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MAY, 1875.]
A LEGEND OF OLD BELGAM.
sarovara, given as the scene of the sudden death of king Sånta. Old Belgâm is said to have been founded by a Jaina king; but the earliest notice that we have of it is to be found in the Gulhalli inscription. It was then (circa A.D. 1160) the chief town of the district known as the Velugrâmma Seventy, and was governed, under the Châlukya kings, by the Kadamba chieftain Sivachitta or Pêr mâdideva. Shortly after this date it was acquired by the Ratta chieftains, who made it their capital instead of Saundatti. It will be seen that one of these Ratta chieftains, M a llikarjuna by name, is mentioned in the accompanying legend, but it is erroneously stated therein that he was the last of his race to exercise sovereignty; Mr. Fleet's researches show that Mallikarjuna's elder brother, Kårtavirya IV., with whom Mallikarjuna had been associated in the government as Yuvaraja, was still ruling after Mallikârjuna's death, and that Lakshmidêva II.,† the son of Kârtavirya IV., enjoyed regal powers before the supremacy of the Rattas ceased. When this event occurred, Belgâm, together with the adjoining country, appears to have fallen under the sway of the Yadava kings of Devagiri. What was next the fate of the country is not yet known definitely; further researches on this subject are needed to enable us to complete a sketch of the history of this period.
The legendary account-however far from the truth of the deposition of the Ratta chieftain Mallikarjuna brings us in the next place to consider the Musalmân period. The first mention of Belgâm in Ferishtaht is under the date A.D. 1375. Asad Khân flourished in the first half of the 16th century, as is shown by the Persian inscription on the mosque which he erected in the Fort of Belgâm, wherein the date given is equivalent to A. D. 1519; and Ferishtah || states that Belgâm was taken from the Râya of Vijayanagara in A.D. 1471.
The etymology which is given of the name
Edited by Mr. J. F. Fleet, Bo, C.S., in Jour. Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. IX. p. 296.
+ Kartavirya and his brother Mallikarjuna, sons of Lakshmi Bhupati, are both mentioned in the Belgm inscription dated Saka 1127 (A.D. 1205); and Lakshmideva II. in one at Saundatti, dated §. 1151 (A.D. 1229). Conf. Report
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Belgâm is more ingenious than trustworthy; but I would suggest that it is quite within the bounds of possibility that Bel,which is a corruption of Velu or more properly Venu, the first portion of the name,-may embalm for us the name of some ancient Jaina king of whom or whose deeds we possess no further record. Venu is, in fact, the name of one of the kings of the Yâdava race. I advance this opinion with all diffidence, in view of the elaborate explanation and etymology of the name given by Mr. Stokes at p. 18 of his Historical Account of the Belgaum District.
With respect to the 108 Jain temples, which are said to have been built by the pious king in expiation of the accidental cremation of so many Jaina sages, it cannot now be determined where they stood; but even at the present day within the walls of the Fort of Belgâm there are two entire Jaina temples and a priest's house, and, built into the ramparts of the fort, we find many remnants of beautifully carved stones which once undoubtedly adorned the pillars and façades of old Jaina temples.
I cannot at present localize the forest of Ana gola, but hope at some future time to be in a position to do so.
Yalûr is a small village lying at the foot of the hill on which is built Y alargaḍ, a strong hill-fort lying almost due south of Belgâm. The river Sandaréana is in all probability a branch or tributary of the modern Mala prabha, which in its early course runs in a southerly direction passing nearly equidistantly between S anti-Bast vâd and Yalurgaḍ.
The Legend.
There was a poet, by name Sarasijabhavanandana, belonging to the ancient Jaina caste, an inhabitant of Belgâm. He has composed in the Old Kanarese language a short history of kings. Having, by means of rhetorical figures and an ornate Sanskrit expression, applied such epithets as ripen as if
of the Archæological Survey in the Belgam and Kaladgi Districts, pp. 2, 12.-E.
Mr. Stokes' Historical Account of Belgaum, p. 15. § Ibid. p. 24. || Ibid. pp. 19, 20.
¶ Venugrama or Velugrams is the name of Belgåm in the inscriptions already referred to.-ED.
