karnataka handbook

THE KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED
FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
OF THE
KARNATAKA PROVINCIAL CONGRESS
COMMITTEE
B. SREENIVASA IYENGAR
3/3-l, MANAVARTHPET
BANGALORE CITY

.,­
L.; •

FOREWORD.
Kamataka enjoys for the first time the privilege
of holding a session of the Indian National Congress
within her borders. The province has therefore come
to occupy a positi,)J1 of importance. Until recently
when the Congress sectHed for it its intl'gTity by a
re

( ii)
On the teachers of the National High School,
Bangalore City and other friends in the place, fell a
major portion of the responsibility of contribnting the
articles, and of seeing the book throu).(h the press.
Mr. B. Sreenivasa Iyengar has spared no pains in
printing the book in an attractive fOI'm, and in secnring
the illustrations. To these and to several authors
and others who readily respol1lled to the appeal for
iuformation the compiler expresses his indebtedness
011 behalf of the Kal'l1ataka Provincial Congl'ess Committee
and the RditOl'ial Board. He has also to acknowleuge
the courtesy of those who lent the blocks
for illustrations.
D. K. BHARADVAJ.
NOTE ON THE MAP.
Chief Editor.
The boundary of Karnataka, marked by thin straight lincs.
may only be taken as approximately marking the limits of the
Kannada speaking people. It does not follow the Congress
diyision. Suggestions for rendering it accurate will be thankfully
received.

GEOGRAPHY
I'LAIXS:-Nalurally Karn;t(ak'i IS di\icled into
three parts; the cost strip the Malellad and the Bailu­
SlillC. The hill country or Mtliellad confined to the
tract bordering or resting on the \Vestern Ghats is a
picturesque land of mountain and forest presenting the
most di\'ersified and beautiful scenel-y. The more open
country called Bailusil11c is in the east. The average
height of the country is about 2000 ft. in the south
and J 500 ft. in the north. The southern plateau lies
like a wedge between the \Vestern and ]ly follows the slImmer
season. It will be helpful in cooling the parched
lip land alld making the pastures green. Soon after the
lirst showers are got in May, the whole country will
be up ,Ilia will be very busy in tilling ;md sowing. The
staple foods ragi, jola and pulsps are grown. During
this monsoon on the crest of the \Veslern Ghats there
will be as heavy a rain fall as 300 inches. The excessive
rain fall of the Jl.Jalwad rapidly diminishes as the
clouds pass eastwards. In the north centre there wiII
he only 1

16 KARNATAKA HAND BOOK
congenial atmosphere created by mighty and generolls
kings.
In matters of culture and tradition, in its socialogy,
religions and civic life, in its fine arts of architecture.
$clllptllre, painting and mnsic, illdeed, even in its varie­
).(atcd an:! magnificent physiography, Karnataka may
well be called an abridgment of I nelia herself.

18
KAR:-IATAKA HANDBOOK
to have lived 011 the Chandradrona parvata or the
Bababudan hill, while Sl'ingeri or SI in;..(agiri is intimately
connected with Vibhandaka and Hishya Sringa.
Such movements of the Hishis must have taken
place very early, probably even in the Age of the
Brahm:ll1as. The Rishis in the south were continually
disturbed and molested in their life of study, prayer
and sacrifice, and to protect thcm the Kshatriyas of the
Solar and Lunar dynasties had to undertake expeditions,
The Epic u;..(e should ha\'e witnessed these conquering
expec1itions. The Ramayana and (he l\fahabharata
narrate the camp;li;..(ns of Sri Rama, Arjuna and
Sahadc\'a in the sonth, and it should not be suppose,]
that those two epics are full or exact in these particulars.
Thc result of these movements, however, "as that the
whol" of India from Cape Comorin to the Himal,lyas
passed under the sway of those epic chakraiJaI'tlJ/5
whom we all remember as great sacrificers and ideal
rulers.
That was only the immediate result. There were
other results marc permanent and more important
though more slow in fllltilment. In the wholesale and
permanent conquest of one people by another, tl'lere b
bOllnd to be a clash of cultures and civilisations, and
very naturally, the conquerors prevail in everything and
everywhere. Only when the conquered civilisation is
intrinsically superior is there the chance of the captive
capturing the captor. The Dravidian cidlisation was
by no means a weak or despicable one, though
110t so aggressive as the Ary;lll and considerably
influenced the Aryan element, whieh distinguishes the

HISTORY 29
and that he nurried Sas:mkamudra. a princess of Kalyan
and in this there m:Ly he an indication of the growth of
his power by an alliance with Kah·an. There can
be no doubt about his ha\'ing been a great warrio ... Tradition
says that he was responsible for the immigration
of Brahmins from Ahichchatra. from whom the
Havib Brahmins are descended.
Mayuravarm:l ruled between the years 3-tO and
:IGO A.D. He was succeec\('c! by Kanaka\'arma, Bhagiratha.
Raghu and Kakusthavarma. According to the
accepted chronology. l\fayura\'arma was the contemporary
of the Gupta Emperor Samudragnpta. but we
know nothing of Samuciragu;:-ta's doings in Karnataka,
through a p:lrt of which at least he must have marched.
But it is known that KAKCSTHA VARMA hac! a matrimonial
connection with the Gupta dynasty and he
seems to have been the most powerful of the Katlambas
so far mentioned. Of the successors of Kakusthavarman
MRIGESAVARMAN held the Gangas and the Pallavas at
hay, and his Son RAVIV ARMAN carried on the war with
the Palla vas. After Ravivarman the dynasty declined in
power. Dynastic dissensions along with the probable
weakness of the later rulers seems to have undermined
their power. Finally in about 516 A.D .. they were
conquered by Kirtivarman I of Badami, and made
tributaries. and, thronghout the succeeding centuries till
as late as the Vijayanagar Empire, tributaries and
subordinates they remained, with Hangal and Goa as
chief seats of influence.
The Kadambas were Brahminical in religion as
already indicated, and some of them are reputed as

HISTORY 33
in the 6th and 7th centnries. Inscriptions assert that the
Chalukyas had also to tight with the Abhiras, Trikutakas,
Malavas, Latas and Gurjaras, some of whom lIlust
consequently be presnmed to ha I'e bt'cn rnling in parts
of the province.
GENERAL REMARKS.
11 would be con,'enient here to sum up the characteristics
of these centuries, as the history takO's on a
distincti"e char:lct(,I' from the rise of the Chalukya
power. The Aryan settlement in Karuatak:l as plsewhere
brought in the Aryan civilisation and j.!ave those
general features of cultlll'e Col1lmon to all India. The
ancient Dravidian culture, such as it W:lS, went under
but did not completely (Iisappear. A fllsion where the
Aryan element predominated was natural alJd it was
at slIch a tillle that the Mauryan and Satavahana dyna·
sties held sway. Th .. Mauryan anel Sata\'ahana periods
lI,hich may be called Buddhiotic for purposes of convellience
do not shol\' any well-rn:lrked Karnataka
characteristics differentiating th(' province from other
parts of the Dakhan. From the Chalukya pprioel
onwards the history is pronolllll:edlr Karnataka.
Buddhism formed a large part of popular life. but in the
succeedin;,( age it had to yield its place to Ja:nislll and
Brahminism. Prakrit had to make rooll1 for Kannada.
The literature of thi, Bud(lhistic age is Pl'Ilkritic
mostly. Asok,,'s inscriptions as \I'ell as those of the
Satavahana and K;,(\amba dynasties are in Prakrit.
Patrons of literature in til(, Sa(:,v;,han:l dynasty favoured
Prakrit ego the Briltnlknll"l _,"

HIS1'OHY 35
with the RonJan Empire, All the commercial centres
mentioned in the Pel'ipllls and hy Ptok-my are not Yl't
identified, but Vaijayanti and Kalyan were undonbtedly
very important inland centres. The places on the seacoast
mentioned in this conllection point to coastal
and oCl'

36
KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
THE MEDIEVAL AGE
THE CHALUKYAS OF BADAMI
550-750 A.D
It has been seen already that the Kadambas and
other dynasties were conquered by the Chalukyas. But
the real antagonists of the Chalukyas were not those
minor dynasties but the Pallavas who were ruling over
practically all the northern P:lrt of the Dakhan. TIle
Chalukyas had in their efforts at expansion necessarily
to encounter and overcome their opposition and confine
them to the southeast part of the Dakhan. Therefore
t.his period is generally characterised hy a conflict
with the Palbvas who had made Kanchi their headquarters.
These Chaluk)'as are distinctively ca\1ed the Early
Chalukyas or the Western Challlkyas of B:tdami to
distinj.(llish them from the Later and the Eastern Chalukyas.
Badami or Vatapi near BijapU1' was thc)[
chief city. A tradition has it that they were origina\1y
in Ayodhya and mij.(rated thence to Karnataka, while a
legend describes their orij.(in by narrating how Indra
went with a complaint about the fallen state of the
earth to Brahma, how Brahma angrily looked into his
clzulttka and how the eponynl0US Challlkya hero was
born from the cltltlllka anu derived his name therefrom.
Harita and Manavyasa reckoned as ancestors by
the Chalukyas, are said to have been born in that hero's
family and given prominence to it. It is enough to
remember that the Chalukyas looked upon themselves
as Sol"r princes and worshipped Krtrtikeya.

HISTORY S3
Buddhism did not disappeal' but the new Hinduism
exposed by the Puranas and foundcd on vedic ritual
slowly absorbed it allll therefore the Chalukya family
might be said to begin a new age in the history of the
province. In other respects too it was under the sway
of the Chalukyas Gangas and Rashtrakutas that Kamataka
hecame Kamataka lU1d as such the four centuries
from the 6th to the 10th mBst be regarded as very
important.
In the political fidd the age was characterised by
a striving to\nrds unity and rivalry with thc eastern
power. The Palla vas Were general enemies in the
earlier as the Cholas became such in the later part of
tlJe period. Betwcen the three important Kamataka
dynasties thel'e was an effort towards all-karnataka
sovereignty. denoted by their several efforts at supremacy.
Tbis struggle for supremacy engaged the
fighting classes and called forth a development of their
heroic qualities. It was a period when kings and
priuces tried to rival each other in adhering to Dharma
and acqniring glory and as such it may be called H1e
heroic age of Karnataka historr. The struggle and
occnpation of war was confined only to a section of the
people, most of whom persned their occupations in
peace and prosperity. Once estabalished as masters of
the province, the mlers tried to establish their supremacy
permanently by subjecting their southern neighbours
and sometimes competing with the northern
rulers as in the case of Pulikesin II and Indra Ill.
Such an age of heroism and prosperity naturally
elevated the aspirations of the people and the artistic

64 KARNATAKA HAr\DBOOK
spite of the bitterness that ensued hetwe('11 the t\,,{,
communities as a result, it must lJe said that the spirit
of tolerance and hospitality pI'evailed in the en,1. The
introduction of Vaishnavism had very f:1r.r('aching
effects. Bittideva must also be remembE'rf'u as a patron
of letters. Nagachandra, Raja(Jitya, Vishnudandadhipa,
Sall1antahanta nnd tbe poetess Kanti adol'lled his COllI'!.
Bittideva's reign ended in 1132 and then his son
Narasimha ruled for some years. But after Bittideva, thfl
next sovereign of note was his 'grandson jTira Ballala
who came to power in 1173. He fonnd himself ahle
to nndertake further extension of the king:dom and
led expeditions against the Kalachuryas, Chalukras
and Yadavas in the north, and the Cholas and the
Pandyas ill the south. The ri vel' Krishna was recog·
nised as the northern bonnJarr after a dl'cisive
defeat inflcted on the Yadava king:. Lokkigllndi or
modern Lakknndi was made a royal city in thf> north
and the titles Sallivarasiddhi, and Giridt41'/!flllla/lc wel'P
assumed in addition to DakshinadesadltiS7""'" and
Cholaktllaka/a/lalaka assumed after the victorr OH'r
the Cholas and the Pandyas.
The Chola killgdom was 1I0W in degenerate days
'1no was fast approaching dissolution. Vira Ballala had
married a Chola princess which gave him a right to
interfere ;n Chola affairs and it was taken full advantage
of by his son Vira Narasimha who even as Yuyaraj!l
had defeated the southern powers and set up a pillar
of victory at Rllmeswaram. VIRA N ARA8IMHA when
he became king found it E'asy to impose his infiuenc("

74 KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
Other arts also received due altention. From the
title of Sall(Jila trasall(Ja bhallgi assumed by Vira Ballala
.IllU the numerous grants given to mnsicians and performEWS
we have to conclude that music had attained a
high development and that popular entertainments had
due recognition and encouragement. The famous Sarngadeva,
author of a treatise on lDusic was a courtier of
the Ya

136 KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
taka seems to have been the habitation of the N flga tribe
often referred to in the lI1ahabharata. and tradition has
it that the • N agalaka' in which Arjuna sojourned
during his wanderings, and wh€'re he married U1upi is
in Karnataka. We have inscriptional evidence to show
that a portion of Karnataka \Vas called ',Yagarak/rantia'.
The Aryan immigration into SO!Jth India brought
the influence of the Vedic faith to the southern coun·
tries. Karnataka presen'es the tradition of hermitages
founded by Agastya,Bharadwaja, Kanwa and the ancient
Aryan rishis.The sojourn of Sri Ramachandr'a in what is
now Karnataka, as cont;]ined in the Kishkindha kalida
is still a green memory in this province. The !tJiI/rabharata
contains accounts of the travels of Arjllua in the
South, and conquests made by Sahadeva, and the Sablza­
Parva mentions the narr·es of South Indian ;]11(1 Kamataka
tribes who took presents to king Yndhishthira on
the occasion of his Rajasuya sacrifice. Thou;:(h we mar
not be able to fix the date of these immigrations and
conquests, there can be no doubt that these traditions
preserve for us the memories of actual historical events.
By the age of the SlItras we may take it that Sanskrit
had become a sacred language in Karnataka as in
the north, and the modes of Aryan religious thought
had penetrated here.
When we come to historical times, we first hear of
Jainisrn and Buddhism spreading in Karnataka, as soon
as ever they started on their propagandist career. These
movements did not bring about any fresh racial fusion
between the north and the south, worth taking into

13S KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
the Swetambaras widened after this exodus of Bh;ldrabahu
and his disciples, so that after the famine when
some of the exiles returned north, they founel th;lt a
Jain synod had sanctioned certain reforms which the
orthodox exiles considered heretic. The Jain faith has
much in common with the philosophy and practice of
ascetic Hinduism. It insists on the fact that each
individu;ll has to work out his o\\'n destiny, that
immortality might be gained by eyery living being by
living a life of rectitude. It draws no dividing line between
the sentient anc! the insentient, bnt postulates the
presence of spirit ill all matter. It accepts the authority
of no revelation, but substitutes in the place of Veda the
example of the 'worthy ones' (arlzals). who haye re;lehed
perfection. This rationalistic attitude and the emphasis
on ethic;ll perfection found ready acceptance in the
lanel, anc! Jainism being a missionary faith and :>.ddressed
to all, Aryan or non Aryan alike, began to sprt!ad widely.
Its contribution to the buildinj..( lip of early South Indian
culture generally is very j..(reat; but its influence on the
early life of Karnataka is almost unique. Since the begining
of the Christian era to more than ten centuries ;lfter,
it was the Jain ascetic that was. the exemplar of religious
life, the Jain man of letters that dicated the taste
in Kannada literature, the Jain artist and artisan that
beautified the land. The Vedic faiths doubtless existed
side by side, but it was the enterprising Jain who
moulded higher life and thought in the country, because
it was his influence that predominated in the royal
household among the Kadambas, the Satav:lhanas,
the Gangas, the Ch;\Iukyas, the Rashtrakntas, and to

144 KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
religious observances to the simplicity of vegetarianism
and trained them for a perception of higher ethical
truths. It made a point of using the Vernacular and h

146 l{Al

KANNADA LITERATURE 171
presumed that Kannada literary works must have
existed for at least a century or two before. Among
these earlier writers referred to may be mentionea Sri
Vardha DevOl. the author of Chlldamani..Iyakhyrllla,
and Durvinita, the Ganga king:hoth of whom belong
to the 7th centmy A. D.
The available Kanmcla literature has a history
which may be saiel to begin in the 10th century A. D.
Since then Kannada literature can be traced as a rich
and continnous stream mirroring the thoughts and aspirations
of the Kannada people up to the present day.
Writers who have so far attempted a history of
Kannada literature have :Iivided it into the' Jain', the
'Veerasaiva' and the 'Vaishnava'periods, according tothe
religious movements that predominated during the
successive

KANNADA LITERATURE 175
Hinou and the Jain faiths. All thi5 produced much
bitterness, en/!endered a narrow spirit of advocacy,
and was instrumental in bringin/! into existence a huge
qnantity ot polemical and propagandist literature. The
hins wrote many puranas containing accounts of the
lirthankaras to revive interest in the Jain faith then
declining amid,t adverse environments. Of such
pur,lllas mention may be m'ide of Ralllflchflildracharita
by Nagachandra (1105 A.D), Challdraprcbhapurana by
AJ.!J.!ala (1189 A.O.), Neil/ilia/ita pur'ana by Karnaparya
(1140 A. D.), II lIall/hanathft puralla by Janna
(]209), Pushpadanla pur aWl by Gllnavarma II (1235
A.D.) and DhamJ{lnalha puranu hy Madhura (1385 A.D.)
Among Brahmin works of the age may be mentioned
Jagannatha Vijaya by Rudrabhatta (1180 A.D) Hariclzaritra
by Pall;l\'a (1223 A. D.), Krishna Leela and
Ramayanft by Lakshmidhara (14lO A. D.), Bharalha
by KUlllaravyasa (1410 A. D.), and Ramayana by
Kllmara Valmiki (1500 A. D.). Of numerous Veerasaiva
writers of the ag('. the more important ones are
Harihara (1165 A. D.). Siddharama (1160 A.D.), Kondagoli
Kesiraja (1160 A, D.), Mallikarjuna pandita (1160
A D.), Chakrapani RanJ.!ana.tha (1195 A. D.), Lakkanna
dande,;a 1428 (A DJ, Chamarasa (1430 A. D.), Maggeya
Mayideva (1430 A.D.) and Gubbi MaHatma (1475 A. D.).
This was the perio'} when the rich literature of the
Vacha lias was produced by numerous Veerasaiva writers,
who ueveloped a style and Diterary form unique from
the point of view of the growth of Kannada literary art.
A considerable number of the writings of the
period waR tainted by a spirit of unseemly and brutal

180 KARNATAKA HANDBOOK
of a future for Kannada brighter than the recent past.
The introduction of printing, the pursuits of modern
methods of historical research and literary criticism.
the rich modern literature of modern vernaculars like
Bengali, Mal'athi and Telugu, the formation of literary
associations, and the recent Indian awakening generally
have all stimulated in Karnataka the production of
Vernacular literature, and created a laudable spirit of
emulation, and a growing desire to seek through the
unification of her dismembered body the spirit and
vitality that have fled from it, so that she too might march
ahead along with her sister provinces in the path of glory
to the vision of a rejuvenated India.

208
BljaplI1' :-"the City of Victory," was the premier
city of the Deccan from about 1489-to 1686, It \\"'IS
the capital of tlie AdilShahi dynasty of the Muhammadan
kings, of whom the most important, if wc read historr
from the buildings now extant, were Yusuf Adil Shah
(489-] 510), Ibrahim Adil Stuh II, and Mohammad Adil
Shah (1626-1656.) The last was so conspicuulls in
his efforts to impro\'e the appearance of thc city that
the inhabitants of the prescnt clay are apt to ascribe
to him all the buildings the origin of which is Ull,
known to them, His tomb, the magnificent .. Gol
Gumbaz" (Dome of Specch), is the first largc llllildini-!
one meets with when entering the city outer wall from
the Hailway statioll, and lies cast of the to ,\'n, The
domc is 198 fcet high and contains a most perfect
whispering gallen', and the tomb is perhaps the most
effective building in appearance in Bijapur,
By Mohammad \\,,-,5 alsD built the Asar Mahal, the
next building of importance, about a mile from the
station and to the left hand. Here too \\'as the Hoyal
Library, which fell a \'ictim to white·ants and rallaciolls
and greedy custodians, and the remn.wts of which
(almost all, religious works in Arabic) were sent to the
1 ndia Oftice in ISH.
MuhammadAdil Shab II's tomb is 011 tbe right haml
011 the road leading from the station to the city, It is
llllhnishcd, roofless and with pointed arches of dark
basalt,
N ear the Fateh Gate on the '0111 h, ;Incl ahout
530 yards wcst-soutb-\\'est of ,"\ers abOll'

225
Rao Bahadllr H. Krishlla 8asll)' B. A.,-Born in
Hoskotc, a taluk in Bangalore district. He joined
the Indian Epi),!raphic Department after finishing his
education ;lnd is now the Epigraphist for the Govt. of
India. He is a scholar in S;l1lskrit. Kannada and Teiugu
He presided over the tenth Karnataka Sahitya Sammelana
held in Kolar. (May 192.f)
N. S. S"bba Rao M.A. Can lab Bar-aI-Law :-Born
in Sriran gapattana, finislH't1 his education in Bangalore
and Madras, was a Professor in the Maharaja's College
went 10 foreign conn tries and specialised in Economics
He is Principal of the Maharaja's College. He
visited Delhi as a representative of the Mysore
University, when the first All India Universities
Conference was held there.
Taranalh :-Founder of the Premayatana, Tungabhad.·a,
a school and a mursing home. Skilled in
m .. dicine. Proficient and fine thinker a very persuasive
speaker in Urdu. Editor of the qUlrteriy, "Prema."

ii
3S 10 emeralds beryls
39 27 inflected in Bicted
40 1 tn in
42 27 (N andidruga) (N andiclurga)
43 Last line must been must ha\'e been
44
..
3
17
thorne
vigoul'Ously
throne
vigorously
4S 9 Kunclakade\'i .. Chandrobalabbe
47 18 Govinda II . Govincla I II
47 21 intiamtely intimateiy
48 3 MaharajasarlJ/i/ lIlal12rajas,IITu
48 20 thd tittle the title
48 30 Manyaketa Manyakheta
49 I Kalachrya Kalachllrya
3 trritories territories
"
"
"
"
50
..
8 "
12
12
15
613
region
thrownment
alrerdy
Ceylollese
913
reign
thronement
already
Ceylonese
"
51
16
18
piller
sindh
pillar
Sindh
52 13 beyod beyolld
"
53
26
24
charactaristics
persued
characteristics
pursued
56 13 conquerred conquered
" ..
23
27
context
Jgdckall1alla
contest
Ja{!adeka III a lla
61 25 sovi Sovi
"
62
28
18
persuit
acquird
pursuit
acquired
63 2 the seat the early scat
"
9 west west