The Colas c21.60

c21.60

Towards the end of his reign, Kulōttunga lost the province of Gaṅgavāḍi to the rising power of the Hoysalas. Though the Hoysalas are mentioned as early as a.d. 1006 in the reign of Rājarāja I,¹¹³ Hoysala history really commences with Nṛpa-Kāma (c. a.d. 1022—1040), the father of Vinayāditya and patron of Ēcama or Ēciga, the father of Gangarāja, the Hoysaḷa general who captured Taḷakāḍ from the Cōḷas in 1116. For many years the Hoysaḷas acknowledged the supremacy of the Western Cāḷukyas, the enemies of the Cōḷa power, and we have seen that Eṟeyanga, the son of Vinayāditya, assisted Vikrmāditya VI in his wars against Kulōttunga after the accession of the latter to the Cōḷa throne. The real extent of Hoysaḷa rule in the early stages of their rise is not easy to determine. The boundaries of the Hoysaḷa territory recorded in an inscription of Ballāla I¹¹⁴ and the provenance of the Hoysaḷa and Cōḷa inscriptions of the period suggest the conclusion that Hoysaḷa rule was confined to the Hassan and Kāḍūr districts and parts of Nāgamangala taluq. And it is also clear that Vinayāditya was a feudatory of the contemporary Cāḷukyas throughout the long period of his rule c. A.D. 1047-1100, as is seen from the part of the Hoysaḷa in the war between Vikramāditya and Kulōttunga.