The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c9.4

c9.4

Lying outside the enclosure was found a fallen column of sandstone, around whose shaft is engraved a long inscription.¹ It, no doubt, once stood before the temple of Mahākūṭeśvara, just as a similar column stands before the Brahmanical cave at Aihoḷe and at the temples of Virūpāksha and Mallikārjuna at Paṭṭadakal. The inscription has been translated by Dr. Fleet. It primarily records that, with the authority of Maṅgalēśa, his father's wife, Durlabhadevī, increased, by the grant of ten villages, a previous endowment of the god Śiva under the name of Makuṭeśvaranātha. Among the villages named are Kesuvoḷala (Paṭṭadakal), Kendōramānya (Kendūr), Nandigrāma (probably Nandikesvara), and Āryapura (Aihoḷe). It goes on to say: "The wealth of the Kalatsūri (Kalachuris) has been expended in the idol procession of the temple of our own god. And the property, which, at (their) own idol procession was assigned by our father and elder brother to (the god) Makuṭeśvaranātha . . . . . ." This is dated in A.D. 601. This *dharma-jayastambha*, 'Pillar of Victory of Religion,' as it is called in the inscription, was set up by two sons of Pubesa, who were traders, and residents of Āryapura.¹