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No. 25.)
INSCRIPTIONS AT ABLUR.
255
especial excellent abode of faith, the congregation (of Saivas on the earth) has been afflicted among the Jains and Buddhists." On his speaking thus, Mabesvara, with a smile on his face that resembled a water-lily, said to Virabhadrar"Do thon, in the world of men, beget & man with a portion of thyself, and then put a stop to those hostile observances." And thereapon Virabhadra came in a dream, in the guise of an ascetic, to Purushottamabhatta, and said “There shall be born to thee a son, who shall suppress hostile observances;" and he further said “Those many people, in the region of the south, who have trodden in the paths of the Jains, all of them shall be put to shame, O master!, by thy son (who shall be called) Råma." Having thus spoken and having manifested great graciousness, he went away. And Purushottamabhatta, full of content at having succeeded, obtained a son, and performed the birth-ceremony and other rites, and bestowed the name of Rama in accordance with the bidding of the god.
(L. 27) And while he (Rama), having become imbued with meditation on Siva in a manner suitable to his divine birth, was practising observances with strict indifference to other things, it came about that, through the intensity of his devotion which was directed entirely to one object, he was called one who had one sole aim; and, having worshipped Siva with great exclusiveness, he acquired the name of Êkantada-Rama. And in the course of practising observances, with speech and body and mind always devoted to the feet of (Siva) the lord of Gauri (Pârvati), at various sacred places prescribed by the Saiya traditions and on all the numerous great and small rivers where there are altars of Sambhu, he came and beheld with joy the Sómanátha of the South, honoured by the gods, who drives away all sin. And when, having thus come, he was worshipping that Sômanatha of Huligere, whose feet are beautified by the cluster of the rays of the jewels in the tiaras of the greatest of the gods who unceasingly bow down before him, that Bupreme lord became manifest, and said, -(Here are two slökas) -"Go, O Kamal, at my command, to the excellent village of Abbaliru, and take up thy abode there at ease, and sacrifice to me with strict devotion; and, without any apprehension, enter into controversy with the Jains, and wager thy head; and be victorious, O son!"
(L. 33)–And when, on the god Somanåtha having thus given his commands, ÊkantadaRåmayya was abiding, with complete indifference to other things, at the shrine of the god Brahmêśvara of Abbalûru, some of the Jains, together with that Sankagaunda, concerted together, and came to obstruct him, and with great resoluteness persistently sang the praises (of their own god) in the proximity of Siva, saying " Jina is the true) divinity." When he heard that, Êkantada-Ramayya became very full of wrath, and said " It is forbidden to praise any other deity in the proximity of Siva :" but, refusing to desist, they continued vociferating; and then he spake this:-" Who is it that creates the earth P; who is it that protects.it in the time of calamity ?; and further, who is it that is able to destroy it, when his anger becomes great ? : it is that same Sambhu; and, in the face of the existence of him, who pervades everything, how can he (Jina) be a god, who came by chance into the world, and lived in bewilderment, and applied himself to practising austerity, and only thus) attained happiness?: does your Arhat bestow gifts as Hara (Siva) does ? ; has he ever given even over so small a thing P; (it is) from
follower of the famous Saiva devotee Sundaramartinkyaşar (noe id. pp. 1 to 51), and visited various Saiva sbrines in the south, and eventually followed Sundaramurti on horseback to Kallas, and which, in connection with the same story, mentions a certain Bapa or Bapabhadra s & musician who received presents from Sérsmåp on the recommendation of the god at Madurs.
1 I.e. 8 manatba, (ac, Šiva, in that form) of Holigere (Lakshm@abwar), who is mentioned in the next line. See page 243 above, note 3.
• Thus in the original, by way of parenthesis; like the sachana, 'prose,' kanda,' verse,' and oritta,' metre, which also we have here and there.
31.. "together with Sankageupde, one of the village-bendmen of that place."
• Bards seems to be a form of the past participle of bal, to live,'- root from which we have bands, badds, increase, greatnes, etc.
