6.1 Ancient & Early Medieval Karnataka — Kadambas to Hoysalas

Kadambas of Banavasi (c. 345-525 CE)

Founded by Mayurasharma (a Brahmin scholar who took up arms after a Humiliation at Kanchi's Pallava court), with capital at Banavasi (Uttara Kannada district). They were the first dynasty to issue inscriptions in Kannada and the first to use Kannada as an official administrative language — a landmark in the language's history. Kakusthavarman, a later Kadamba ruler, formed matrimonial alliances with the Gangas and Vakatakas. The Kadamba architecture includes the Madhukeshwara Temple at Banavasi. They were eventually overthrown by the Chalukyas of Badami.

Gangas of Talakad (c. 350-1000 CE)

Also called the Western Gangas, with capital at Talakad (on the Kaveri) and later Kolar. They were contemporaries and feudatories of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, and Rashtrakutas. Strongly associated with Jainism; built the famous monolithic Gomateshwara (Bahubali) statue at Shravanabelagola (c. 983 CE) under minister Chavundaraya, commissioned by the Ganga minister.

Chalukyas of Badami (c. 543-757 CE)

Also called the Early Western Chalukyas or Chalukyas of Vatapi, with capital at Badami (Vatapi, Bagalkot district). Founded by Pulakesi I, the dynasty reached its height under Pulakesi II (c. 610-642 CE):

• Defeated Harshavardhana of Kanauj on the Narmada (c. 634 CE), stopping his southward expansion — recorded in the Aihole inscription of Ravikirti
• Sent ambassador to Persia
• Lost to the Pallava Narasimhavarman I who sacked Badami (642 CE)

Patronised the Badami Chalukyan architecture — three Hindu temples and one Jain temple at Badami cave complex, structural temples at Aihole (Ladkhan, Durga temples) and Pattadakal (Virupaksha Temple by Lokamahadevi, Papanatha). Pattadakal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rashtrakutas (c. 753-982 CE)

Capital initially at Manyakheta (Malkhed, Gulbarga). The Rashtrakutas succeeded the Chalukyas of Badami. Greatest rulers:

• Dantidurga — founder of the imperial line
• Krishna I — built the Kailasa (Kailasanatha) Temple at Ellora (c. 760-780 CE), a monolithic rock-cut Shiva temple carved top-down from a single basalt hill
• Amoghavarsha I (c. 814-878 CE) — longest-reigning Rashtrakuta; patron of Kavirajamarga by Srivijaya, the earliest Kannada literary work on poetics; a Jain, court scholar was Jinasena (Adipurana)

Rashtrakutas controlled a vast empire stretching from the Gangetic doab to the Kaveri; Arab travellers like Sulaiman (851 CE) praised their power.

Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (c. 973-1189 CE)

Founded by Tailapa II, who overthrew the Rashtrakutas; capital at Kalyani (Basavakalyan, Bidar). Also called Later Chalukyas. Major ruler Vikramaditya VI (1076-1126) started the Chalukya Vikrama era; patron of scholars. Their architecture — refined Dravida-Nagara style — appears at Lakkundi (Kashivishvanatha, Brahmajala), Dambal (Doddabasappa), Annigeri, and early Halebid prototypes. Patronised Kannada (Ranna's Ajitha Purana, Gada Yuddha) and Sanskrit scholars.

Hoysalas (c. 1026-1343 CE)

Capital initially at Belur, later Dwarasamudra (Halebid). Feudatories of the Western Chalukyas who became independent.

• Vishnuvardhana (c. 1108-1152) — broke from Chalukya overlordship; converted to Sri Vaishnavism under Ramanuja; celebrated victory over Cholas at Talkad (1116) — Hoysala emblem: the Sala slaying the tiger
• Built the Chennakesava Temple at Belur (1117) commemorating the victory
• Veera Ballala II and Veera Ballala III — extended control; Ballala III died fighting the Delhi Sultanate's Madurai expedition (c. 1342)

Hoysala architecture is distinctive: star-shaped (stellate) plans, soapstone carving, intricate lathe-turned pillars. Major temples:

Literature: Rudrabhatta (Ratnaprakasha), Janna (Yashodhara Charite), and Harihara (Vachana literature). They patronised both Hindu and Jain faiths.

Kannada's Earliest Records — A Reliable Question

Temple Architecture — The Karnataka Sequence

Karnataka is where the two great Indian temple styles met, which is why its architecture is examined so heavily.

Attribution trap: the Hoysaleswara temple at Halebid was built in 1121 by Ketamalla, an officer of Vishnuvardhana — not by Veera Ballala II, whose reign is later. And the Kailasa temple at Ellora is Rashtrakuta (Krishna I), not Chalukyan, even though it lies outside modern Karnataka.

Administration and Society in Early Karnataka

• The standard territorial ladder was rajya / mandala (province), nadu or vishaya (district), kampana and finally the grama (village) — an ancestor of today's division, district, taluk, hobli and village chain.
• Village-level officials appear in inscriptions as the gavunda (headman) and the karanika or senabova, the village accountant who kept land and revenue records. The modern Village Accountant / VAO is the lineal descendant of that office — a point worth making in any descriptive answer on the post's origins.
• Land grants were recorded on copper plates (tamra shasana) and stone (shila shasana); a kalnadu or hero-stone (veeragallu) commemorated a warrior's death.
• Religion: Jainism dominant under the Gangas and early Hoysalas, Shaivism under the Chalukyas and Kalachuris, Vaishnavism after Ramanuja's influence on Vishnuvardhana, and the Veerashaiva movement from the twelfth century.

Exam Angle

Three question shapes recur: dynasty to capital, ruler to monument, and inscription to first. Lock the capitals as a chain — Banavasi, Talakad, Badami, Manyakheta, Kalyani, Dwarasamudra — and lock the four "firsts": oldest written record (Ashokan minor edicts), earliest Kannada inscription (Halmidi), earliest Kannada literary work (Kavirajamarga), first great Kannada poet (Pampa).