144: On the Crecd^ Customs and Liter afiire of the Jangams, [Jan. 



the Smartas, who refuse to receive the holy water and rice (tirtba prasad) 

 from tlieir hands. 



The Viia-Saivas are divided into two sects : one is semi-brarainical or 

 high-church, called A'ra'dhyas. The other is anti-braminical, and is 

 called Jangara. The Aradhyas claim to be descendants of saivite 

 bramins, and between them and the Smartas there is a certain degree of 

 reluctant intercourse : founded upon the rites of initiation (upanaya- 

 nam) which both parties use. 



A brief outline of its history will enable us to understand the present 

 state of the Vira Saiva sect : this is amply narrated in their poetical 

 chronicles, written in Canarese and Telugu. When divested of fabu- 

 lous decoration it seems that their creed was found by Basava, whom 

 they adore as their one deity : looking upon him as an avatar or incar- 

 nation of Siva, the god of this creed. 



Bas-iva was the son of a Saivite* bramin, named Mandenga Mada- 

 xnantri, at Hinguh swaram, a village near Bagwari in Belgaum, in the 

 Southern Mahratta Country. When he was a boy he refused (they 

 allege) to wear the brarainical thread, because the rites that confer this 

 mark of iniliation require the adoration of the sun in the manner pres- 

 cribed by the "Vt'das. Perhaps in truth he did assume it, but if so, he 

 subsequently renounced it. Shortly after this time he escaped from 

 his parents, and accompanied by his sister Acca Nagamma, he fled to 

 Calianam or Kulyan,f the capital of the Carnataca country, where the 

 reigning prince (A. D. 1155 circ.) was Bizzala or Vijjala, a Jaina by 

 religion whose minister a bramin, was Basava's maternal uncle: he 

 bestowed employment on Basava,and ultimately gave him his daughter in 

 marriage.J At his death Basava succeeded to his office, and gradually 

 usurped great power. 



It w^ould seem that at this time he began to compare the opposed 

 statements of Jainas and Bramins : and perceived that both creeds were 



* The Aradhya bramins pretend that his father was an Avadhya, This the Jangams 

 deny, asserting that the title Aradhya was assumed only when the bramin rites were re- 

 nounced, and we no where find Basava denotninated as an Aradhya. 



+ See ?.Ir, Walter Elliot's Essay in the Madras Journal for 1838, page 212, or in the 

 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1837 No. VII. p. 22. wherein it appears that some 

 of the names herein mentioned are differently written in different Telugu and Canarese 

 authors. Compare also the statements made by that zealous and intelligent antiquarian 

 Lieut. Newbold, in his report upon the Southern Mahratta Countrj% printed in Phaioah'a 

 Madras Almanac for 1840, page 352. Calyanam is in the Nizam's country, 35 miles W. by 

 S. from Ueder. For this and a few other notes, I am indebted to Lieut. Newbold, who did 

 me the favour to peruse these pages. 



% This proves, in my opinion, though opposed to that of his followers that he did not 

 ]ay aside the braminical thread in childhood. For had he done 60 no bramin could have 

 giveu him his daughter in marriage. 



