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Hoysalas

Hill chiefs of the Western Ghats who served the Kalyani Chalukyas, the Hoysalas became kings of southern Karnataka in the twelfth century. Their star-shaped temples at Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura are carved like ivory.

  1. Nripa Kama IIc. 1026–1047
  2. Vinayadityac. 1047–1098
  3. Ereyangac. 1098–1102
  4. Veera Ballala Ic. 1102–1108
  5. Vishnuvardhanac. 1108–1152
  6. Narasimha Ic. 1152–1173
  7. Veera Ballala IIc. 1173–1220
  8. +4
Period: c. 1026–1343 CERegion: The Malnad hills and southern Karnataka, at their height also parts of Tamil countryCapitals: Belur, Dwarasamudra (Halebidu), Tiruvannamalai (Ballala III)
Photo: Avinash Krishnamurthy · CC BY-SA 3.0

01Sala and the tiger

The dynasty’s crest shows a young man striking a tiger. The family katha, carved at Belur and Halebidu, tells that a Jain teacher at Sosevur was attacked by a tiger and called out "Hoy, Sala!", strike, Sala, and the youth killed it. From that cry came the name. The early chiefs ruled from the hill country of Malnad as Chalukya feudatories, and Nripa Kama II is the first ruler the inscriptions place firmly.

02Vishnuvardhana’s temples

Bittideva, born a Jain, took the name Vishnuvardhana; Shrivaishnava tradition credits the change to Ramanujacharya, who lived in the Hoysala country for years. In 1116 his general Gangaraja drove the Cholas out of Talakad, and in 1117 the king consecrated the Chennakeshava temple at Belur. His queen Shantala Devi, a famed dancer, remained a Jain. Around 1121 work began on the Hoysaleshvara temple at Dwarasamudra, which was never finished. Inside, the sculptors signed their names.

Ramanujacharya
Person · 1017–1137 CE (Sri Vaishnava tradition)RamanujacharyaBorn at Sriperumbudur near Kanchipuram, Ramanuja taught that the world and souls are real and form the body of Bhagwan Narayana. He led the temple at Srirangam and, by Sri Vaishnava reckoning, lived for 120 years.Read →

03Ballala III, the last stand

In 1311 Malik Kafur, Alauddin Khalji’s general, sacked Dwarasamudra and Ballala III had to submit and pay tribute. He rebuilt his strength, moved his base to Tiruvannamalai in the Tamil country, and kept fighting the Sultanate garrisons of Madurai. In 1343 he was captured in battle near Tiruchirappalli and killed. The men he had trained, among them the Sangama brothers, carried the struggle into the founding of Vijayanagara.

The rulers

  1. 1Nripa Kama IIc. 1026–1047
  2. 2Vinayadityac. 1047–1098
  3. 3Ereyangac. 1098–1102
  4. 4Veera Ballala Ic. 1102–1108
  5. 5VishnuvardhanaTook Talakad from the Cholas; built Belurc. 1108–1152
  6. 6Narasimha Ic. 1152–1173
  7. 7Veera Ballala IIThrew off Chalukya overlordship; full sovereigntyc. 1173–1220
  8. 8Vira Narasimha IIc. 1220–1235
  9. 9Vira Someshvarac. 1235–1263
  10. 10Narasimha IIISomanathapura temple built in his reign, 1268c. 1263–1292
  11. 11Veera Ballala IIIFought the Sultanate to the endc. 1292–1343

What they left

  • Chennakeshava temple, Belur (1117)
  • Hoysaleshvara temple, Halebidu
  • Keshava temple, Somanathapura (1268)
  • "Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas", inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023
  • A flowering of Kannada literature, including Harihara and Raghavanka

People

RamanujacharyaAcharya
1017–1137 CE (Sri Vaishnava tradition)

Ramanujacharya

Acharya of Vishishtadvaita and the Sri Vaishnavas

Places

Melukote (Tirunarayanapura)Standing
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Melukote (Tirunarayanapura)

The hill town where Ramanujacharya lived for about twelve years in the Hoysala country. Its festival murti, the tradition says, he brought back from Delhi himself.

Lakshmi Devi Temple, DoddagaddavalliStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Lakshmi Devi Temple, Doddagaddavalli

The earliest dated Hoysala temple, built in 1113 by a merchant and his wife, a rare four-shrined plan round one hall. Its fierce Kali shrine is guarded by two skeletal vetalas.

Chennakeshava Temple, BelurStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Chennakeshava Temple, Belur

Vishnuvardhana’s temple on the Yagachi, consecrated in 1117 after his victory over the Cholas at Talakad. It has been in worship for nine hundred years and its soapstone carving set the Hoysala standard.

Hoysaleswara Temple, HalebiduRuined
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu

The twin Shiva temple of Dorasamudra, the Hoysala capital, covered from plinth to eaves in carving. The city was sacked by Malik Kafur in 1311 and again by Muhammad bin Tughluq’s army in 1326–27; its name became Halebidu, ‘the old ruined town’.

Keshava Temple, SomanathapuraStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Keshava Temple, Somanathapura

A complete late Hoysala temple of three star-shaped shrines, built by a general in 1268 in the village he founded. Its sculptors signed their work.

On the timeline

  • 1311 CE

    Malik Kafur raids Dwarasamudra and MaduraiWar

    Kafur forces the Hoysala king Ballala III to submit at Dwarasamudra and pushes into the Pandya country as far as Madurai. Amir Khusrau describes the plunder of a golden temple at ‘Bramastpuri’, usually identified with Chidambaram.

  • 1343 CE

    Hoysala Ballala III killed near TiruchirappalliWar

    The aged Hoysala king, who had spent his last years fighting the Madurai Sultanate, is captured and killed after a battle near Tiruchirappalli. His lands soon pass to Vijayanagara.