Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

LURE - THRU THE AGES

Hanagal, Uchchangi and Bankapura; he was a disciple of Ramanujacharya and embraced Shrivaishnavism; his queen Shanataladevi was well versed in all fields of Art; he was suc- ceeded by his son Narasimha. Ballalall 1173-1220 A.D.: He expanded his authority from the Kaveri in the south to the

* VishnuVardhana

(1106-1141)

(Queen Shantala died in 1131)

* Narasimha I

(1141-1173) (1173-1220) (1220-1235) (1235-1254) (1254-1292) (1291-1342) (1343-1343)

* Ballalall

* Narasimha II

(Dorasamudra) as "one of the most remark- able monuments ever produced by the hand of man" and as "the supreme climax of Indian architecture." Decline Practically the last ruler was Ballala III. In his reign (1291-1342), he had to face the inva- sions of Malik Kafur and Mahmud Bin Tugh- laq and also wage a war with the Sultan of Madura, in which he Jost his life. The founders of Vijayanagara stepped into his shoes and stemmed the tide of foreign invasions.

* Somesvara (at Kannanore)

* Narasimha III

* Ballala III * Ballala IV

Malaprabha in the north. He successfully fought against the Yadavas in the north and the Cho- las in the south. "The Hoysala temples were not the works of a builder, but those of art craftsmen, such as the sandal wood carver, the ivory worker, the metal caster and also the goldsmith”. (Percy Brown). The same authority considers MAHMUD GHAZNI 9 77 -1030 A.D * The sack of Somnath is described in a 13th Century account from an Arab source, A1 Kazwini: "When the Sultan went to wage religious war against In- dia, he made great efforts to capture and destroy Somnath in the hope ihat the Hindus would become Muhammadans. He arrived there in the middle of De- cember 1025 A.D. The Indians made a desperate resistance. They would go weeping and crying for help into the temple and then issue forth to battle and fight till all were killed. The number of slain exceeded 50,000. The king looked upon the idol with wonder and gave or- ders for the seizing of the spoil and the appropriation of its treasures. There were many idols of gold and silver and vessels set with jewels all of which had been sent there by the greatest person- ages of India. The value of the things found in the temple and of the idols ex- ceeded 20,000 dinars...."

Vishnuvardhana 1106-1141 His reign is packed with glorious military campaigns; he captured Talakadu and Kolara in 1116 and assumed the title of Talakadukonda' and built two temples - Kirthi- narayana temple (Talakadu) and Vijayanaray- ana (Belur); defeated Kongalvas; captured

The significance of Mahmud's raids as paving the way for further attacks from the north-west was not grasped. The Rajput clans continued to fight each other and were totally unprepared when Mohammed Ghori appeared 150 years later. He came to establish a kingdom and not merely to loot.

* Ghazni, a principality of Afghanistan, came to prominence in 977 when a Turkish nobleman annexed the adjoin- ing parts of Central Asia and the Trans- Indus regions of the Shahiya kingdom. His son Mahmud (997 - 1030) was the most famous Sultan of this dynasty. * He was a great plunderer of the wealth of Indian cities and temples. Between 1001 and 1027 he raided North India 17 times and carried away immense wealth on elephants, camels and horses. He plundered the towns of Punjab, Kashmir, Rajasthan, Sindh, Kanauj, Malwa, Gujarat and Saurash- tra. His plundering incursions took him even across the desert to Somnath. He drained the wealth of the country and of its military resources to a terrible ex- tent. * The Indian rulers were too divided by mutual feuds to resist the incursions of this invader.

Mahmud Ghazni - wept at the thought of leaving behind his enormous plunder on his death.