Someshvara III (; ) was a

Western Chalukya The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in th ...

king (also known as the Kalyani Chalukyas), the son and successor of

Vikramaditya VI Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076 – 1126 CE) became the Western Chalukya King after deposing his elder brother Someshvara II, a political move he made by gaining the support of Chalukya vassals during the Chola invasion of Chalukya territory.Sen ...

. He ascended the throne of the Western Chalukya Kingdom in 1126 CE, or 1127 CE. Someshvara III, the third king in this dynasty named after the Hindu god

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

made numerous land grants to cause of

Shaivism Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

and its monastic scholarship. These monasteries in the Indian peninsula became centers of the study of the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

and Hindu philosophies such as the Nyaya school. Someshvara III died in 1138 CE, and succeeded by his son Jagadekamalla. Someshvara was a noted historian, scholar, and poet.A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000 by E. Sreedharan, p.328-329, Orient Blackswan, (2004) He authored the Sanskrit encyclopedic text ''

Manasollasa The ' 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, gove ...

'' touching upon such topics as polity, governance, astronomy, astrology, rhetoric, medicine, food, architecture, painting, poetry, dance and music – making his work a valuable modern source of socio-cultural information of the 11th- and 12th-century India. He also authored, in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, an incomplete biography of his father

, called ''Vikramankabhyudaya.'' His scholarly pursuits was the reason he held such titles as ''Sarvadnya-bhupa'' (''lit'', "the king who knows everything") and ''Bhulokamala'' ("the king who is lord of all living beings").

The ''Manasollasa''

Someshvara III is credited with composing ' ( sa, मानसोल्लास) (meaning "the refresher of the mind") or the (the magical stone that fulfills desires). It is an encyclopedic work in Sanskrit. The treatise deals with a wide range of topics (100 topics), which include the approach to acquire a kingdom, methods of establishing it and royal enjoyment. It contains valuable information regarding Indian art, architecture, cuisine, ornaments, sports, music and dance. It includes recipes for the king's favorite recipes including several types of rice, vegetables, meats and various

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

. In addition to milk based sweets it includes recipes for fried sweets like '' golamu'', '' pantua'' and '' gharika''.

The ''Vikramankabhyudaya''

''Vikramankabhyudaya,'' a text found in 1925, is a historical document written by Someshvara III, in the form of a biography of his father. The first chapter provides a detailed description of the geography and people of Karnataka, the second chapter explains the grandeur of

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district ...

, the capital city of the Western Chalukya Empire. The long third chapter pertains to the history of the Chalukyas starting with a legendary story ending with the sixteenth year of Someshvara III's father, Vikramaditya VI reign when the latter began his war of victory, "Digvijaya". However, the last chapter is incomplete as it terminates abruptly as: "The Brahmanas and the ladies on that day...."

References

;Bibliography * * * * * * * Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat (2001). Concise History of Karnataka, MCC, Bangalore (Reprinted 2002). * Dr. P. Arundhati (1994). ''Royal Life in Manasollasa'', New Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Someshvara 03 Year of birth missing 1138 deaths Western Chalukya Empire