1129 CE · 12th century
The Manasollasa: Cockfighting in the Chalukya Court
The *Manasollasa*, a Sanskrit encyclopaedia compiled under King Someshvara III, contains the first systematic treatise on cockfighting — including the feeding, conditioning, and matching of the birds.
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sortableYear: 1129
The Manasollasa (मानसोल्लास), compiled under the Western Chalukya king Someshvara III of the Deccan, is a encyclopaedia of pleasures — chapters on cookery, on perfumes, on elephants and horses, on music, and on the fighting cock. Its section on cockfighting describes in detail the breed types known to the Deccan court, the preparation of the birds for the match, the construction of the pit, the betting conventions, and the medical treatment of injured cocks.
It is the earliest systematic Western treatise on cockfighting known to scholarship, and the first source in which the breed we now call the Asil is recognisably described. The birds, Someshvara notes, are bred for gameness — for the willingness to fight despite injury — as much as for skill or strength.