Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c8.s12.5

c8.s12.5

Bijjala was a Jain by religion. Though he had usurped the throne, he did not assume the royal titles till six years afterwards, in 1162. A minister named Rēcha claims (Sk 197) to have obtained the empire for him and his successors. He then marched to the south, whither the Chālukya prince had retired, and proclaimed himself supreme. During his reign Basava, the son of an Ārādhya, came to settle in Kalyāna, where he became the son-in-law of the chief minister. He had a very beautiful sister named Padmāvatī, whom Bijjala, having seen, became enamoured of and married. Basava was thus in course of time appointed chief minister and general. The Rāja gave himself up to the charms of his beautiful bride and left all power in the hands of Basava, who employed the opportunity thus afforded him to strengthen his own influence, displacing the old officers of State and putting in adherents of his own, while at the same time he sedulously cultivated the favour of the king. By these means, and the promulgation of the new Lingāyit faith, he increased rapidly in power. At length Bijjala's fears were aroused, and he made an attempt to seize Basava; but the latter escaped, and afterwards dispersed the party sent in pursuit. His adherents flocked to him, and Bijjala, advancing in person to quell the insurrection, was defeated and compelled to reinstate the minister in all his dignities. Basava not only resumed his former power and authority, but formed a plot against the life of the king, probably in the hope of becoming supreme in the State as regent during the minority of his nephew, the son of Bijjala and Padmāvatī. Accounts differ as to the mode in which the king was killed. According to the Jain version, he was poisoned on the banks of the Bhīma when returning from a successful expedition against the Silāhāra chief of Kolhāpur; while the Lingāyits state that he was assassinated by three of Basava’s followers.