5.1Hill chiefs to imperial power
The Hoysalas emerged from the Malnad hills around Sosevur and rose under Chalukya overlordship before asserting independence in the twelfth century. Vishnuvardhana (r. c. 1108–1152) expelled the Cholas from Gangavadi, and Veera Ballala II (r. 1173–1220) made the Hoysalas a sovereign imperial power after the collapse of the Kalyani Chalukyas.[1]
Their capitals were Belur and then Dwarasamudra (Halebidu). In the thirteenth century the dynasty extended into the Tamil country, ruling briefly from Kannanur Kuppam near Srirangam.
5.2The temple achievement
Hoysala temples — the Chennakeshava at Belur (begun 1117), the Hoysaleswara at Halebidu, and the Chennakesava at Somanathapura in Mysore district (1268, built by Somanatha Dandanayaka) — are built of chloritic schist (soapstone) on stellate plans raised on a jagati platform, with horizontal friezes of elephants, horsemen, epic narrative and foliage of extraordinary density.[2]
In 2023 the 'Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas' — Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura — were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the monuments are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.[3]
5.3Fall of the dynasty
Halebidu was sacked by the forces of the Delhi Sultanate under Malik Kafur in 1311 and again in 1327. Veera Ballala III fought the Madurai Sultanate for decades and was killed near Madurai in 1343; his death effectively ended Hoysala rule.[1]
The vacuum was filled almost immediately by the new Sangama brothers' state on the Tungabhadra — Vijayanagara — which inherited much of the Hoysala domain, including the Mysore country.