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Concept
Hoysala Empire
Summary
The Hoysala Empire was a Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur, but was later moved to Halebidu.
The Hoysala rulers were originally from Malenadu, an elevated region in the Western Ghats. In the 12th century, taking advantage of the internecine warfare between the Western Chalukya Empire and Kalachuris of Kalyani, the Hoysalas annexed areas of present-day Karnataka and the fertile areas north of the Kaveri delta in present-day Tamil Nadu. By the 13th century, they governed most of Karnataka, entire northwestern parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Deccan Plateau.
The Hoysala era was an important period in the development of South Indian art, architecture, and religion. The empire is remembered today primarily for Hoysala architecture; 100 surviving temples are scattered across Karnataka.
Well-known temples which exhibit what the historian Sailendra Sen has called "an amazing display of sculptural exuberance" include the Chennakeshava Temple in Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu, and the Chennakesava Temple in Somanathapura. The Hoysala rulers also patronised the fine arts, encouraging literature to flourish in Kannada and Sanskrit.
Kannada folklore tells a legend of a young man, Sala (also known as Poysala), who saved his Jain guru Sudatta by killing a tiger (sometimes described as a lion) that they encountered whilst in a forest, near the temple of the goddess Vasantika at Angadi, now called Sosevuru. The word strike translates to "hoy" in Old Kannada, hence the name 'Hoy-sala'. The legend purporting to show how Sala became the founder of the Hoysala dynasty is shown in the Belur inscription of the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, dated 1117, but owing to several inconsistencies in the story it remains in the realm of folklore.
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