NOTE ON A TOUR IN MYSOEK. 43 
rings, and the other a head ornament for an approaching 
local marriage in high life, of which I ordered a fascimile 
For 130 rupees. Brass trays and lotas, said to be of 
local production, were purchased, and silver cups, with no 
attempt or a very indifferent attempt at ornamentation, were 
rejected. A sharp native lad piloted me round the mag- 
nificent temple of Chenua Kesava, and showed me my ig- 
norance by reading off the Kanarese inscriptions and des- 
cribing the various sculptured figures — the Haysala king 
Vishnu Vardana, Ohenna Kesava, Bala Krishna, Garuda, 
Granesa, Hanuman, Lakshmi, the grim representation of 
Narasingha eviscerating Hiranyakasipu, etc. The most strik- 
ing feature of the temple, a full account of which is given 
by Fergusson,' as in the temples at Halebid, is the porch 
with its elaborately carved windows, and the base with its 
rows of exquisitely ca.rved figures. The tact is referred to 
by Fergusson that the succession of figures is always the 
same, the elephants being the lowest, next above them the 
shardiilas (tigers), then tbe horses, and then the oxen or, 
sometimes, conventional figures, then birds. " When we 
know," he says, " the cause of it (this succession), it seems 
as if this curious selection and succession might lead to 
some very suggestive conclusion.'" But at the Kaitabes- 
wara temple (Halebid) I noticed that while, as at Belur, 
the base is formed of elephants, these are followed by a 
row of horses, next above which are the shardulas ; the 
birds still forming the topmost row. 
From Bekir I marched on to Halebid, once the capital of 
the Haysala Ballalas of Dvarasamudra, specimens of whose 
rare gold coinage, bearing the Kanarese legends 8r%- 
Nonamhavadi gondaui and Sri-Malaparolu-gamla are con- 
taiued in the collections of the Madras and Bangalore 
Museums. Halebid is situated between two hills in a fer- 
1 Op. Git. Baillur, 
