The Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim dynasties have ruled Karnataka successively. Jainism too established its roots here. It is said that India`s first emperor of Maurya Empire Chandragupta Maurya converted to Jainism in the 4th century. He renounced his throne and fasted to death at Sravanabelagola and now one of the famous pilgrimage centres of Jainism. During the first millennium AD, the whole of Karnataka was dominated by power struggles between the various kingdoms that controlled Western Deccan. From the 6th to 8th century, Karnataka was under the domination of the Chalukyas.

In the Medieval era, the Muslim invasions from the North forced the fractured states of the south into close alliance with the Vijayanagar Empire who emerged as the property owners. Their lavish capital Vijaynagar extended from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea and south to Cape Comorin. The Muslim`s superior military strength triumphed in 1565 at the Battle of Talikota, when the Bahmanis seized Vijaynagar plundering its palaces and temples.

After which a succession of Muslim sultans held influence over the north and in the south, the Wadiyar rajas of Mysore fought of the Marathas. In 1761, the Muslim campaigner Hyder Ali with French East India Company support seized the throne. His son Tipu Sultan turned Mysore into a major force in the south before the British killed him in 1799 at the battle of Srirangapatanam. Following Tipu Sultan`s defeat, the British restored the Wadayar family to the throne. In 1830, the British appointed a Commission to rule in their place.

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