Hoysalas (and Yadavas)

Hoysalas of Dorasamudra end Yadavas of Devagiri.-The Hoysala inscriptions begin to appear in this district from the reign of Ballala II (1173-1220), who was the first independent Hoysala king, the earlier rulers being the feudatories of the Chalukyas of Kalyana. But at least a part of the district appears to have been included in the Hoysala kingdom since the days of his grand­father Vishnuvardhana (1106-1141), since Nolambavadi has been mentioned as one of the provinces over which he ruled.103 Ballala II was the co-regent of his father Narasimha I (1141-1173) since about 1168. About 1172 Ballala rose in rebellion against his father and attempted to set up his independent rule. He, how­ever, came to the throne on the death of Narasimha I in 1173. The conquest of Uchangi was one of the major events of his life, and finds references in his inscriptions (found outside the Chitradurga district). The accounts, of course, are often exaggerated. The strength of the fortress of Uchangi has been suggested by saying that the Cholas laid siege to it for 12 years without success. But Ballala is stated to have attacked it and brought it under his control by mounting on it but one cubit. This event is said to have brought him the title of Giri-durgamalla.104 Uchangi is described to have had a moat as deep as Patala, as broad as the eight cardinal points and as high as the sky ! The fact simply appears to be that Uchangi was a strong fort and its conquest brought fame to Ballala II. One Kamadeva was the then Pandya king and on his craving for mercy, Ballala is said to have restored him to his kingdom105. According to an inscription106 dated 1177, Ballala had even made Uchangi his capital and ruled from it.

A number of inscriptions of Ballala II or or Vir Ballala, sunamed named Yadava-Narayana, have been found in this district, the earliest of them being dated 1205.107 This inscription refers to a Pallava prince named Machideva who was in charge of the Holalkere and Honkunda-30. According to this and two other inscriptions,108 both dated 1210, his son Narasinga-deva was associated with him in the government of the kingdom. Another inscription,109 dated 1214, which describes Ballala II as the tiger-king, Ganda-bherunda and the setter-up of Pandya-Raya, states, that his minister Soma-Dannayaka was governing in Bemmattur Pattana (later Chitradurga). There is one inscription,110 dated 1215, referring to Ballala's capture of the Haneya fort and the foundation of a city named Vijayagiri111. This epigraph refers to the practice of "siditale", a form of self-sacrifice prevalent in those days ; it states that when Honnavve Nayakitti, mother of IIalivana Savant, died, Honni, a Malaya Nayakitti, gave her head to the hook and attained Svarga. In another inscrip­tion,112 dated 1218, we are introduced to Vira-Ballala's queen Abhinava Ketala Devi who ordered the village officers and the merchants of Kundavada to hold a Wednesday fair at Kundavada, the abode of god Somanatha, which was reckoned as the Southern Saurashtra .

Of the next king, Narasimha II (1220-1235), we have three or four inscriptions in this district, one of the them113 dated 1224, being an elaborate and important record in that it gives an account of the construction of the Harihara temple at Harihar. The inscription states that some people say that beside Hari or Vishnu there is no god on earth and some others say that beside Hara or Shiva there is no god on earth ; in order to remove these doubts of mankind, they (the gods) assumed in Kudalur the one form of Harihara. The epigraph gives a description of the beauties of the temple and says that Narasimha caused it to be made, adorning it with 115 Kalasas. It states that the king was divinely directed to build it. The inscription also gives an elabo­rate account of the origin and rise of the Hoysalas.

Of Narasimha II's successor Someshvara (1235-1254), we have only two unimportant records in this district, while we have at least four inscriptions belonging to the next ruler Narasimha III (1254-1291). One of the latter dated 1268,(114) which is an elaborate inscription, gives the geneology of Soma, the minister and the general of the Hoysala king. It states that Soma had a tower of five storeys built at the eastern gate of the Harihara temple and adorned it with golden Kalasas. Another inscription, dated 1286,(115) introduces another great minister of the king, namely Perumale Mantri, who is said to have purchased a tank called the Kurubakaleya tank and the lands under it in the Bemmattanur Vratti, marked out the boundaries with stones, formed 24 sites in that land and given them to the Brahmins of the Brahmapuri of Perumalepura established by himself at the Huli well of the Bemmattannr hill-fort. It also speaks of his other numerous grants to the local temples and of his reconstruction of the Kurubakaleya tank which he renamed after himself as Perumalesamudra. There has been found another inscription116, of the same date, which also describes a number of grants made by the same minister Perumale Deva Dannnyaka to the five lingas of the tirtha said to have been established by the Pandavas at Bemmattanur.

The remaining Hoysala inscriptions in the district belong to the reign of Ballala III (1291-1342) who was the last independent Hoysala king. In one of these inscriptions, dated 1313,(117) there is an interesting reference to the present of a "hodake" (or a shawl), made by the Mahamandaleshvara Vinjhadeva Rane to the king in order to appease him for not having gone to the meeting of Huliyurnad. "The reference" says Lewis Rice "may possibly be to the fine camblets or blankets made in this district, some of which, especially woven for royalty, can be rolled up into a hollow bamboo or even passed through a ring.(118).

Courtesy : Gazetteer of India, Chitradurga District, 1967.