Hoysalas, Kakatiyas and Yadavas: Deccan Kingdoms Notes

Between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries the Deccan was not one empire but four. After the Rashtrakutas fell, the Chalukyas of Kalyani took the plateau, and out of their own feudatories grew three kingdoms that outlived them: the Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra in southern Karnataka, the Kakatiyas of Warangal in Telangana and the Yadavas, or Seunas, of Devagiri in Maharashtra. Examiners ask this chapter for its pairs: dynasty with capital, ruler with temple, and poet or scholar with patron. The four kingdoms also share one ending; the campaigns of Malik Kafur, the general of Alauddin Khalji, broke all of them between 1307 and 1311.

The three Chalukya branches

Keep the branches apart before learning the dynasty. The Chalukyas of Badami or Vatapi ruled from about 543 to 753, and it is their ruler Pulakeshin II whose court poet Ravikirti composed the Aihole inscription. The Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi ruled coastal Andhra. The Western Chalukyas of Kalyani, the subject of this chapter, were founded in 973 by Tailapa II, who overthrew the last Rashtrakuta ruler. Their capital moved from Manyakheta to Kalyani, the present Basavakalyan in Karnataka.

The Chalukyas of Kalyani

Their greatest ruler was Vikramaditya VI, who ruled from 1076 to 1126 and started the Chalukya Vikrama era. His court held Bilhana, author of the Vikramankadeva Charita, and Vijnaneshwara, whose Mitakshara, a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, became the most quoted work of Hindu law. Someshvara III wrote the Manasollasa, also called Abhilashitartha Chintamani, an encyclopaedia covering everything from cookery to elephant lore. The dynasty fought the Cholas for the Vengi country and the Tungabhadra doab for over a century, and in architecture it perfected the Vesara style, seen in the Mahadeva temple at Itagi and the Kasivisvesvara temple at Lakkundi. In the twelfth century Basavanna, a minister at the court of the Kalachuri ruler Bijjala, led the Veerashaiva or Lingayat movement, with its Anubhava Mantapa at Kalyana and its Vachana poetry in Kannada. The Kalachuri usurpation weakened the dynasty, and by 1189 the Hoysalas, Yadavas and Kakatiyas had divided its territory.

The Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra

The Hoysalas began as hill chiefs of the Western Ghats and ruled from Dwarasamudra, the present Halebidu in Hassan district. Vishnuvardhana, who ruled from about 1108 to 1152, defeated the Cholas at Talakad and built the Chennakesava temple at Belur; the Hoysaleswara temple at Halebidu was begun in his reign. The Vaishnava teacher Ramanuja found shelter in his kingdom, and the king turned from Jainism to Vaishnavism. Veera Ballala II threw off Chalukya overlordship and took imperial titles. Hoysala temples are carved in soft soapstone on a raised platform called jagati, with a star shaped plan, lathe turned pillars and bands of friezes; sculptors such as Dasoja and Mallitamma signed their panels. The Keshava temple at Somanathapura was built in 1268. The sacred ensembles of the Hoysalas at Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. The last ruler, Veera Ballala III, died fighting the Sultanate of Madurai in 1343, by which time Vijayanagara had risen.

The Kakatiyas of Warangal

The Kakatiyas rose from Anumakonda, the present Hanamkonda, and shifted to Orugallu or Warangal. Rudradeva, also called Prataparudra I, declared independence of the Chalukyas about 1163 and built the Thousand Pillar Temple at Hanamkonda. Ganapatideva, the longest ruling king, opened the port of Motupalli to foreign merchants through the inscription known as the Abhaya Shasana, which promised traders safety and fixed duties. His daughter Rudrama Devi ruled in her own right, one of the very few queens of medieval India, and Marco Polo wrote admiringly of her kingdom. The Ramappa or Rudreshwara temple at Palampet, built in 1213 by Recherla Rudra, a general of Ganapatideva, entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021. The dynasty is also remembered for its chain tanks, such as Pakhal and Laknavaram, and for the Kakatiya Kala Thoranam, the ornamental gateway of Warangal fort. Prataparudra II was defeated in 1323 by the forces of the Delhi Sultanate and Warangal was renamed Sultanpur.

The Yadavas of Devagiri

The Yadavas, who called themselves Seunas, made Devagiri, later Daulatabad, their capital under Bhillama V about 1187. Singhana II was their strongest ruler and patronised Sarangadeva, author of the Sangita Ratnakara, the standard medieval treatise on Indian music. Hemadri, minister of Mahadeva and Ramachandra, wrote the Chaturvarga Chintamani and gave his name to the Hemadpanti temple style of black stone laid without mortar. Marathi became a language of administration and devotion: Jnaneshwar composed the Jnaneshwari, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, in 1290 in the reign of Ramachandra. Alauddin Khalji raided Devagiri in 1296, Malik Kafur reduced it in 1307, and in about 1317 the last ruler Harapala was executed, ending the dynasty.

Comparing the four kingdoms