290 



Account of the Basava Puran. 



[Oct. 



After the death of Bizzala,* Basava retired to the pagoda at Cudali 

 Sangaweswaram, and prayed to Siva to take him to himself. Hereupon 

 the god came out of the temple and appeared in visible form, and on 

 being adored by Basava took him to himself (aihjam^ unitedness, one- 

 ness, took place), while the people sung his praise : and thenceforv\ ard 

 all the worthies adored Basava as being Siva himself. 



The poet concludes by apologizing for tlie prosaic style in which he 

 has recorded the History of Basava. 



In a former essay, on the Jangams, it has been shewn that from local 

 records the death of Bizzala appears to have occurred in the saca year 

 1090 or, A. D. 1168. Dr. Francis Buchanan, however, gives a more 

 remote date (357 years earlier) to the events in question. He states 

 that " in the year Vicrama (3875 of the Kaliyugam), Basava went with 

 his sister to Kalyanam"— and specifies that this corresponds with A. D. 

 775 ; and " the time for Basava's remaining on earth terminated in the 

 year Raxasa, 3911 of the Kaliyugam"— adding that this corres- 

 ponds with A. D. 811 : and that Basava's " absorption" or death took 

 place on Wednesday the first of Margarisiras, at 21 hours (ghurries) of 

 the night. Vide Buchanan's Journal in Mysore and Canara, 4 to, vol. 3, 

 p. 264. 



But this author does not cite proofs of the dates thus minutely speci- 

 fied : and the later calculation (placing the death of Bizzala in A. D. 

 1168) is more likely to be correct. 



Somia of Pidupadu (in his preface to his Padya version of the 

 Puran) states that his ancestor, Somanatha of Palacurru, wrote the 

 dwipada puran in the days of a prince named Pratapa Rudra. (This 

 king according to Colonel Mackenzie reigned at Warangole from A. D. 

 1456 to 1477). And he adds that in those days the fear of the ap- 

 proaching Mahomedan rulers was prevalent. This agrees with the 

 known period of the Mahomedan invasion of Warangole.f That puran 

 is written by Somanatha in Telugu : it mentions no earlier poem : and 

 is considered by the Jangams as their most ancient record. 



The strong antipathy that exists between the Bramins and the Jan- 



* It will be remembered that the Jahm account of this murder deviates in several im- 

 portant particulars : and probably is the true account. It is printed byi.Mr. Elliot in this 

 Journal for 1838, page 212. The miraculous absorption of Basava's body is evidently 

 meant to denote that he was not buried. 



t See Briggs's Mahomedan Power in India, vol. 2, page 311, date of A. D. 1368 and 

 page 448 of A. D. 1456. 



