The Mānasollāsa also known as Abhilashitartha Chintamani, is an early 12th-century Sanskrit text composed by the Kalyani Chalukya king Someshvara III, who ruled in present-day Karnataka. It is an encyclopedic work covering topics such as polity, governance, ethics, economics, astronomy, astrology, rhetoric, veterinary medicine, horticulture, perfumes, food, architecture, games, painting, poetry, dance and music. The text is a valuable source of socio-cultural information on 11th- and 12th-century India.
Image: Masaladosamumbai
Image: Idli and Medu Vada
Image: Dahi Vada or Dahi Bhalla
Image: The real South Indian Bonda
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannada-speaking dynasty is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in the modern Bidar district of Karnataka state, and alternatively the Later Chalukya from its theoretical relationship to the 6th-century Chalukya dynasty of Badami. The dynasty is called Western Chalukyas to differentiate from the contemporaneous Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, a separate dynasty. Before the rise of these Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta controlled most of the Deccan Plateau and Central India for over two centuries. In 973, seeing confusion in the Rashtrakuta empire after a successful invasion of their capital by the ruler of the Paramara dynasty of Malwa, Tailapa II, a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling from Bijapur region defeated his overlords and made Manyakheta his capital. The dynasty quickly rose to power and grew into an empire under Someshvara I who moved the capital to Kalyani.
Old Kannada inscription dated 1028 AD from the rule of King Jayasimha II at the Praneshvara temple in Talagunda, Shivamogga district
Old Kannada inscription dated 1057 AD of King Someshvara I at Kalleshwara Temple, Hire Hadagali in Bellary district
Mahadeva Temple at Itagi in Koppal district, Karnataka
Western Chalukyas of Kalyana, coin of King Somesvara I Trailokyamalla (1043-1068). Temple façade / Ornate floral ornament.