The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s4.19

c8.s4.19

At Kalyâṇa there were two pious Liṅgâyatas named Halleyaga and Madhuveyya, who were the devout adherents of their master Basava. Vijjaṇa, listening to the calumnious accusations of their enemies, caused their eyes to be put out. All the disciples of Basava were highly indignant at this cruel treatment of these holy men, and assembled in their master's house. Basava ordered Jagaddeva to murder the king, pronounced a curse on Kalyâṇa, and left the town. Jagaddeva hesitated for a moment, but his mother spurred him on, and with two companions, Mallaya and Bommaya, went straight to the palace of the king; and rushing through the throng of courtiers, counsellors, and princes, they drew their poignards and stabbed Vijjaṇa. Thence they went into the streets, and brandishing their weapons proclaimed the reason of their perpetrating the deed. Then arose dissensions in the city, men fought with men, horses with horses, and elephants with elephants; the race of Vijjaṇa was extinct, Kalyâṇa was a heap of ruins, and the curse pronounced by Basava was verified. Basava went in haste to his favourite shrine of Saṅgames’vara, situated on the confluence of the Malaprabhâ with the Krishṇâ, and there in compliance with his prayers the god absorbed him in his body.¹