A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s3.18

c19.s3.18

In the literature of the doctrine, several works were produced under Devarāya II who had two zealous Lingāyat ministers. One was Lakkaṇṇa who wrote the *Śiva-tattva-cintāmaṇi*, a treatise on the tenets and rites of the sect. The other, Jakkanārya, not only wrote a work entitled *Nūrondusthala* (hundred and one topics), but liberally patronized other scholars like Kumārabanka-nātha and Mahālinga-deva. An eminent *guru* of the time was Guru Basava, author of seven works, *Sapta-kāvya*, six in *shaṭpadi* metre expounding aspects of the doctrine in the form of dialogues between teacher and pupil, and the *Avadhūtagite*—‘Songs in Praise of Detachment’. There were also one hundred and one teaching *jangamas* of whom several wrote *Vacanas* and works on the doctrine. Acute rivalry between Lingāyats and Vaishnavas led to ‘organized processions through the town in honour of the books of their respective faiths’. Out of this rivalry also arose the *Prauḍharāyacarita* of Adriśya (c. 1595), stories of Śaiva saints narrated by Jakkanārya to Devarāya II to divert his mind from the Brahminical version of the *Bhārata*.