I8S3.] 
41 
G. Tiidie —The Bagoda or Vara ha coins. 
Lingayats is a peculiar shaped silver case containing a small black stone. 
This box is either fastened to the arm or suspended from the neck, and the 
symbols on the coin may have reference to this portable linga. 
PI. I, Fig. 8. Oh. A figure which may be the linga with a snake-like 
scroll on it. 
Bev. A figure which may be the yoni, or linga and yoni combined .* 
Probable date, 14th century. 
Weight. One specimen weighs 5P025 and the other 50'85 grains. 
Vijayanagar or Bijanagar Pagodas. This dynasty was the last 
great Hindu power, and one of the most important that ever existed, in 
Southern India. Its capital was built near the site of the ancient Kish- 
kinda, the kingdom of the monkey-flag, and the magnificent ruins of it which 
still exist testify to the wealth, power and splendour of this once famous 
sovereignty. The city was situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra about 
34 miles N. W. of Bellary, near Anagundi, the Rajah of which claims to 
be descended of the royal house of Vijayanagar. The empire, as well as 
the city, was founded by two brothers Hakka—afterwards named Harihara— 
and Bukka, with the assistance of the learned Madhava who afterwards 
became their prime minister. There is no very certain information as to the 
descent of the two brothers, but Ricef states that they “ were sons of San- 
gama, described as a prince of the Yadava line and the lunar race,” who 
had their capital at Devagiri, the modern Daulatabad. The Vijayanagar 
house rose into prominence between A. D. 1336 and 1350. For some time 
its territory was confined to the neighbourhood of the capital, but when at 
the zenith of its power it ruled the greater part of Karnata and Telingana, 
and also the Canara Coast. The empire lasted, with varying fortune, 
from 1336 till the 25th January 1565, when its forces, under Rama Raja 
the usurper, were defeated and its power shattered on the fatal field of Tali- 
kota, by a combination of the armies of the four Mahommedan principali¬ 
ties of the Dakhan. The accounts given of Vijayanagar, by European 
travellers who visited India prior to the ruin of the dynasty, speak of the 
general prosperity of the country and the great splendour of the city. 
This state of affairs did not last after Talikota, as the various Palegars 
and other petty chiefs, who were thus relieved of the yoke of the 
empire, at once began to fight amongst themselves for supremacy, and the 
land groaned under pillage and rapine. As already mentioned, these subor¬ 
dinate States on becoming independent at once assumed the right to coin 
money, and hence the numerous varieties of coins found in Southern India. 
About a year after the decisive battle, Tirumala Raja, the brother of Rama 
Raja, returned to Vijayanagar, and attempted to restore it, but finding this 
* It has also been suggested that the symbols may be of Jain origin. 
f “Mysore Inscriptions,” p. 81. 
