containing about forty-two letters. This inscription, which is probably of about the same age as the preceding, is rather more legible; in the centre portion the letters are somewhat indistinct, but at the sides and on the upper part of the stone they may be read with tolerable ease. I, however, had no time to read any portion of this inscription, or even to search for its exact date. I have not met elsewhere with emblems similar to those on the top of this tablet; they are very well carved, and represent Kṛishṇa playing on a pipe in the centre and many figures of human beings and animals dancing on each side of him.
The remaining inscriptions are in and about the courtyard of the temple of Trikûṭêśvaradêva. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 stand up against the back wall of the temple. No. 1, the characters of which are Old Canarese, and the substance of which is partly Sanskṛit and partly Old Canarese, consists of fifty lines, each line containing about thirty-seven letters. The inscription is in a state of good preservation, except in one or two places where the surface of the tablet has been chipped. It commences with a description of the Agrahâra[1] village of Kratuka (Gaddak) in the Beḷvola Three-hundred,[2] and finally records a grant made in Ṡaka 1135, the Ângirasa Saṁvatsara, to the god Trikûṭêśvaradêva, while the Yâdava prince Singhaṇadêva was governing the country. The emblems over it are:—In the centre, a linga and a priest within a shrine; to the right, a cow and calf with the sun above them; and to the left, a figure of Basava[3] with the moon above it. No. 2 is the inscription of which a transliterated version and a translation are given below. It will be noticed in detail further on. No. 3 is another inscription in the Old Canarese characters and language. It consists of thirty-two lines, each line containing about forty-three letters. The characters are large and slanting. The tablet is chipped here and there, but on the whole the inscription is well preserved, though it is not an easy one to read. It records a grant made in Ṡaka 984, the Śubhakṛit Saṁvatsara, to Trikûṭêśvaradêva, while the great chieftain king Sâbhana, or perhaps, Sôbhana, was governing the Beḷvola Three-hundred, and some other districts, under Âhavamalladêva. Some doubt is thrown upon the date of this inscription by the opening portion, which is:—"While the victorious reign of Iṟivibhujangadêva, the favourite of the whole earth, tho ornament of the Châḷukyas, the forehead-ornament of the Satyâśrayakuḷa, &c., was continuing," and by expressions which represent the chieftain Sâbhana as being the subordinate of both Iṟivibhujangadêva and Âhavamalladêva. Iṟivibhujangadêva, or the Châḷukya king Satyaśrî, flourished, according to Elliot, from Śaka 919 to Saka 930 (?); while Âhavamalladêva, or the Châḷukya king Sômêśvaradêva I. flourished, according to the same authority, from Śaka 962 (?) to Śaka 991 (?). The portion of this inscription containing the date is somewhat indistinct, but I could not read it otherwise than as I have given it above. The emblems at the top of this inscription are:—In the centre, a shrine containing a linga with a priest on the right and a figure of Basava on the left of it; to the right, two figures seated,— one of them is a man holding a Vîṇâ or lute, the other is a woman; to the left, a cow and calf; and above the central shrine, the Sun and Moon. No. 4, which is the most eastern of this row of inscriptions, is another inscription in the Old Canarese characters and language. It consists of forty-five lines, each line containing about fifty-one letters. The inscription is not altogether in bad order, but there are many flaws in the tablet, and it is rather hard to read. It mentions the names of the Châḷukya kings Jayasiṁha, Âhavamalla, and Vikramâditya II. or Tribhuvanamalla, and and also gives the name of a princess, Bâchaladêvî, who would appear to be the wife of Âhavamalla. The inscription records a grant made in the Vikrama Saṁvatsara, the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Tribhuvanamalladêva, i. e. Śaka 1023, by some chieftain subordinate to him. The
- ↑ Agrahâra, lands or villages conferred upon Brâhmans for religious purposes.
- ↑ i. e. the Be’vola district consisting of three hundred villages. Belvola or belpola, an Old Canarese word, means literally 'a field of standing corn;' the name was given to the fertile district in about the centre of which are Gaddak, Ḍambaḷ, and Lakkuṇḍi.
- ↑ Basava, the founder of the Lingâyat religion in its present form, is looked upon as an incarnation of Nandî, the bull of Śiva. The story of his birth and life is to be found in a Canarese work called the (illegible text). Basava, though in his incarnation he assumed the form of a man, is always represented in Lingâyat temples by the figure of a bull, and the name itself is a corruption of the Sauskṛit vṛishabha, bull.
