The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c44.3
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c44.3
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c44.3.1
The stone inscriptions are divided into two classes—those that record grants of land, money or periodical payments in kind to temples, communities or private persons, and those which are memorials of deceased persons. The former are generally upright slabs, with surfaces varying in size from a foot or two square to thirty or more square feet, having most of their surfaces covered with closely-engraved lines of inscription, above which is often a sculptured head-piece representing religious symbols. It is very seldom, indeed, that these slabs are found engraved upon both sides. The older inscriptions, like those engraved upon the walls of the older temples, are in large, bold and somewhat straggling characters, while the later ones are in much smaller letters, averaging about half an inch in height, and, generally, most beautifully cut (Fig. 40). They occur singly or in groups, such as we find them at Gadag and Baḷagāmve. In some cases old inscriptions are found to have been erased and later ones engraved upon the same stone, due, as a rule, to the first grant being cancelled and superseded by the second. Again, the sculptures at the head of a stone have sometimes been tampered with, where, for instance, a *linga* has been formed by whittling down an image of a *jina*¹.
c44.3.2
The greater part of each inscription is usually devoted to an account of the king during whose reign the grant had been made, and these accounts have been of great use in reconstructing the family trees of the various dynasties, beside giving a fair amount of detail concerning their intercourse with, and their expeditions against their neighbours. The praises of the kings mentioned are sung *ad nauseam*, and in the most extravagant language. The statement of the object for which the slab had been set up occupies but a few lines at the end, while the closing sentences utter a terrible curse upon all who should dare to alienate the same. Here is an account of a king's virtues: He is described as "A sun to the darkness of the Chōḷa king, Garuḍa to the extended serpent Kaḷinga, a thunderbolt to the mountain, the Nēpāḷa king, a lion to the rogue-elephant the Āndhra king, a wild-fire to the forest Maḷava, a moon to the Chālukya lotus". Such was Baḷḷāḷa Hoysaḷa, on hearing the sound of whose twanging bow "Chōḷa was driven out of his mind, Pāṇḍya escaped by night to the summit of a mountain together with his army, Vaṅga, Kaḷinga, and Magadha, though kings over mighty hosts, fled. When he flashed his sword, Lāḷa stood bewildered, Magadha trembled, Āndhra was blinded, Gaula was split in two, the Koṅkaṇa king was terror-stricken, Nēpāḷa dropped his bow, Maḷava in despair fled to the desert and fell, Chōḷa took to howling"².
c44.3.3
A panegyric upon the learned Lakuḷiśvara *pandita*, who spent some time in Baḷagāmve about A.D. 1036, and who made a grant to the Pañcha Liṅga temple, runs: "Having crossed over to the furthest shore of the ocean of logic and other sciences, to speakers a Rudra, a young lion in splitting the skull of the elephant speakers, a wild fire to the great forest speakers, a fierce and powerful tiger to evil speakers, a submarine fire to the Bauddha ocean, a thunderbolt to the Mīmāmsaka mountain, a saw for cutting down the Lōkāyata great tree, a great kite to the Sāṅkhya serpent, an axe to the tree Advaita speakers, a Trinētra in burning the Tripura Akalanka, displacer of Vādigharaṭṭa, a millstone to Mādhava-bhaṭṭa, breaker of the pride of Jñānānanda, a fierce fire of dissolution to Viśvānaḷa, a fire of the last day to Abhayachandra, a śarabha to the lion Vādibha, sealer up of the mouth of Vādirāja, displacer of Ayavādi, the sole able supporter of the Naiyāyikas, in maintaining his own side and in disgracing the other side an able Virinchi, an ornament to the speech goddess, at court a Padmāsana, in intelligence Nārāyaṇa, among declaimers Mahēśvara, in disputation like the river of the gods, in the sport of making commentaries a bee to the lotuses the minds of those who love it, his white fame his banner, of pure character, a noose of Yama to hostile proud pandits, to Digambara speakers a falling star, having the name Vādi-Rudraguṇa, Lakulīśvara-pandita,” etc.¹