14 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XXI. 



anything more as to its meaning, or origin, than barely 

 stating it to be one of that chief's names. Even the Sangam 

 literature now accessible does not afford us any clue to the 

 discovery of the reason of this name as applied to the Vel 

 prince by the poet Kapilar. In these circumstances, it must 

 be a matter of extreme interest to us that a story, related 

 about the old Belala princes of Mysore, furnishes us with 

 a very satisfactory explanation of its origination, and estab- 

 lishes beyond doubt the racial identity of these two great 

 peoples. It has been already mentioned that the Belalas 

 of Dwarasamudra were called also the " Hoysalas." In the 

 history of the kings of Kongu, as well as in English books of 

 recent dates, the origin of the word " Hoysala " is thus ex- 

 plained, viz.: " While Tabangar, an ascetic, was performing 

 his penances in a forest, a tiger, appearing suddenly, was about 

 to spring upon him, when the terrified ascetic seeing ' Sala,' 

 a prince of the Yadava race, who had just arrived there on a 

 hunting excursion, called upon him to slay it, and he, obeying 

 the Muni's order, instantly shot it down with an arrow. On 

 this account it was that his (i.e., Sala's) descendants were 

 called 'Hoysalas' 1 in the Canarese language." 2 This story 

 does certainly contain, it appears to me, the true solution of 

 the origin of the name " Pulikadimal," 3 applied by the Tamil 

 bard to Irung Ko Vel, whose ancestors also * like the Belalas 

 of Dwarasamudra, were originally natives of Gurjara. Is it not 

 because these princes were descended from a common ancestor 

 who risked his own life by fighting a tiger single handed 



1 " Hoysala " is said to mean " kill, Sala," in Canarese. — V. J. T. 



2 Mr. Lewis Rice gives a somewhat different version of the same legend. 

 4 * Going one day to worship Vasantika , his family goddess, whose temple 

 was in the forest near Sasakapura, his devotions were interrupted by a 

 tiger which bounded out of the jungle glaring with rage. The yati or 

 priest of the temple snatching up a salaki (a slender iron rod) gave it to 

 the chief, saying in the Karnatika language, ' Hoy, Sala' (strike Sala), 

 on which the latter discharged the weapon with such force at the tiger 

 as to kill him on the spot. From this circumstance he adopted the 

 name Hoysala, formed from the words of the yati's exclamation, and 

 the dynasty so called and descended from him had a tiger as the device 

 on the flag." — Vide p. 335, " Mysore Gazetteer," see under " History." 

 —V. J. T. 



3 Vide " Purrananooru," ode No. 202.— V. J. T. 



