The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.139

v3.c29.139

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, Rājēndra Chola Prithvi Kongālva. He is himself given the title ‘Rājamalla Perumānadi’¹ in another record, a clear indication that he was a Ganga feudatory, who bore his overlord’s title. His son was Vinayāditya² the first important member of the family to figure in the records of the suzerain power, that of the Chālukyas. The period of Nripakāma and his son was 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 genealogies generally begin with his name. His headquarters were yet at Sasakapura, while in the days of his grandson, his successor, the capital was shifted to Bēlūr³. In the records of the great Chālukya ruler Sōmēsvara Āhavamalla 1044–1069, Vinayāditya’s name occurs as the Mahāmandalēsvara of Gangavādi, 96,000. This vast province, 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 succeeded ultimately in carving out for themselves from the dismembered Chālukya kingdom a state which became the most influential power in the succeeding period of South Indian history.