dominion. To those poets who composed the best stanzas in his honour he gave as much as a lakh of pagodas for each verse.8

Death of Kálidása the Poet.-Raja Bhoja died of grief for the loss of his favourite poet, Kálidása. The poet had taken offence, and had fled from the court of Devagiri. Accordingly Raja Bhoja tried to bring him back by artifice. He composed half a stanza, and offered his kingdom to any one who completed it, hoping thereby to draw Kálidása from his hidingplace. The poet had a treacherous mistress, and she prevailed upon him to complete it, in order to work his destruction. The original half-stanza ran thus :- "Where was a flower ever seen to grow out of a different flower?" The poet finished it by a reference to her eyes. He responded: "Nowhere, O nymph, excepting in your lilylike countenance, where the two flowers of Indra are sportively playing." In the night the damsel stabbed her lover to the heart. Next morning she carried the completed stanza to the Raja, foolishly applying it to his own masculine face. The Raja then guessed the truth, and charged her with the murder, and banished her from his kingdom of Kalyán.10 Seven days afterwards he died of grief for the loss of Kálidása.11

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8 This is a startling exaggeration. A lakh of pagodas is equal to about thirty-five thousand pounds sterling. Probably it would be safer to read one pagoda for each verse.

The eyes of the damsel are compared to the two flowers of Indra, growing out of her lily countenance. The conceit is fantastic and laboured, but it is considered a matchless stroke of genius by Hindús, and shows that the Vedic religion prevailed or was remembered at court.

10 It will be noticed that the Raja did not order the murderess to execution. Indeed it was contrary to ancient law and usage to put a woman to death under any circumstances.

11 The climax shows that the whole story is a fiction. Bhoja is generally identified with Vikramaditya, who was fabled to have reigned for a thousand years. The fiction was probably invented to cover the shame of the defeat of Vikramaditya.

II. BELÁL EMPIRE OF KARNATA.

Foundation of the Belál Empire of Karnata.-The Belál kingdom of Karnata, or Kanarese-speaking people, was founded in the tenth century of the Christian era. A valiant warrior, named Hayasala, was a follower of the Jain religion, and had gone into the Karnata country, in the western half of the peninsula, to perform his devotions with a Jain priest. It happened that a royal tiger was infesting the neighbourhood, and the inhabitants implored the protection of Hayasala. Accordingly he went out and slew the tiger, and the people then made him king of all that country, and paid him a yearly tax. Hayasala was known as the Belál Rai. His kingdom corresponded generally to the modern territory of Mysore. He founded the dynasty of the Belál Rais or Rajas. Their history is as follows:

I. Hayasala Belál Rai, 984–1043: City of Dhúr-samundar Founded. He conquered all the countries to the south of the river Krishna. He followed the religion of the Jains. He built the metropolis of Dhúr-samundar, and peopled it with merchants, artisans, mechanics, and citizens of all classes, and established all the officers of government. He cleared out forests, built villages, and peopled them with divers Rajas.

Supports Bráhmans and Jains.-Hayasala Rai was desirous of encouraging the Brahmans in the centre of his kingdom, where they were few in number, and he appointed them to be Karnams, or revenue accountants, in the several districts. He appointed some to be priests in Bráhman villages. He especially encouraged the Jains by employing them at his court, and appointing some of them to be commanders in his armies. He divided his kingdom into Nádus, or groups of villages. He made the perquisites of the different officers hereditary in their respective families.

II. Vináditya Belál Rai, 1043–1073: Clears the Jungle.— He cleared the country at the junction of the Bhadra and

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Toonga rivers, which in those days was covered with teak wood; and there he built a city. He also cleared other jungles and founded villages.

III. Vareyánga Belál Rai, 1073-1113: Prevalence of Jains. -Under his reign the Jain religion prevailed more than ever. He erected a number of Jain temples and agraharams, i.e., separate streets or quarters for the Brahmans.

IV. Bala Deva Rai, 1113-1164: Mussulman Conquest.During his reign the Mussulmans from Delhi entered the Belál kingdom and fought against the Rai for three months. At last the Rai was captured by treachery, and carried away to the Krishna river. Here he agreed to pay a ransom to the Delhi Mussulmans; and they mutilated his little finger to show that he had been captured in battle, and then released him. He returned home in great shame, and remained quietly in his kingdom.

Rámánuja Acharya converts the Raja to the Vaishnava Religion. After this Rámánuja Acharya, the apostle of the Vaishnavas, who had fled from the Chola kingdom on account of the religious persecutions, came into the Karnata country, and resolved to convert the Raja to the religion of the Vaishnavas, and he prevailed on the concubine of the Raja to help him. It was the law amongst the Jains never to eat in the house of a man who had been mutilated. Accordingly the girl persuaded the Raja to invite his Jain Guru to take his dinner in the royal palace. She said, "If the Guru will accept your invitation, I will join your religion; if he will not come, you must join my religion." The Guru refused to break the laws of the Jain priesthood, and the Raja became a Vaishnava and a follower of Rámánuja Achárya. After this Rámánuja Achárya delivered the daughter of the Raja from a Rákshasa, i.e., he cast a devil out of her. Afterwards Rámánuja Acharya changed the name of the Raja from Belál Deva Rai to Vishnu Verdhana Rai, or "The increaser of the Vaishnava religion." He also miraculously healed the Raja's mutilated finger, so that in a moment it grew as perfect as

ever. After this he induced the Rai to destroy Jain temples, and to build Vishnu temples instead.12

V. Vijaya Narasinha Belál, 1165-1187: Vaishnava Religion flourishes.-He encouraged the Vaishnava religion and oppressed the Jains more than his father had done. He made a pilgrimage to all the holy places. On his return to his own city, the god, i.e., Vishnu, appeared to him in a dream on the banks of the river Bhadra, and accordingly he built a city and temple at Bankipur.

VI. Vira Belál Rai, 1188-1232: Marries the Daughter of the Sultan of Delhi.-He was born of the eldest queen of Vijaya Narasinha. He built tanks and other works of charity, and he constructed the stone steps at the junction of the Toonga and Bhadra for the religious people who went to bathe there. The daughter of the Pádisháh or Sultan of Delhi heard that Vira Belál Rai was very handsome, and so fell in love with the fame of his beauty,13 and threatened to kill herself unless her father gave her to the Raja in marriage. At last the Sultan consented, and sent messengers to inform the Raja. In return the Raja sent his sword by the hands of a minister to be married to the princess according to the law. So the Sultan married his daughter to the Raja's sword, and sent her to the Raja, and she became his wife. After this the Raja was displeased with the princess, and the Sultan sent an army against him and defeated him. So the Raja went into a cavern and never returned. Then

12 Rámánuja Achárya is said to have instigated the Rajas to carry on a horrible persecution against the Jains. Colonel Mackenzie adds a note to the manuscript to the effect that the people of Conjereram complained that their ancestors, who were Jains, had been cruelly persecuted. Some were beheaded, others were impaled, or beaten to death in mortars.

13 Falling in love with hearsay beauty is a Brahmanical form of expression to cover the shame of an amour. Thus the beautiful Damayantí is said to have fallen in love with Nala on hearing that he was very handsome. The idea of having seen him, or of having been seen by him, was abhorrent to Brahmanical ideas.

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the Sultan's daughter followed him, and a tomb was built over the place to her memory.14

VII. Vira Narasinha Belál, 1233-1248.-He was the son of Vira Belál by the Sultan's daughter. Nothing is recorded of him.

VIII. Saya Belál Rai, 1249-1267.-Nothing recorded.

IX. Vira Narasinha Deva, 1267-1308.-Nothing recorded.

X. Belál Rai, 1308-1355: Mussulman Conquest of Karnata. -He was a very handsome prince, and his father gave him two wives to prevent his going after other women. His sister was married and had two sons. During his absence on a hunting expedition his youngest wife tried to seduce his eldest nephew, but did not succeed. On the Raja's return she exasperated him against both his nephews, and he ordered them both to be hanged. Then the mother of the young men came out and pronounced a curse upon the Raja and upon his city of Dhúr-samundar, and then put herself to death.

This Belál Rai was overthrown by the Mussulmans.

III. THE TELINGA COUNTRY.

Reign of Pratápa Rudra in Telinga.-Raja Pratápa Rudra was born in the city of Warangal, the capital of Telinga, by the favour of the god Siva. He reigned over Telinga, or the Telugu-speaking people to the eastward, for seventy-six years. His minister was named Yuganda Rudra, and was so wise that he could create or destroy a world at will.

Carried Prisoner to Delhi.-About this time the minister,

14 There is another version of this strange legend. It is said that the Raja deserted his wife because he thought that the marriage was unlawful. It is also said that it was not the daughter, but the Pádisháh or Sultan, who perished in the cavern, and that the tomb was known as the Pádisháh's tomb.