Short Essay on the Origin of Hoysalas

The Hoysalas were an important dynasty who ruled more or less effectively over the whole of the South Kamataka region; and at the zenith of their power over the whole of Karnataka they are heard of from the middle of the 10th century. "From an inscription from Marale, a village to the North of Belur, we learn that a grandson of a certain Arakella, by name Poysala-Maruga, fought at Sirivur with Anniga, whom we know from other sources to have been a Nolamba contemporary of the Rashtrakuta Krishna m" (Derrett).

From this statement of Prof. Derrett, it is easy to see how this famous dynasty of rulers had their origin (in the sense of their first becoming politically singificant) almost simultaneously with the imperial Cholas. But their full maturity to power unlike in the case of the Cholas was delayed for about a century by the still dominant Western Chalukyas of Kalyani.

It was unthinkable that till the passing away of Vikramaditya VI, it would have been possible for any power to compete seriously with Kalyani. Another reason why the Hoysalas in spite of their relatively early origin had to wait for a century before their hour of destiny would arrive in the history of South India, was that Rajaraja I soon after his succession and after having completed the conquest of the south inaugurated an aggresssive era of conquest in Karnataka and by 1004 the Southern Karnataka lay at the feet of that great king of Tanjore.

It has been properly surmised by Prof. Derrett that the territory around Belur was neglected by the major powers like the Cholas and the Western Chalukyas or the minor powers like the Gangas were more concerned with the richer territories lying along the route from Gangavadi to the Tungabhadra through Nolambavadi.

The very fact of isolation gave the Hoysalas an oppportunity to grow unnoticed and unhindered till in a moment of encircling political weakness they could quietly establish themselves and become masters of South Karnatak slowly but steadily.

Though for purposes of historical narrative of the political successes of the Hoysalas it is sufficient to consider the middle of the 10th century as a starting point of their dynastic fortunes, yet it would be necessary and interesting to know in greater depth the ancient origins of the Hoysalas. There are two different theories about their origin.

The more easily contended theory is based on the acceptance of a supernatural story which purports to describe the origin of this dynasty, but ends up by declaring a general inability to know their origins, rejecting by implication the other theories. The second attempt seeks to discover the origin of the Hoysalas with the help of a reference to a Velir family in the Mysore region whose progenitor was begotten in the sacrificial fire of a northern sage.

The reference occurs in two verses of the Purananuru, a Sangam anthology and the expression used in this context is Pulikadimal which means the Tiger-slayer. This account, which we get in poems written ten centuries before the Hoysalas became politically significant in medieval South Indian history, can after all give us the true clue to the origin of the Hoysalas.

From these poems we see that even in the 1st century AD the account given by the poet Kapilar had become a legend and he speaks of the Velir "of 49 generations earlier". If a generation meant even 25 years, about 50 generations would take us 1250 years before the Christian era and that would be a fantastic date for the origin of any political power in South India.

The real meaning of 49 generations is only 49 divisions of the family for different periods of time and over different sub-regions within the larger region of South Karnataka. The suggestive part of the account given in the Purananuru is that it very closely resembles the actual legend of a king who earned his title Tiger-slayer in the following way: "There was once in the South Mysore forests an ascetic engaged in his penance; a tiger which came that way prepared to pounce on the ascetic; but then a king called Sala who also hapened to come that way was directed by the Rishi to smite the tiger dead and so directing he exclaimed 'Hoy! Sala!' i.e. "smite! Oh Sala!"

The king did so and became the founder of the Hoysala line of rulers". It must be remembered that epigraphic referenced adopt the form Poysala also for the Hoysalas; undoubtedly the letter "pa" in Tamil is interchangeable with "ha" in Kananda.

In fact in old Kannada even this interchange is unnecessary and the form Poysals itself can be found and poy has the same meaning as hoy. The essence of this discussion is that the Poysalas were an ancient people who ruled the region to the west of Mysore as chieftains; their earliest mention is not to be found in Kannada literature or epigraphs but in Tamil Sangam literature; the origin of this family had become a matter of partly well remembered history and partly legend made up by guess work; that as in the case of every other dynasty in the history at least of South India precise origins cannot be discovered but all of them belong to really ancient times. It is surprising that the family had stuck to the same region for more than a thousand years.

Some historians, with amusing credulity believe in the literal truth of what Prof. Derrett has rightly called "a charming myth" (though there can be some difference of opinion regarding the adjective); it may be of interest to point out that the legend of tiger-smiting reafly signifies the Hoysala ambition to overwhelm the Cholas whose emblem was the tiger.