282 



Account of the Basava Puran. 



[Oct 



surer, invited him to walk in and help himself. On bearing this the 

 king was much displeased, he came to the treasury, found the liole made 

 and the money lying about. On asking an explanation of the affair, 

 Basava told him that this was the doing of Cananda Bramhaya (Bram- 

 haya ihe borer of the sparle), w ho h a great saint The king raised a 

 query, how a house breaker could be a saint. Basava replied that he 

 bestowed his plunder on people of the true faith* ; adding that he had 

 broken into the treasury with the best designs towards his majesty. Then 

 the thief carried home a party of the Jangams and gave them a dinner. 



In the next legend a saint feasts his friends on poison nuts, which 

 prove harmless. Another raises a corpse from the dead. In the next 

 story narrating a journey made by two devotees, there is mention of a 

 fig tree called the Basava fg tree : so called from two bulls (the word 

 basava meaning a bull) having fought on this spot. On approaching 

 the tree they see the deity (Basava) therein and worship him. They 

 next cross a river dryshod, the stream giving way before the brandished 

 sword of a devotee. 'J'he blessing given by a saint to a virgin wishes 

 her a century of life : but she next day dies, and he restores her to her 

 parents. 



In the next story certain (ajnulu) unbelievers dress up a semblance 

 of a corpse which th'-y bear before the house of a saint to see if he could 

 detect the delusion : but he went up to the bier and took the doll up by 

 the hand and raised it to life. This of course persuaded his opponents 

 of the truth of his creed. 



Another saint named Suraya Candaia who worshipped Siva, used to 

 pay yet greater homage to the Jangams : for he adored them first, and 

 the image afterwards : thus reversing the usual rule. Another used to 

 listen to his guests while eating, aiid declared that be heard Siva him- 

 self masticating. Nny he literally fed the image hanging at his neck, 

 which actually ate with him. Another saint and his desciple are visited 



* Precisrly the dootrinn tau-^'ht in Parnell's tale of The Hermit, wherein the ansrel 

 steals a goldcnp which hf bestows on a miser. It frequently occurs in Hindu writings. 

 Thus in Vein^ma. Ill, 134. " To give away what is our own is easy : he alone can 

 be called liberal who scruples not to bi-stow in gifts the property of others." Likewise 

 in the Bhascara Satacam, verse 42, Dunmnu seija cort, See. " If the liberal man when 

 " desiiuus to bestow a gift, should lack the means, let him resort to the goods of 

 " others: as the cloud waters the desart with streams which it borrows f>om ocean." 

 The same princiiile may be seen in the laws of Manu ; and also in the Musulman rules 

 regarding the right that the faithful have to the goods ef idolaters. Indeed rarnell' 

 ale has been traced to an Arabian source. 



