The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c44.11

c44.11

One of the largest and most interesting groups of these stones is that in the middle of the village of Betgere, not far from Gadag railway station (Plates CLIII and CLIV). It is walled in and so protected from injury. There are fifteen stones, fourteen of which are very large, some standing from twelve to thirteen feet out of the ground, with a width of about four feet six inches. The tops of most of these great slabs are finished off like the topmost ridge-roof member of the gopuras of Dravidian temples, only that, instead of a row of many water-pot kalaśas, there is but one kalaśa. It will be seen that many of these have the symbol of the man's trade or caste sculptured at the bottom—a plough, a mason's mallet and block of stone and an oil-mill.¹ Some of these are Śaiva and others Vaiṣṇava, while two have been made objects of worship, the sculptures and inscriptions of which have been thickly caked all over with many applications of oil. In the sculpture we find several different military standards, and it would be interesting if we could assign them to specific leaders or kings. The staff of the standard, in one case, carries the effigy of an elephant, and in another a Nandi or sacred bull.