date by giving his territory
the boundaries of the lower Ghāt of Nangali on the east, Kongu,
Chēram and Ānaimalai in the south, Bārakanūr and other Ghāts
of Konkana on the west, and Sāvimalai in the north. Of these
Nangali is the pass through the Eastern Ghāts six miles east of
Mulhagal on the Madras-Bangalore road. Kongu and Chēram are
the well-known divisions in the middle across to the west coast,
and Ānaimalai is a hill in the Coimbatore district belonging to the
Western Ghāts. Bārakanūr is the Bārkālūr Ghāt in the Western
Ghāts. So far the boundary gives him the boundary of the modern
State of Mysore on three sides. The northern boundary of Sāvi-
malai has not yet been satisfactorily identified. If it is a place
on the Krishna in its upper reaches it can only be regarded as an
anticipation of the conquests of his grandson. A record of the year
1118 describes him as in residence at Talakad, thus indicating full
possession of the Gangavādi province by him. He is said in the
year 1121 to be again at his headquarters at Dvārasamudra,
and it was in this year that Kētamalla, probably a merchant, built
the magnificent temple dedicated to Siva under the name Vishnu.
vardhana. Hoysalēsvara at Halēbid. In the same year he made a
grant, with his queen-consort and the council of five ministers, to
the temple of Jayangondēsvara, obviously a Siva temple of Chola
foundation,
In 1123 Vishnu is again on the banks of the Kāveri while his
northern boundary is described as the Pērddore, that is, the river
Krishna. In 1128 he is in his royal residence at Yādavapura
(Mēlkõtte), and makes a grant from there to Mārbalatirtha, the
Saiva shrine on the Chāmundi Hill in Mysore. 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
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.