Raghavanka was a noted Kannada writer and a poet in the Hoysala court who flourished in the late 12th to early 13th century.

[6] According to another source, Raghavanka's guru physically abused him, punishing him for wasting his poetic talent in eulogising a mere mortal.

[7] These five writings are the Siddharama charitra (or Siddharama Purana), a eulogy of the dynamic and compassionate 12th century Veerashiava saint Siddharama of Sonnalige which brings out a larger-than-life image of the saint in a simple yet stylistic narrative;[8] the Somanatha charitra, a propagandist work which describes the life of saint Somayya (or Adaiah) of Puligere, his humiliation after being lured by the charms of a Jain girl, and his achievement of successfully converting a Jain temple into a Shiva temple; the Viresvara charita, a dramatic story of the blind wrath of a Shaiva warrior Virabhadra; the Hariharamahatva, a eulogy of Harisvara of Hampi, and Sarabha charitra, the last two works now considered lost.

[5] According to professor L. S. Sheshagiri Rao of the Sahitya Akademi, in no other language has the story of King Harishchandra been dealt with this interpretation.

[8] One piece of elegiac verse, written in the mandanila ragele metre (rhymed couplets) is the mourning of Chandramati over the death of her young son Lohitashva from snake bite, while gathering firewood for his Brahmin taskmaster.