Indian Antiquary Vol 02

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 147

MAY, 1873.]
Vijaya or 1636 and reigned for thirteen years. He also visited Belligola, and after causing 'Mastakabhishika' and worship to be performed to the deity, and effecting repairs, granted the village of Kabbal in addition to Madane, and that of 1,000 pagodas, and appointed Chârukirtipanditâcharya to the management of the temple affairs. On the accession of Chamaraja of Chikkanahalli in the year Virôdhikṛit or 1654, he ruled only for three years. After him Imâdikrishna Raja Vadiyar succeeded in the year Ananda or 1658, and during the 30 years of his reign he continued the charity granted by his predecessors, viz. land of 1,000 pagodas and the two villages Madane and Kabbal; he died in the year Vijaya or 1688. His successor was Bettada
MENHIRS OF MAISUR.
LEGEND OF THE MENHIRS OF MAISUR.
BY V. N. NARASIMMIYENGAR, BANGALUR.
Under this head Captain J. S. F. Mackenzie mentions the Vyâsana Tolu stones (Vyasa's arm) at page 49 of the Indian Antiquary Vol. II. I have met with several of these stones standing isolated near the town of Anantapûr in the Nagar Division. Indeed the locality bristles with interesting archeological remains. In the daily round of Vaishnavâ religious rites, a sloka is repeated commemorating the incident to the truth of which these imperishable stone monuments bear testimony. It runs as follows:Satyam Satyam Punas Satyam, Udhdhitya bhujamnchyat
Vêdâ chchâstram param nâsti, Nadaivam kêéavât param.
"It is declared (by Vyâsa) with arm aloft that there is no other sastra but the Veda, and no god but Kesava (Vishnu). This is the truth over and over again."
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Chamaraja Vadiyar, during whose reign Haidar acquired influence, and the charity was continued as before, viz. 1,000 pagodas land and the two villages to the math. In the year Visvåvasu, 1708, Tipu attached all Devâdâyâs' and 'Brahmadâyâs,' i. e. inâms granted to temples and Brahmans, which included the lands and villages granted to this temple: then the English under General Wellesley and Kulis captured Srirangapatam on the 30th or new-moon day of Chaitra Bahulâ of the year Siddharti 1721, and restored Maisur to His Highness the Mahâraja Krishna Vadiyar on Sunday the 13th of Jeshta Bahulâ of the year Siddhârti, and appointed Purnia as Divân, and they remained in Srirangapatam."
The legend concerning Vyâsa losing his arm for his stedfast belief, and his alleged recantation, seems to have been engrafted upon the original story, by the Lingayats, who are known
as uncompromising foes of the Vaishnavas. It is exactly like the legend in which one of the Chola or Pandya kings, noted for his bigotry, is said to have coerced a Vaishnava sage into signing a declaration admitting Siva's supremacy in the world of the gods. The declaration was in this form :
Śivat parataram nâsti: There is none above Śiva.
The equally stubborn Vaishnavâ, notwithstanding the horrible penalty which hung over him like the sword of Damocles, viz. deprivation of sight, ventured to add to the declaration the line
Drôna masti tatah param,
The measure Drôna is larger than that called Śiva,
The allusion being a play upon the word Śivam, which means a small measure.
These legends may be accepted for what they are worth as indicating the bitter hostility between the rival sects of Saivâs and Vaish
navâs.
With the chronology here given, compare the list in Prinsep, Useful Tables (Thomas's ed.) pp. 281-3; see also Buchanan, Mysore, vol. III. p. 408, et passim.-ED.