This page needs to be proofread.

May, 1873.] Sravana BELLIGOLA. 131 “ Afterwards from the Saka year 444, Prajot- patti Pandu Raya and his descendants appoint¬ ed Kundacharya to manage the affairs of the temple, and continued the charitable endow¬ ments for 90 years. “ Again from Saka year 564, one Viraptindya Raya and his son appointed Siddhantacharya to the temple for 80 years. They also gave Indim lands to the temple. “ Then followed Kuna Pandu Raya, who ap¬ pointed Amalakirti Acharya to the temple. This king however changed his religion and destroy¬ ed the charities established by his predecessors. He and his family were ruined. “ At this time certain princes belonging to the family of Chamnnda Raya who governed the provinces of Halebidu, Bilikere, Kadanahalli, Aukanahalli, Ac., built small temples at Goma¬ tapura Bilukere, Biliulli, Halebidu, and set up an image Gomatesvara, the height of two men, on the hill of Gomatapura, and gave for the maintenance of worship the villages called Sravanahalli, Jinnahalli, Gomatapura, and Padenahalli. They also, in order that the discontinued worship at 6r.vana Belligola might be renewed and continued, gave eight other villages, and appointed Amalakirti AcMrya to manage the affairs. This they continued for 67 years. “ From the Saka year 777, Bhava, this country fell into the hands of the Hayasala Belala kings who were Jaina Kshatriyas ruling over the country of Hayasala. Aditya, a descendant of this house, having heard of the excellence of the place and the beauty of the idol, paid a visit to it, and had the ceremony of sprinkling the god performed. He gave villages (out of those that had been given by Chamunda Raya) yielding a revenue of 96,000 pagodas, and appointed Somanan- dyacharya to carry out the worship properly. “ Afterwards, Amalakirti Belala made over to the temple lands yielding 5,000 pagodas, and appointed Tridamavibudhanandyacharya as head of the math. This continued for 49 years. “ Another of the Belala kings, named Ango Raja, continued the same for 56 years, and appointed Prabhachandrasiddhantacliarya to manage the affairs. After this Pratapa Belala nominated Gunachandracharya to manage the affairs. This continued for 64 years. “ Udyaditya Belala, Vira Belala, and Gan- garaya Belala each continued the worship by granting lands yielding 5,000 pagodas. Betta- vardhana Belala gave an indm of land yielding 50,000, and continued the worship for 31 years under the management of Shubhachandracharya- “ In the Saka year 1039, Durmukhi, Betta- vardhana, under the taunts of his favourite con¬ cubine and the arguments of Ra manuj acharya, received ‘ Taptamudra’ (mark of the religion) and thus became a convert to the Vaishnava religion. He then changed his name to Vish- nuvardhana, and, with a bitter hatred against this (Jaina) religion, discontinued or abolished all the ind ms, destroyed 790 Basti temples and set up Pancha Narayanas, viz.—Chenniga Nara¬ yana at Belura, Kirti Narayana at Talakadu, Vijaya Narayana at Vijayapura, Viranarayana at Gadugu, and Lakshmi Narayana at Harada- nahalli, transferring to these all the ‘ svastyas’ or indms that had been formerly given to the Basti temples. He built the tank at Tondamiru from the stones of the destroyed Basti temples, and called it Tirumala Sagara. Having abo¬ lished different kinds of Jaina inams, viz :— ‘Agraharas,’ ‘Punarvarga svastyas,’ ‘ Man- nias,’ Ac., he established below this tank Tirumu- lasagara Chatter for the feeding of Ramanuja- kfita (assembly 6f Ramanuja sects). He gave the name of Melukota aud Tirunarayanapnra to the village of Dodda Garuganahalli, constructed several temples and places, and caused steps to be erected to the hill of Melukota. After he liad continued in this course for some time, when unable to bear the ‘devadroha,’ or sin against the gods, the earth opened, and all. the villages and lands near Aduguru in the Belliru Taluka were swallowed up. When tho news thereof reached the king Vishnuvardhana, he called together his wise men and inquired of them why this thing had come to pass. The learned men told him it was because of the num¬ ber of Jaina temples he had destroyed. He then called together all castes of people and offered S: ti (sacrifice) and worship to the gods, but all in vain. The people of the other sects said that a remedy should be sought for from the Jainas alone. But the king, having changed his religion, would not ask the Jainas for the reme¬ dy. He tried again to remove the evil by going to great expense, but it was of no use. He failed again. Thinking that further delay would cause the ruin of their country, all the people went to the king, who, with