The money behind the Hoysala temples is trade money.
The Ayyavole Five Hundred, the great travelling guild of the south, and the Nakara (town guilds with their own headmen) hold market towns on the plateau and the coast roads, fund temples and tanks and lend to kings. Jain merchants of Lakshmeshwar and Shravanabelagola are bankers to half the north. They owe the king tolls and grants; he owes them freedom of the roads.
Who he is
- Title
- guild heads (settis) and the town corporations (nakara)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Ayyavole of Aihole (the Five Hundred Lords), Nakara town guilds, Virabanajiga traders
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board entry notes (Doddagaddavalli: a temple paid for by the merchant Kalhana Ravuta and his wife Sahaja Devi, 1113; Dambal: a Tara temple of 1095 paid by sixteen traders). Guild charters were not read for this sheet.
Overlord
Hoysala king, by grant of privileges
What it holds
- market privileges in Dorasamudra, Belur, Hassan, Lakkundi, Gadag, Dambal, Balligavi
- toll exemptions on the ghat roads
- temple endowments
How it was acquired
By royal grants.
Allies and rivals
The king; the Jain bhattarakas; the coast merchants of Mangalore, Honavar and Goa.
How things stand that morning
Active across the kingdom.
Wealth
Cotton cloth, grain, pepper, horses, areca, steel.
Military
Merchant guards.
Threats
- War on the trade roads
Places of note
- Doddagaddavalli, Lakshmi temple (1113): earliest dated Hoysala temple, paid by a merchant
- Dambal, Tara temple (1095): paid by sixteen traders
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Known from temple records, none re-read.
Primary sources for Hoysala kingdom
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Epigraphia Carnatica: inscriptions of the Mysore country, Various (Hoysala chancery and temple scribes), edited by B. Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhachar (inscriptions of the 4th to 19th centuries; the series ran from 1886 to 1905, revised from 1972). The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II (reigning 1173 to 1220) is documented almost wholly by the inscriptions in this series, arranged by district and taluk with full English translations. Read online
- Inscriptions of the Silaharas, Various (Silahara chanceries), edited by V. V. Mirashi (inscriptions of the 9th to 13th centuries; edited 1977). Collects the records of the three Silahara houses: North Konkan (Thana), South Konkan, and Kolhapur.
- Sanskrit and Old Canarese Inscriptions relating to the Yadava Kings of Devagiri, Various (Yadava chancery), edited by J. F. Fleet (inscriptions of the 12th and 13th centuries; edited 1876). The first collected edition of the Yadava (Seuna) records, with texts and translations, from the Indian Antiquary. Read online
- South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead, checked against the other sources)
- Background, not re-read in this pass: Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India (1980)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.