The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II

Who rules

Name

Veera Ballala II (Vira Ballala II)

Title

King (maharaja, with the Hoysala-chakravarti claim)

Since

22 July 1173

Born

not recorded; an adult in 1173, so probably in his late forties or fifties in 1200 (our inference)

Family

Hoysala, a Malnad hill-chief house; son of Narasimha I; grandson of Vishnuvardhana

Confidence

high

Reign from 22 July 1173 (Wikipedia, Veera Ballala II); 1 January 1200 falls in his 27th regnal year. His own dated records of 1192 (Lakkundi) and about 1196 are the anchors for the north.

Overlord

none; the Chalukya emperors of Kalyani that his house once served are gone (Someshvara IV last seen at Banavasi about 1190)

What the realm holds

• Dorasamudra (Halebidu), the capital city around its great tank, and Belur (Velapuri) with the Chennakeshava temple, the older ceremonial seat
• Lakkundi (Lokkigundi) in the Belvola, named as his northern capital in a Sanskrit record of 1192, with its mint and step wells
• Talakad and the Kaveri plain (Gangavadi 96,000), the granary of the south
• Nolambavadi 32,000 (Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Kolar side), an administered province of dry tank country and granite hill forts
• Banavasi 12,000, Hangal 500, Belvola 300 and Puligere 300 in the north, taken between about 1178 and 1196
• the ghat roads from the Malnad to the Tulu coast (Shiradi, Charmadi, Agumbe, Bisle), with their tolls
• the temple estates and agraharas of the plateau, whose Kannada grants are the nearest thing to a revenue survey

How it was acquired

Inherited from Narasimha I on 22 July 1173 (Wikipedia says he overthrew his father with help of the Malnad chiefs; most histories simply say he succeeded). The north was won in stages: Hangal annexed about 1178, a failed attack on the Belvola about 1179, Someshvara IV beaten at Banavasi about 1190, Soratur and Lakkundi about 1191, a claim to imperial status about 1192, the victory record of about 1196.

Allies and rivals

Allied by marriage with the Chola emperor Kulottunga III (see lord record): Wikipedia reports both a Chola princess, Cholamahadevi, among Ballala's queens and his daughter Somaladevi married to Kulottunga III, after the war of 1187-88 in Kongu; no inscription was re-read for this. Rival and neighbour: the Yadavas of Devagiri (Bhillama V killed or dead by August 1191; Jaitugi on the throne from late 1191, first dated record December 1192, busy with the Kakatiyas about 1194-1198). The Kadambas of Goa under Jayakeshi III and the Alupas of Tulunadu are on the coast side; Venad and the Kolathiri lie beyond the Ghats and are not his subjects.

The realm that morning

Ballala II is at the height of his power and at peace on the south and east. The northern conquest is recent, nine to ten years old, and held, as far as we can tell, through officers and subordinate houses rather than by settlement (our reading; no source we read describes garrisons). The Yadava danger has eased for the moment because Jaitugi's wars are with the Kakatiyas, but the Malaprabha belt is not a border. Dorasamudra is a building site: the Kedareshwara temple is begun or about to be, Belavadi's Veeranarayana temple is being finished (board) and Amruthapura's temple of 1196 is four years old; the Hoysaleshwara temple of the 1120s is finished on Wikipedia's dating and unfinished on the campaign board's.

Wealth

Tank irrigation and the temple villages of the plateau (the Mysore tanks are the base of the revenue); the pepper, cardamom and sandalwood of the Malnad and the ghat tolls; gold from the Kolar workings; the cotton and black-soil grain of the Belvola; iron and crucible steel; soapstone for the temples. Coin is the gold gadyana (honnu), which Wikipedia gives as 62 grains, with the pana (hana) a tenth of it; the Lakkundi mint is old. No revenue figures survive.

Military

Led by dandanayakas (generals) who also hold provinces; the levies come through the village headmen (gavunda, heggade) and the nadu; hill forts (Uchchangidurga, Madhugiri, Shivagange, the Chitradurga hills) hold the dry country. The Deccan breeds no cavalry: horses are landed at Goa, Honavar, Bhatkal and Mangalore and walked up the ghats, so the coast houses matter to him. No strength figure for any army is in a source we could read.

Threats

• The Yadavas of Devagiri (Jaitugi, then Simhana) on the Malaprabha belt, once the Kakatiya business is done
• Rebellion of the great feudatories while the king is in the north (Wikipedia credits Queen Umadevi with putting down revolts while he campaigned)
• A Chola turn toward Kongu if hard times in the delta later in the year (see the likely course) send raiders up the Kaveri
• The Kadambas and Alupas leaning toward a Yadava patron if the Malaprabha line gives way

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. about 7 July 1200 onward (the second half of the year)Kulottunga III's twenty-third regnal year begins (counted from his accession of 7 July 1178); a famine in the Chola delta in his twenty-third and twenty-fourth years is reported (a regnal-year statement, not a dated record). The Hoysala border on the Kaveri is the first place refugees and raiders would reach.Depends on: The famine report in the regional brief (no cause or month is given) and a long Hoysala-Chola peace. Stopped by: A good harvest in the delta; the Hoysala court keeping the frontier garrisons in the south.
2. during 1200 (month not known)Yadava succession: Jaitugi dies and Simhana II follows, on the 1200 reckoning of Mahalingam; Altekar's reckoning has Simhana only from 1210.Depends on: Which epigraphic reckoning is right (1200, 1207 or 1210 for Simhana's first year). Stopped by: A later date for the succession means the Yadava court stays under Jaitugi's cautious policy longer.
3. c. 1200 to 1206Temple building at the capital goes on: Belavadi's flanking shrines about 1206 and the Kedareshwara temple at Halebidu (range given as about 1200 to 1219).Depends on: Peace on the frontiers and temple revenue. Stopped by: A Yadava invasion of the Belvola.
4. after c. 1212 (later, not part of 1200)Singhana II pushes the Hoysalas back over the Tungabhadra and takes the Belvola.Depends on: Simhana's accession and a free hand after the Kakatiya settlement. Stopped by: A Hoysala victory in the north, or a Yadava defeat elsewhere.

Places of note

• Dorasamudra (Halebidu): capital
• Belur (Velapuri): ceremonial seat and Chennakeshava temple
• Lakkundi: northern capital of 1192, mint
• Talakad: Kaveri crossing and the victory town of 1116 or 1117
• The Kongu march: dry corridor between the Nilgiri foot and the Kaveri, Chola ground held through local chiefs (board); on sit's ground, drawn there as sit-belt-kongu-hoysala-edge

Where the sources disagree

• Board 'the-kaveri-chola-frontier' says Ballala's daughter Somaladevi is a Chola queen; the campaign board's region text says the Chola emperor married Ballala's daughter; the regional brief also gives Ballala marrying a Chola princess. Wikipedia carries both (Cholamahadevi as his wife, Somaladevi as his daughter given to Kulottunga III). We give both and draw neither as proven by an inscription.
• Board 'belur' calls Belur the older Hoysala seat before the court moved to Dorasamudra; Wikipedia gives Halebidu as capital from 1062. The order of the two seats is argued; both are in use in 1200.
• The campaign board entry says Ballala holds 'the Belvola and the Malaprabha' and names its frontier place 'the Malaprabha and Krishna frontier'. Wikipedia (Veera Ballala II) agrees that he pushed the northern boundary up to the Malaprabha and Krishna rivers; on one reading of the page the push belongs to the battles of about 1191, on another it has no year. That page also says a record dated about 1196 claims victories over 'several minor ruling families including those of Banavasi'; one reading lists them as Banavasi, Hangal, Halasi, Nolambavadi, Bagalkot and Yelburga (Gulbarga), another quotes only the Banavasi part, so we treat the longer list as unconfirmed. Either way it is a claim of reach on a record, not a garrisoned border, and the campaign board itself calls the line a belt that neither king garrisons. The same page says he lost the ground north of the Tungabhadra after about 1212, which is later than the game.
• Wikipedia (Hoysala Empire) says Ballala 'declared independence in 1193'; Wikipedia (Veera Ballala II) puts the claim of imperial status about 1192. Treated as a claim made in the early 1190s.
• Wikipedia's Veera Ballala II page names the Chalukya king beaten at Banavasi Someshvara VI; its Lakkundi page names the Kalyani Chalukya king of 1185 Somashevara IV, and we use IV for the last king of Kalyani. The numbering is not settled in our sources.

Evidence: The reign, the dated records of 1192 and about 1196 and the temple dates are firm. The feudatories' names for 1200, the exact reach of the north and the marriage ties are thin or reported at second hand.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Only the heartland is drawn here; the provinces (Gangavadi, Nolambavadi, Banavasi, Belvola, Puligere, Hangal, Santalige) and the feudatories carry the rest. The north is a conquest of about ten years' standing and the frontier on the Malaprabha is a belt.

Primary sources for this realm

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