The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s15.79

c8.s15.79

To a certain Mâdirâja and his wife Madalâmbikâ, pious Saivas of the Brâhman caste, and residents of a place named Bâgewâdi which is usually supposed to be the subdivisional town of that name in the Bijâpur District, there was born a son, who, being an incarnation of Siva's bull Nandi, sent to earth to revive the declining Saiva rites, was named Basava.² When the usual time of investiture had arrived, Basava, then eight years of age, having meanwhile acquired much knowledge of the Saiva scriptures, refused to be invested with the sacred Brâhmanical thread; declaring himself a special worshipper of Siva, and stating that he had come to destroy the distinctions of caste. This refusal, with his singular wisdom and piety, attracted the favourable notice of his uncle Baladêva, "prime minister"³ of Bijjala, who had come to be present at the ceremony; and Baladêva gave him his daughter Gangâdêvî or Gangâmbâ in marriage.⁴ The Brâhmans, however, began to persecute Basava, on account of the novel practices propounded by him. And he consequently left his native town, and went to a village named 'Kappadi,' where he spent his early years, receiving instruction there from the god Siva, in the form of the local idol Sangamêśvara.⁵