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CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE. ETC.
93 we must refer to the laborious work of the late Mr. Lewis Rice, and the Mysore Archaeological Reports. We can here find space for only a few specimens.
Mādhava I is said to have been the author of a commentary on the Dattaka-sūtra; he is also described as an "expert in the theoretical exposition and practical application of the science of polity;" 105 as "a touch-stone for testing gold: the learned and the poets," and as "conducting himself agreeably to his culture and modesty". 106 Avinita is said to have been "worthy of being reckoned first among the learned," and "of a mind filled with learning and modesty;" Būtuga as, “a Brahma in learning," "versed in dancing and other accomplishments; " Ereyappa as, "a Bharata in the arts of singing, instrumental music, dancing, and other minor arts, an authority to great grammarians, a treasury of speech," etc.; and of Rācamalla III or Būtuga II,—"This intelligent prince learnt in his early age the science of politics, riding'on elephants and horses, play at ball, wielding the bow and sword, the drama, grammar, medicine, poetry, mathematics, Bharata-śāstra, Itihāsas and Purāņas, dancing, singing, and instrumental music.” 107
A typical scholar of the times is found in Vādighangala Bhatta, who was a learned convert from Brāhmanism. He is described in the following terms in the Kudlūr Plates of Mārasimha Ganga who made him a grant (of 20 gadyānams in cash and 12 khandugas in grain, being the revenue of the village of Bagiyūr) "as Sruta-guru's ( religious teacher's) fee":
Vādighangala was a treasury of the jewels of wisdom, a mine of the pearls of intellect. With very little effort and labour on his part all learning came to him in a very short time as though it had been made ready in his previous birth. He was the author of a grammatical system free from doubt and controversy. He, like Brahma, knew the
essense of the science of grammar, and was looked up to as 105 Ibid. 1994, pp. 68,80-1; cf. Rice, Ep. Oar. I, p. 52. 106 Mysore Archaeological Report, 1921, p. 19 f. 107 Ibid., pp. 19-22. Bee also Rice, Mysore and Coorg I, pp. 196 8,
