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Ballala III (Hoysala)

The last great Hoysala king, crowned on 31 January 1292, who united the two halves of the kingdom. Malik Kafur took his capital Dorasamudra in 1311; the city was rebuilt by 1316 and destroyed again by a Tughluq army, after which he lived at Tiruvannamalai. His inscriptions in the Anantapur district run from 1317 to 1340, and in 1328 his minister ruled at Penukonda. A Kakatiya general defeated him at Kanchi. He was killed fighting the Sultan of Madurai on 8 September 1342.

Ballala III was the last great king of the Hoysalas, ruling from 1292 to 1342.12 His reign saw the Delhi armies destroy his capital twice.1 He still ruled part of the Anantapur country, and he fought the Kakatiyas for Kanchi.34

The united kingdom

Ballala III was the son of Narasimha III.5 He was crowned on 31 January 1292.1 Under him the two Hoysala kingdoms, divided since 1254, became one again.51 S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1921) wrote that he kept three capitals: Halebid in the north, Kundani in the middle and Kannanur in the south, with Tiruvannamalai as another.5

Malik Kafur and after

In 1311 the Delhi general Malik Kafur reached Dorasamudra.6 B. Lewis Rice (1909) wrote that the king was defeated and taken prisoner, and the city sacked.1 His son, taken to Delhi as a hostage, came home in 1313.1 By 1316 the capital had been rebuilt.1

A later army sent by Muhammad Tughluq destroyed the city completely.1 Ballala went to live at Tiruvannamalai, where Rice found him in 1328 and often until 1342.1

In the Anantapur country

Sewell and Aiyangar (1932) listed his records in the Anantapur district.378

  • 1317, a record that names his son3
  • 18 March 1323, a record of local fighting7
  • September 13408

At Kodigepalle, in the Hindupur taluk, a record of Saka 1250 (1328; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) shows his minister Koteya Machaya-Dannayaka ruling at Penukonda.9 V. Rangacharya (1919) read this to mean that Penukonda was then in Hoysala territory.9

The Kakatiyas

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (1978) wrote that Ballala took Kanchi after the Delhi armies withdrew from the south.4 In his account the Kakatiya commander Peda Rudra defeated Ballala and his allies and occupied the city.4 He also wrote that the Kakatiya king Prataparudra refused to help Kampili against Ballala.10 See the Kakatiyas.

His death

On 8 September 1342 Ballala III was killed fighting the Sultan of Madurai.11 A hero-stone in Mysore says he was 80 years old.11 Sewell and Aiyangar, following Aiyangar’s reading of the stone, placed the battle at Kannanur near Tiruchirappalli (then Trichinopoly).11 Rice had read the place name as “Beribi”.12 His son Ballala IV wore the crown in 1343, but Hoysala power was at an end.12

Footnotes

  1. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 107 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 69 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  3. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 180 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 133. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (1921), pp. 93–94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 182 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  8. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 186 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  9. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency, Vol. I (1919), p. 12, Anantapur No. 70 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 135. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  11. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 188 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (1909), p. 108 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Hoysalas

c. 1173–1343 CE

Dynasty of Dorasamudra (Halebid) in the Mysore country, at first vassals of the Western Chalukyas and independent from the time of Vishnuvardhana in the 12th century. Ballala II took Nolambavadi; his inscriptions are at Parigi (1178) and Hemavati (1205–06) in the Anantapur district, and he claimed Gooty. His successors fought the Seunas, the Pandyas and the Telugu Chodas for the Chola country, and in the later 13th century held the Rayachoti country. Ballala III lost Dorasamudra to Malik Kafur in 1311 but still ruled parts of Anantapur to 1340; a Kakatiya general defeated him at Kanchi. He was killed fighting the Sultan of Madurai in 1342.

References

Sources (5)
  1. B. Lewis Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions (opens in a new tab), Archibald Constable, London, 1909, pp. 107–108. [Public domain]
  2. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, South India and her Muhammadan Invaders (opens in a new tab), Oxford University Press (Humphrey Milford), London, 1921, pp. 68–69, 93–94. [Public domain]
  3. V. Rangacharya, A Topographical List of the Inscriptions of the Madras Presidency (collected till 1915), with Notes and References, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1919, pp. 12. [Public domain]
  4. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 180, 182, 186, 188. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1978, pp. 133, 135. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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