Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/281

Rh Prabhu of the town of Manigavalli, the very Vishnu of the renowned Harita gōtra; "and later on the same person is spoken of as the Mahaprabhu Madirāja. If Basava and Madiraja, herein mentioned, are really the heroes of the Lingāyats, it is clear that they were not father and son, as stated in the Lingāyat writings. But it must be borne in mind that this is the only inscription yet deciphered which contains any allusion whatever to Basava, and the statement that "he caused to bloom the water-lily that was the affection of the five hundred Brāhmans of Manigavalli," is directly opposed to the theory that he broke away from the Brāhman fold, and set up a religion, of which one of the main features is a disregard of Brāhman supremacy. The fact that the inscription was found so near to Basava's birthplace is, however, strong evidence in favour of the presumption that it refers to the Basava of Lingāyat tradition, and the wording itself is very suggestive of the same idea. The record gives a long pedigree to introduce the Basava whom it proceeds to extol, and puts into his mouth the noteworthy utterance, which ascribes godly qualities to the "lustrous divine linga." The date of this record is contemporary with the events and persons named therein, and it must therefore be far more reliable than the traditionary stories given in the Purānas, which, as already indicated, are not at all in accordance with each other. Dr. Fleet is of opinion that the Purāna versions are little better than legends. This is perhaps going too far, but there can be no doubt that later research will in this, as in the case of all traditionary history, bring to knowledge facts which will require a considerable rearrangement of the long accepted picture. Another inscription, discovered at Ablūr in the Dharwar district of the Bombay Presidency, is of great