The Hoysalas

The Hoyalas of Mysore were descended from a general of the Chalukya king, Vikramaditya.The founder of the dynasty were Biltga better known as Vishnu Vardhana. He reigned for more than 30 years in subordination to the Chalukya king and died in 1141 AD. To begin with he was a Jain but was converted to Vaishnavism by saint Ramanuja. He patronized architecture and sculpture. He extended his domination against Cheras, Cholas and Pandhyas.He finally drove out the Cholas from the Mysore Plateau. His grandson Vira Ballala extended the dominion to Devagiri. He formally declared his independence of Chalukyas in about 1190 AD. He made Hoysalas the supreme power in the Deccan towards the close of the 12th century.

The power of the dynasty was overthrown by Alauddin’s general Malik Kafur who sacked the Hoysala capital Dwarasamudra in 1310 AD. The Hoysalas developed a new style of architecture different from that of the Chalukyas.The temples were polygonal star-shaped in plan having rich carved plinths. The towers of the temples were pyramidal in shape and were often attached together. The Hoysala buildings were generally ornamented with an enormous mass of sculpture and statues of very good quality.