214. Hindu Inscriptions, [Jan, 



midst of his court "by three of Basava's followers, named Jagadeva, 

 Bomeiya, and Maleiya, while a third legend asserts, that Madawal 

 Macheiya and Bomeiya, the Masalchis, or torch bearers of Basava, 

 having concealed their weapons in the roll of cloth serving for a flam- 

 beau, stabbed the Raja whilst preceding their master into his presence.* 

 This event is said in the Vijala Kavya to have occurred in the year 

 4255 of the Kali Yuga, which corresponds with Saka 1077. Vijala's 

 death, how^ever, according to the Inscriptions, did not occur till eleven 

 years later, in Saka 1087, or 1088. It is probable therefore that there- 

 may be a clerical error in the MS. 



The murder, however perpetrated, did not go unpunished. — Basava,. 

 dreading the vengeance of the young Raja, here named Yuva Rajaf, 

 probably the Morari Sovi Peva of the inscriptions, fled to Vrishaha- 

 pura, on the Malabar coast. Thither the Raja pursuing him, laid 

 siege to the city. It was reduced to extremity, and Basava, in despair, 

 threw himself into a well and was drowned. His body was taken out, 

 and ignominiously thrown without the city walls, and thenceforward 

 the name of the city was called Ulavi, because Basava thought he would 

 there save himself, a name which it still retains. J 



The sect, however, found a more able, or, at least, a more successful 

 leader, in Chen Basava, the son of another sister of Basava, named 

 Aka Nagama,§ or according to others, Nagalambika,|| by whom the 

 Lingayat belief was completely established. It is now the prevailing 

 form of worship throughout the whole of the country where the 

 Kanarese language is spoken, comprising the greatest portion of the 

 Nizam's territories, the Southern Mahratta country, Sunda, Mysore 

 Bellary, &c. 



What was the ultimate fate of the Kalabhuryas is not known ; n©. 

 further mention of them occurring either in books or inscriptions. The 

 Karnataka desa now^ became the prey of the Yadavas. 



* The last is the local tradition. Sangam Busapa, Desayi of the Nalatwad Parganah ia 

 the Mudibihal Talooka, claims to be descended from one of these murderous torch-bearers, 

 ■t- See Journal Royal Asiatic Society III. p, 102. note, 



t " lUi hodre Ulivine yenta avurille hokadavinde Ulavi hesaru bantu." "Because 

 he entered into that town, saying, ' If I go there, I shall be saved,' the name Ulavi Avas 

 applied to it." This account of Basava's death is entirely taken from the Jain history. 

 His own sect declare that he was absorbed by the Lingam, or the Sungameswar temple, 

 at the junction of the Malapahari and Krishna rivers ; and a depression in the surface 

 of the Lingam is still shown as the spot at which he entered. Ulavi is a celebrated 

 place of Lingayat pilgrimage, about twelve or fourteen miles west of*Yellapur, in Sunda, 

 at the foot of the Ghat leading down to the coast. 



II Basava Purana. $ Chcnbasava Purana. 



