Hoysaḷas

Abstract

The Hoysaḷa family ruled in southern India, in the present‐day Indian state of Karnataka, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century ce . Our knowledge of this family's chronology comes primarily from stone and copper‐plate inscriptions which detailed donations to temples of Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, and Jain deities. Originating from a small town called Sosevūr in the Western Ghats, they moved into the plains and established their residence at Dorasamudra, following their rise to political prominence as subordinates of the Kalyāṇi Cāḷukyas. In the thirteenth century, they achieved independent sovereignty from the Cāḷukyas, and went on to rule a vast and complex territory spanning large parts of southern and central India. During this time, there was a proliferation of temple‐building and production of courtly literature. Following internal conflict and constant external attacks in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Hoysaḷas accepted subordination to the Delhi sultan Alauddin Khalji before disappearing entirely from the epigraphic record.