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192 yatirXja-math: CH. XXIX.
RamfLnuja also established a see of his at Yati-Saila, called
the Tatiraja-math, where a Sanyslsin is always to live and
manage the affairs of the Fane. The building still exists intact,
and the monastery has had a line of illustrious successors to this
day. An old badari tree still lives in it.
During the time Ramanuja was so installed in hi.i high
pontificate, he is said to have gone to Padmagiri,' and engaged
Foot note on page 191—(continued).
also awarded to them the rare and
valued privilege of visitiufi; the
temple at Melfcote three days in the
year. 1'hiis the emancipation of
the Pariah commenced long B,f;o,
and if it has noc been yet accomplished,
the cause is not solely the absence
of consideration for the class
on the part of some of the most illustrioas
founders of religious sects in
India. Though at tlie present dr.y
tho foUowers of Sri R3,m.\nuj3,-
chariar form probibly the most
exclusive among the Brd.hmau community,
stiU the fact remains that
the founders of the sect laboured
for the elevation of the depressed
and despised castes * * * the
hallovred name of Tirukknlattar
carries us back to those good old
days when the practice and the
last lines in Nos. 75 and 76,
which state, in Jaina, Maharashtri
and Hale Kannada respectively,
that Ganga Raja had the
enclosure or cloisters round (^siittdlayam)
made for the colossal statue
of Gumatesvara. TLe inscriptions
preaching of religion meant really
the elevation of men, and the
greatest of saints considered it a
part of their duty to minister to
the religious ci-avings of the lowest
classes of people."
In these days we have the spectacle
of a Mlrad3,8 a Mahomedan,
who lias embraced Vaishnavisni,
and is performing Harikat'has all
over the country and of aChenchu>
das, (a TirukkulattAr), at Kolar
(Mysore State,) who is working for
the religious elevation of his class,
by establishing temples, Muths and
Bhajana-kfitas, and to whom his
spiritual guru, of Tirukkovalur, has
delegated the privilege to administer
himself, to his men, the Panchasa.nsk&ra
sacraments and receive
dues called the Paucha-kanikas.
^ The Banddhas and Jainas are are on either side the image, immediately
below those of Chamnnda
grouped together in the one category
of anti-Tedio. But Bauddhas Baya, and in characters to correspond.
Their date, for the reasons
seem to be the first who came to
Maisiir, followed by the Jainas, as already given (p. 23), is fixed as
the Sravana Belagola Inscriptions, A.D. 1116. The erection of this
by Rice, tell us. Padmagiri appears enclosing parapet walls and other
to be one of the names of this place. buildings ariiund has certainlv
The following extract is from Rice's detracted from the imposing and
Belagola Inscriptions:— [P. 37]. picturesque effect the gigantic
"We now come to a series of inscriptions
connected with Ganga
pre-
image must previously have
Baja. The first of them are the
sented when standing alone in its
naked sublimity on the summit of
the hill. But probably the walls
were now required for its protec
tion from injury. p„r when it was
erected the Jainas were in the
ascendant, and Jainism was the
state religion. But, with the conversion
to tho Vaishnava faith of