The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.82

c20.82

The Puranas offered new saguṇa and anthropomorphic nuclei for religious devotion, and the deities that were glorified in them soon became popular gods of the masses. Growth of sectional rivalry was anticipated by the doctrine that all the deities are the manifestations of one and the same Supreme Power. Our epigraphical records bear eloquent testimony to the popularity of the Pauranic deities in our period. That S'aivism and Vaishnavism were the main sects of our time is indicated by the usual opening verse in the Rāshṭrakūṭa grants, which contains a salutation to both S'iva and Vishṇu. The grant of Abhimanyu Rāshṭrakūṭa mentions a Dakshiṇa-S'iva temple, whose custodian Jaṭābhāra seems to have been a Pāśupata. At Salotgi in Bijapur district there was a temple of Kātyāyanī and another constructed for the joint worship of Brahmā, Vishṇu, and S'iva. (57) The custom of founding a S'iva temple in commemoration of a dead ancestor, and of naming the deity after the person to be commemorated, had already become prevalent in our period. Hebbal inscription, dated 975 A.D., (58) refers to a temple of Bhujjabbeśvara built to commemorate Bhubbarasi, the grand mother of the Ganga ruler Mārasinha II. Ragholi plates of Jayavardhana (59) and the Kavi plates of Govinda of the Gujarat branch (60) attest to the prevalence of the Sun worship. The Pathari pillar inscription discloses a temple of S'auri. (61)