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1677] covered with gilded brass plates presented by Krishna Dev, the victorious Rajah of Vijaynagar (1513.) There is a smaller temple dedicated to Shiva's consort. A flight of stone steps, built by a Vijaynagar queen, leads down from the plateau to the bed of the Krishna, called Patal-Ganga, and a ford called Nila-Ganga, a little below, both of which are considered as sacred bathing-places.

Shivaji ascended this difficult plateau, bathed in the Krishna and spent some ten days at Shri Shaila doing religious rites. The quiet and secluded beauty of the scenery and the spiritual atmosphere of the place penetrated his soul, and he believed that he would find no purer spot to die in. So, he attempted to cut off his own head before the goddess; but his ministers restrained his religious frenzy and recalled him to a sense of his duty to his subjects and the Hindu world at large. Here he built a ghat, named Shri-Gangesha, amonastery, and a dharmashala, fed a lakh of Brahmans, and gave away large sums to them.

Then, leaving Shri Shaila, he overtook his army by rapid marches and, entering the Karnatak plains in April 1677, hastened southwards. In the first week of May, he arrived at Peddapollam, about seven miles from Madras city, and halted there for some time. On 14th May the English received a letter from him, brought by his Brahman agent, Mahadji Pant, asking for some cordial stones and counter-poisons. The Madras Council gave him