Aecou7it of the Basava Puran, 



271 



y.— Account of the Basava Puran ;—ike principal Book used as a reli- 

 gious Code by the Jangams.^By C. P. Brown, Esq. 



The description of the Jangams, given in a former essay, may shew 

 how far these Vira Saivas differ in their creed from the other Hindus. 

 To ren ler the view of their state m^ore complete, a sketch of their 

 popular literature may be advantageous. Legendary lore is puerile 

 enough in all countries ; and is not worse in India than that which pre- 

 vailed in Europe, before the invention of printing. That of the Jan- 

 gams deserves notice, because forming the creed of a large body of 

 Hindus, who venerate the Basava Puran as sincerely as Bramins do the 

 Ramayan. 



The Puran or legend of Basava was originally composed in the Te- 

 lugu language by Palacuriki Somanatha, who likewise translated the 

 Pandit Aradhya Charitra from the Carnataca language. This poet 

 lived in the days of Pratapa Deva Rayalu, also called Praudha Rajalu, 

 who appears to have ruled the Telugu country from A. D. 1456 to 

 1477.* That the poet was coteraporary with this prince is stated in 

 the introduction to the modernized (padya metre) version of the Puran, 

 written by Piduparti Somaia. 



That introduction further states that the " Charitra" was versified 

 (written in padyams) by Sri Natha, the well known poet who translated 

 the NaishaViham into Telugu. f Indeed the antiquated style in which 

 the Puran and Charitra were originally composed, is (though still ex- 

 tremely popular) so rude and inelegfint that modern poets have re- 

 written these works, as Dryden and Pope have remodelled the poems 

 of Chaucer and Donne. 



After Somaia had translated the Puran into padyams, he proceeded 

 to translate the Lila from Carnataca verse into Telugu dwipada. His 

 uncle Basavaya had already written a padya version of the Liia ; as also 

 of the Dixa Bodlia, the Pilla Nayanar Catha and the Bramhottara 

 Khundam. None of these works equal in beauty of style the Puran 

 and Lila in the modern version, written (perhaps about A. D. 1600) by 

 Somaia. Hindus are always apt to give a fictitious antiquity to their 

 favourite authors : and late enquiries have shewn me that the datei 

 mentioned in a former essay require correction. 



Some of the more popular legends are contained in books which are con- 



• See the chronological series of kings, framed by Col. Mackenzie, and printed in 

 Mr. Campbell's Telugu Grammar.— See also note at end of this article. 



+ I have not succeeded in obtaining Sri Natha's version : but have in my poasegsiom 

 all the other volumes here named, 



