The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c11.s8.60

v1.c11.s8.60

These contradictory legends easily lend themselves to criticism, and in fact Fleet was inclined to reject everything in them except the mere names of Basava and Canna-Basava.¹ He held that the real restorer of Śaivism was Ekāntada Rāmayya, whose no less miraculous story is narrated in the Ablur inscriptions of a somewhat later date, which we shall presently consider in some detail. He carried his distrust of the Purāṇas so far as to say that the real parents of Basava were not Mādirāja and Mādalāmbikā, as stated in the Purāṇas, but Candirāja of the Kaśyapa Gotra and Candrāmbikā, and that Mādirāja of the Hārita Gotra had really nothing to do with Basava.² But obviously this is a misinterpretation of the Managoli inscription of A.D. 1161 which gives the names of both Mādirāja and Basava, calling the former Māṇikyavallīpara-prabhu, counting him as among the 500 mahājanas of the place, and ascribing to the latter the construction of a temple of Kālideveśvara in the township.³ That this Basava was not actually himself the great reformer, as Fleet thought, has now become clear from the genealogy contained in the Arjunawada inscription of Yādava Kannara (A.D. 1260), which clearly mentions Basava or Sangana-Basava as the younger son of Mādirāja described as *Tardavāḍi-madhyagrāma-Bāgavāḍi-puravarādhiśvara*.⁴ It is probable that Mādirāja, the Māṇikyavallipura-prabhu, is the same as the Bāgavāḍi-pravarādhiśvara of the Yādava record; and it is certain that the Basavas of the two records are two different persons, and that Fleet was mistaken in identifying the Basava of the Managoli record with the celebrated reformer. The name of the reformer Basava’s father is epigraphically confirmed, but not yet that of his mother, Mādalāmbikā of the Purāṇas.