Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c14.12

c14.12

The Śringēri maṭha had assisted in the foundation of the Vijayanagar empire in the fourteenth century, and furnished the first minister to the kings, who in consequence liberally endowed it (Sg 1). From the Vīra-Śaivas, who had largely superseded the Jains in the west, the latter were exposed to violent opposition. For instance, Bl 128 states, in 1638, that an over-zealous Lingāyit official had stamped a linga on the piliars of the principal Jain basti at Halebīd. The Jain merchants remonstrated on this with the Śivāchāra high priests, and an agreement was come to that the Jain priests of the basti should first offer the usual Śaiva salutation of ashes and betel leaf, and then perform their worship and other ceremonies according to their own custom. This decree was engraved on stone by order of the minister of the Bēlūr kingdom. On the fall of Vijayanagar in 1565, the Śringēri maṭha fell for a time to ruin, but in the next century was restored, and its endowments were renewed by the Keladi kings (Sg 5, 11, 13), who also established and endowed Śivāchāra maṭhas all over the Shimoga District.