Hāla

Who is Hāla?

Hāla was a Satavahana king of Andhra Pradesh. The Matsya Purana mentions him as the 17th ruler of the Satavahana dynasty.

The Lilavati describes his marriage with a Ceylonese Princess. Vijayananda, the commander-in-Chief of Hala's army led a successful campaign in Ceylon. On his way back, he stayed back at Sapta Godavari Bhimam. Here, he came to know about Lilavati, the beautiful daughter of the king of Ceylon. He narrated her story to Hāla. King Hāla secured Lilavati and married her.

Hāla, a speaker of Telugu and Prakrit is famous for compiling an anthology of Maharashtri Prakrit poems known as the Gaha Sattasai, although from linguistic evidence it seems that the work now extant must have been re-edited in the succeeding century or two.