South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.s1.38

c8.s1.38

*Hoysala Intervention.*—The Hoysalas were a dynasty of feudatories of the great Chāḷukya emperor Vikramāditya, called by historians Vikramāditya VI, and, in literature, Vikramānka Dēva. He was contemporary with the Chola emperor Kulottunga I. His empire marched with that of Kulottunga along the Krishna-Tungabhadra frontier, and from their junction, in a slanting line north-eastwards till it touched the frontiers of Orissa. Vikramāditya therefore had for his territory proper most of the Bombay Presidency south of the Vindhyas, the greater half of the Nizam’s Dominions and the hilly portions at any rate of the Mysore plateau. When Vikramāditya passed away at the commencement of the second quarter of the twelfth century the empire passed into the hands of feeble successors. When two more rulers followed, the empire had become so weak, and the more powerful feudatories had grown so powerful, that a usurpation under Bijjala came in, which preserved the empire intact for another generation. A usurpation is never a stable cure for keeping the disorderly elements in an empire permanently in hand. When the powerful usurper Bijjala passed away, the greater feudatories on the distant frontiers from the head-quarters were quite ready to throw off the yoke of imperial authority. The semblance of empire was however kept up while each frontier chieftain did his best to make his power more real and his territory more compact. When the last emperor passed out of existence, the frontier chieftains openly threw off the imperial yoke and made themselves independent. Out of this dismembered empire, which in its days held together more than a dozen subordinate governments, there stood out in the last decade of the twelfth century three dynasties possessing compact states, and, in touch with each other on the frontiers warring incessantly for supremacy. The southern block of territory which belonged to this Chālukya empire was somewhat extended at the expense of the Cholas since the death of Kulottunga I, and this formed the territory of the Hoysalas, who, in the early stages of the imperial career of Vikramāditya, were the pillars of his empire. The territory of the Hoysalas was separated from that of the Yādavas of Dēvagiri, by the river Krishna in its upper course, and a somewhat uncertain line beginning from somewhere opposite to Adoni and going north along almost the middle of the present day Nizam's Dominions, separated the territory of the Yādavas from that of the Kākatīyas, a new dynasty that had sprung into importance from the ashes of the eastern Chālukyas. The southern power of the Hoysalas it was that kept itself in touch with the Cholas, and, when the Chola empire got into a helpless condition under Rājarāja III intervened effectively, and, for a time, restored Rājarāja to his former position.