Someshvara III

Someshvara III (IAST: Someśvara; r. 1126 – 1138 CE) was a Western Chalukya king (also known as the Kalyani Chalukyas), the son and successor of Vikramaditya VI.^[1] He ascended the throne of the Western Chalukya Kingdom in 1126 CE,^[2] or 1127 CE.^[1]

Someshvara III, the third king in this dynasty named after the Hindu god Shiva made numerous land grants to cause of Shaivism and its monastic scholarship.^[3][4] These monasteries in the Indian peninsula became centers of the study of the Vedas and Hindu philosophies such as the Nyaya school.^[3] Someshvara III died in 1138 CE, and succeeded by his son Jagadekamalla.^[5]

Someshvara was a noted historian, scholar, and poet.^[1] He authored the Sanskrit encyclopedic text Manasollasa 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.^[5][6] He also authored, in Sanskrit, an incomplete biography of his father Vikramaditya VI, called Vikramankabhyudaya.^[1] 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").^[5]