army waited for him at Anantpur (44 m. east of Karnul.)
As the Krishna winds its way eastwards to the sea, it forms some 70 miles below Karnul a sharp loop northwards, flowing through a wide and steep-sided trench of nearly a thousand feet in depth. Here, in the heart of the uninhabited Nallamala forest, surrounded by rugged hills and a desolate fever-haunted belt of land, rises a plateau 1563 feet high, overlooking the river, on which stands the famous Shiva-temple of Shri Shaila, "the most ancient and sacred in Southern India."*[1] Entering the plateau by a large archway (now no more) called the Kailashdwara (or Gateway of Shiva's Heaven), the pilgrim sighted the temple enclosure, an oblong space, 660 feet by 510, surrounded by thick walls varying from 20 to 26 feet in height, built of large hewn blocks of greyish stone exactly squared and laid together, and elaborately sculptured with a profusion of accurately designed figures of elephants, horses, tigers, hunters, warriors, and yogis, as well as numerous scenes from the Hindu epics and religious books. In the centre of this enclosure is the square temple of Mallikarjuna (linga), the chief deity worshipped here, the walls and roof being entirely
- ↑ *Shri Shaila: Kurnool Dist. Manual, 14, 144, 181-183. Shivaji's visit: Sabh. 88; Chit. 137-138; Dig. 302-303; T. S. 37b. Sanads and Letters, iv. No. 20 records Shiva's endowments for puja here; but the date, April, 1677, is impossible; hence, it may be a forged grant.
