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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
ceremony of initiation) of a Virasaiva or Li?gayata when he chooses his guru or preceptor.[1] In
connection with the ceremony, it is necessary to place four metallic vessels full of water at the
four cardinal points with a fifth in the middle. This last vessel belongs to the person to be consecrated as the guru who is supposed to represent an old Acharya named Visvaradhya (Visvesvararadhya) while the others belong to four other Acharyas pertaining to the schools respectively
of Reva?asiddha (also called Re?ukacharya), Maru?asiddha, Ekorama and Pa??itaradhya[2] and
connected with certain Ma?has. The five vessels are consecrated to the five faces of Siva, viz.
Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Isana, and the five Acharyas are believed to have
sprung from the five forms of Siva.[3] Bhandarkar notes that, of the five names of the teachers
mentioned in this connection, at least three are stated in the Basava Pura?a to have flourished
before Basava and comes to the conclusion that the Virasaiva or Li?gayata creed, known to its
followers as the Saiva-darsana or Siddhanta-darsana, was affiliated to the moderate or sober school
of Saivism. He further suggests that this creed was reduced to a shape by learned Saiva Brahma?as called Aradhyas, while subsequent reformers gave it a decidedly uncompromising and
anti-Brahmanical character.[4] The inscription under study appears to support these views inasmuch as the Siva-ma??ala-diksha referred to in it seems to have some resemblance with the initiation of the Virasaivas described above, though some authorities prescribe only Jñana-diksha for
kings.
We have seen how the Chalukya king Vikramaditya I of Bada?i granted a village to Sudarsanacharya in payment of guru-dakshi?a (i.e. fees to be paid to the preceptor on the occasion of
one’s initiation) at the time of his Siva-ma??ala-diksha (i.e. initiation into Siva’s circle)[5] and how
the said Acharya (i.e. his preceptor Sudarsanacharya) allotted portions of the land in the gift
village to as many as twentyseven other Brahma?as as well as to his own wife. The names of the
Brahma?as who received shares of the land in the gift village and must have assisted Sudarsanacharya in the performance of the king’s diksha ceremony have been quoted above.[6] That at least
one of them acted in the capacity of a subordinate Acharya, as in the case of the four assistant
Acharyas in the initiation of a Virasaiva (Li?gayata), referred to above, seems to be suggested by
the suffix acharya added to the name of Rudrasivacharya who heads the list of the twentyseven
Brahma?as. Another interesting fact is the nam-ending siva affixed to the names of three of
the Brahma?as, viz. Rudrasiva, Gayatrisiva and Paramasiva. As Bhandarkar has pointed out, the
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[1] Bhandarkar, op. cit., pp. 189 ff.
[2] The word aradhya is often also affixed to the names of Reva?a (Re?uka), Maru?a and Ekorama. The Aradhya-Brahma?as appear to have been also known as Siva-Brahma?as.
[3] In a Kanna?a work entitled Mahesvaradikshavidhi by Kasinatha Sastri, to which my attention was drawn
by Dr. G.S. Gai, it is stated in connection with the svastivachana ceremony associated with Siva-diksha that two
new vessels, either metallic or earthen, are placed, one in the north and the other in the south. They are filled with
sacred water, etc., and four Mahesvaras take their seats, two behind each vessel.
[4] Op. cit., p. 191. Among the reformers who are regarded as the founders of the Virasaiva (Li?gayata) sect,
the names of Basava and of his contemporary Ekantada Ramayya, both of whom were born in Brahma?a families,
and of Basava’s nephew Chenna Basava are the most celebrated.
[5] As suggested above, Siva-ma??ala-diksha seems to be the same as Saiva-diksha. According to Kasinatha
Sastri’s Mahesvaradikshavidhi, when the Acharya performs the Sivali?ga-sa?skara in connection with Siva-diksha,
he has to make a Ma??ala for the performance of the dhanyadhivasa of the Li?ga and another in connection with
its sha?adhvasuddhi. These ceremonies, however, do not appear to have caused the introduction of the word
ma??ala in the expression Siva-ma??ala-diksha. But the arrangement of the five vessels in connection with the
Virasaiva diksha, i.e. four in the four corners and the fifth in the middle, may be regarded as forming a ma??ala
or circle, although it is difficult to determine whether the expression Siva-ma??ala-diksha really owes its origin to
such a practice.
[6] In Kasinatha Sastri’s Mahesvaradikshavidhi, it is stated in connection with the nandi-samaradhana ceremony
of the Siva-diksha that a coconut is placed in a vessel filled with rice and also money sufficient to be offered to
24 Mahesvaras. The money is given to 24 Mahesvaras who are fed afterwards.
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