Vishnuvardhana

For other uses, see Vishnuvardhana (disambiguation).

Vishnuvardhana
Vishnuvardhana
Vishnuvardhana
Hoysala King
Reignc. 1108 – c. 1152 CE
PredecessorVeera Ballala I
SuccessorNarasimha I
BornBitti Deva
SpouseShantaladevi, Lakshmidevi
DynastyHoysala
ReligionVaishnavite Hinduism (converted from Jainism) [1][2][3][4]
Hoysala Kings
Nripa Kama II1026–1047
Vinayaditya1047–1098
Ereyanga1098–1102
Veera Ballala I1102–1108
Vishnuvardhana1108–1152
Narasimha I1152–1173)
Veera Ballala II1173–1220
Vira Narasimha II1220–1235
Vira Someshwara1235–1263
Narasimha III1263–1292
Veera Ballala III1292–1343
Harihara Raya1342–1355
Chennakeshava Temple commissioned by Vishnuvardhana, Vesara architecture at Belur
The Hoysaleshwara temple at Halebidu was financed by Ketamalla and Kesarasetti, rich merchants who dedicated it to King Vishnuvardhana and his queen Shantaladevi
Kappe Chennigaraya temple built by queen Shantala Devi
Relief of King Vishnuvardhana and queen Shantala Devi, in the Chennakeshava temple at Belur.

Vishnuvardhana (r. 1108–1152 CE) was a king of the Hoysala Empire in what is today the state of Karnataka, India. He ascended the Hoysala throne after the death of his elder brother Veera Ballala I in c.1108. Originally a follower of Jainism and known as Bitti Deva, he came under the influence of the Hindu philosopher Ramanuja, converted to Hindu Vaishnavism and took the name "Vishnuvardhana".[1][2][3][4] His queen Shanthala however remained a Jain.[5] This was the transition period from Jainism to Hinduism. Vishnuvardhana took the first steps in creating an independent Hoysala Empire in South India through a series of battles against his overlord, the Western Chalukya King Vikramaditya VI, and the Chola Empire to the south. He recovered parts of Gangavadi province (modern southern Karnataka) from the hegemony of the Cholas in the battle of Talakad,[6] and parts of Nolambavdi.[7] According to historian Coelho, the Hoysalas gained the dignity of a kingdom due to the efforts of Vishnuvardhana, whose rule was packed with "glorious" military campaigns.[8][9] According to historians Sen, Chopra et al., and Sastri, Vishnuvardhana was a "great soldier" and an "ambitious monarch".[10][11][12]

Hoysala literature in the Kannada language began to proliferate under the patronage of Vishnuvardhana. The mathematician Rajaditya wrote Vyavaharaganita and Lilavati on mathematics. According to the historian E.P. Rice, the epic poet Nagachandra was under Vishnuvardhana's patronage when he wrote the earliest extant Ramayana (a Jain version) in the Kannada language called Ramachandra charita purana, and an epic on the nineteenth Jain Tirthankar titled Mallinathapurana.[13][14][15][16]

  1. ^ a b Govindāchārya 1906, p. 180.
  2. ^ a b Stein 1989, p. 16.
  3. ^ a b Menon 2013, p. 127.
  4. ^ a b Smith 1920, p. 203.
  5. ^ Nandakumar, Prathibha (26 March 2018). "'Religion must be burnt every 1,000 yrs'". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  6. ^ Sen 1999, pp. 386–387, 485.
  7. ^ Sen 2013, pp. 58–60.
  8. ^ Kamath 1980, p. 124.
  9. ^ Coelho in Kamath (1980), p.124
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference santara was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kanchi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Sen (1996), p.386
  13. ^ T. K. Venkataraman (1968), p.163, Indian culture, University of Madras, Amudha Nilayam, OCLC 599885676
  14. ^ Karnataka through the ages: from prehistoric times to the day of the independence of India, Literary and Cultural Development Dept, Government of Mysore, 1968, p.466
  15. ^ Kamath (1980), p.133
  16. ^ E.P. Rice in Sisir Kumar Das (2005), p.144, A History of Indian Literature, 500-1399: From Courtly to the Popular, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-2171-3