The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c29.s2.10

c29.s2.10

Amongst the inscriptions collected together at the temple of Trikūṭēśvara, and now permanently built into the wall of the courtyard, one records a grant made in A.D. 1062 to the god Trikūṭēśvaradeva in the time of the Western Chālukyan king Āhavamalladēva II. A second records a grant in A.D. 1101, and has the emblems of a *liṅga*, a priest and a bull. A third is dated in A.D. 1193, and relates to the Hoysaḷa dynasty. It is a grant of Vīra Ballaḷadēva who, having wrested the country from the Yādava dynasty of Dēvagiri, had fixed upon Lokkiguṇḍi (Lakkuṇḍi) as his capital. In this inscription, which begins with an invocation to Viṣṇu, it is stated "they have named the god Trikūṭēśvara on account of his three stationary *liṅgas*, and they call him Chatuhkūṭēśvara because of one more which is capable of motion" (perhaps the priest). A fourth records a grant by the prime minister of the Hoysaḷa king Vīra Ballaḷadēva in A.D. 1199, the emblems upon it being a *liṅga*, a priest and a bull. A fifth speaks of the *agrahāra* (lands or villages conferred upon Brāhmaṇs for religious purposes) village of Kratuka (Gadag) in the Beḷvola Three-hundred. It records a grant made in A.D. 1213 to the god Trikūṭēśvara while the Yādava king Siṅghaṇadēva was reigning. And, lastly, there is an inscription recording a grant by a Vijayanagara king, dated in A.D. 1539.¹