prised all who had abandoned Egina in company with Peleus when he emigrated to Phthia from his original home (Strabo, p. 433). It was generally believed in antiquity that their name was derived from myrmex (μúpun§), 'an ant.' Their origin was accounted for in various ways. It was said that Myrmidon, the eponymous ancestor of the clan, whose name appears more than once in the heroic genealogies (Hellanicus, frag. 17; Apoll. Rhod. i. 55), was begotten by Zeus, after he had assumed the form of an ant in his intercourse with Eurymedusa, the daughter of Cleitor (Clem. Alex. Protrept. ii. 39, p. 34 P.). That is, of course, a story of a very common type, but there is another more generally attested. Hesiod (frag. 76) related that Eacus, the son of Zeus and Egina, whose name was given to the island previously known as Enone, when he was grown to man's estate, chafed at the loneliness of his home; and that Zeus accordingly transformed all the ants in the island into men and women. In consequence of their origin, they came to be known as Myrmidons (Hygin. Fab. 52; Lucian, Icarom. 19; Nonn. Dionys. xiii. 206 ff.). It is natural to infer from Hesiod's language that Ægina was removed by Zeus to the shores of an island which was previously uninhabited. But in other authorities (Strabo, p. 375; Ov. Met. vii. 520-660; Hygin. loc. cit.) the legend of the transformation, which is described by Ovid with a wealth of rhetorical detail, appears in a different setting. The cause of the desolation of Ægina is ascribed to the jealous malignity of Hera, who wreaked her vengeance upon the island called after her rival by destroying its inhabitants with a pestilence. Then Zeus answered the prayer of acus, who begged for a new population, by bringing the Myrmidons into existence. According to others, the transformation took place in Thessaly and at the bidding of Peleus (Lycophr. 176). Strabo has preserved a euhemeristic variant (p. 375), according to which the Myrmidons were so called from their ant-like method of life; for they were said to have excavated the ground in order to cover the rocks with soil fitted for agriculture, and to have dwelt in their underground workings to avoid the need of bricks. If we allow that the derivation of the name is well founded, the legendary evidence justifies the conclusion that the ant was a sacred animal in Thessaly, or in Ægina, or in both. But the ultimate explanation of its sanctity is still to seek. The adoration of an animal from which descent is claimed, as in this case through Myrmidon, was formerly held to be an example of straightforward totemism' (A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, London, 1899, ii. 197), and an exact parallel was discovered in the Incra stock or clan of ants among the Ashantees of W. Africa (ib. i. 69). Similar instances of the connexion of an animal with a god, or of an animal identified with the founder of a clan, were claimed as establishing that totemism was once prevalent in Greece (ib. i. 267; W. Robertson Smith, in EBr xxi. 135). But most of them are capable of other and simpler explanations, such as the desire to propitiate and so to avert an agricultural pest in the case of the mouse-Apollo (W. Warde Fowler, in CIR vi. [1892] 413) and the fox-Dionysus (W. Ridgeway, ib. x. [1896] 21); and, since the existence of totemism is unproved for any Aryan race (J. G. Frazer, GB, pt. v., Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, London, 1912, ii. 4, Totemism and Exogamy, do. 1910, iv. 12), it is now admitted, even by those who formerly advocated this solution, that it is uncertain whether a survival of totemism is to be recognized in Greek post-Homeric legends of animal descent (A. Lang, in EBrl xxvii. 90). Other inferences which have been drawn from the In legend of the Myrmidons are equally insecure. Thus, whereas one investigator regards it as the expression of a belief that the ruling family was of separate origin from the masses (O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie, Munich, 1906, p. 441), another holds that it was invented to prove the autochthonous origin of the acids (K. Tümpel, in Roscher, ii. 3313). It has also been suggested that the story of the Myrmidons retains a trace of the Oriental belief in ants as protectors of hidden springs of water, on the ground that the legend of Eacus is to be interpreted in the light of the magical incantations used by rain-makers (Gruppe, p. 801; Tümpel, in Roscher, ii. 3314), and it is possible that the story of the ant-origin was a piece of popular etymology invented to account for the currency of the name (Lang, Myth, ii. 196). that case, while we should have to look elsewhere for an explanation of the word, the folk-story would still continue to challenge investigation. It should be added that the derivation of the name Myrmidon is not universally accepted. LITERATURE.-The chief authorities have been mentioned throughout. The fullest collection of the facts is in K. Tümpel, art. Myrmidon,' in Roscher, ii. 3312-3314. A. C. PEARSON. MYSORE STATE.-1. Description.-Mysore is one of the principal native States in India, about the size of Scotland. It is situated in the south, on an elevated plateau, rising from about 2000 ft. above sea level along the northern and southern frontiers to about 3000 in the central parts, broken up longitudinally by lofty ridges of rocky hills. The surface is studded with many steep and isolated peaks, called droogs (Skr. durga), often crowned with the remains of old fortifications. The form of the country is that of a triangle, with apex to the south, where the mountain-ranges of the Western and Eastern Ghats, which form its sides, converge in the towering mass of the Nilgiris. Its chief river is the sacred Kāvēri (the Xaßnpos of Ptolemy, VII. i. 13), whose upper basin occupies all the south. Running from west to east and receiving many tributaries, it, encloses in its course the island of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), and passes out of the State to the low country in, the Niagara-like Kāvēri Falls at the island of Sivasamudram, the site of the first electric power installation in India. The north is drained by the Tungabhadra, which flows across the north-west into the river Krishna, beyond the limits of the State, receiving on its way its chief tributary in Mysore, the Haggari or Vedavati. In the east is a system of three rivers rising near Nandidroog the Penner, the Pālār, and the Ponniar, which find their way to the Bay of Bengal. In the extreme north-west the Sharavati hurls itself down the Ghats towards the Arabian Sea in the Gersoppa Falls, with a leap of 832 feet. The western portion of the State, called the Malnad or Malenaḍ, the hill country, is a highland region of noble mountains and mighty forests, filled with the most diversified and picturesque scenery. The remaining and much the larger portion is known as the Maidan or Bayal-shime, the plain or champaign country. In its northern parts are open valleys of black soil, growing cotton or millets; in the south and west are extensive tracts irrigated by channels drawn from rivers, covered with plantations of sugar-cane and fields of rice, with gardens of coco-nut and areca palms. The high-lying lands of red soil in the east are cultivated with ragi and other grain crops dependent on the rains, while in the central parts are stony and wide-spreading pasture grounds, covered with coarse grass and dotted with groves of trees. A distinguishing feature of the country is the series or chains of reservoirs, called tanks (Kan. kere), formed by embanking at every favourable point the streams which gather from the hill-sides or higher slopes, in such a way that the outflow from one at a higher level supplies the next lower, and so on all down the course of the stream at a few miles apart. They vary in size from small ponds to extensive lakes, miles in circumference; and their number is not less than 30,000. Bountiful rain causes them to show up as smiling mirrors all over the landscape when viewed from a height. But in failure of the rains they often dry up, while in great floods many suffer damage from the bursting of the embankments, or bunds. Equally notable are the irrigation channels drawn from rivers, especially in the south. Immense dams, called anicuts (Kan. anekaṭṭe), built across the river, retain the upper waters at a high level and permit only the overflow to pass down stream. The channels, or kālves, taken off from these dams are led over the country on either bank, winding round all the contour of the ground as far as the waters will flow. The total length of the channels amounts to over 1200 miles. They, as well as the tanks, are mostly works constructed by the old rulers, but have been improved by modern engineering science. The importance of provisions for storing the water will be recognized when it is stated that the annual average rainfall ranges from over 360 ins. on the crest of the Western Ghats to as little as 19 ins. in the north centre. But these are extremes experienced only in limited areas. The excessive rains of the Malnad rapidly diminish eastwards, and from 20 to 37 ins. may be taken as the annual average for the greater part of the State. The heaviest rain falls in the evergreen belt of forest, the next in the belt of deciduous forest, and the least rainy parts are those in the dry belt. The area of the State is 29,475 sq. miles, which includes that of the civil and military station of Bangalore, 13 sq. miles, an assigned tract,' under British administration. The population, by the census of 1911, numbered 5,806,193, of whom 2,934,621 were males and 2,871,572 females. The mean density of population was 197 per sq. mile, but the south and east are more thickly populated than the west and north. The two principal places in the State are Bangalore, the administrative capital and seat of the British cantonment (population 189,485), and Mysore, the dynastic capital and residence of the Mahārāja (population 71,306). To these may be added the Kolar gold fields (population 48,635). led from the north of India to the south in order to escape the twelve years' famine which he had predicted. On arriving at Sravana Belgola in Mysore, Bhadrabahu felt that his end was near. He therefore sent the Jain sangha who had accompanied him on to Punnata in the south-west of Mysore, under Visakha. He himself remained at Sravana Belgola and died there on the Kalbappu hill, now called Chandragiri, attended in his last moments by a single disciple, none other than Chandragupta, who also died there later as an ascetic. To the Mauryas succeeded the Andhras or Satavahanas in the north. The latter name took the form Sāļivāhana, after whom an era, long known as the Saka-kala, but eventually and still as the Salivahana-saka, dating from A.D. 78, was established. The north of Mysore, has even in modern times been designated the Salivahana country. The kings of the dynasty generally bore the name Satakarni. On their disappearance in the 2nd cent., the greater part of Mysore was taken possession of by the Gangas, a royal line of Jains from the north of India. They may be connected with the Gangarida, described by Roman authors as among the principal subjects of Chandragupta in the Ganges valley. The Gangas ruled over Mysore for 800 years, and from them it acquired the name of Gangavāḍi, the subjects of which are still represented by the Gangaḍikāras, the principal agricultural class of the State, their name being a contraction of Gangavaḍikära. The Ganga capital was at first Kuvalala, or Kovalāla (Kolar), but in the 3rd cent. was removed to Talakad on the Kāvēri, in the south-east of Mysore. In the northwest arose the Kadambas, a Brahman family, who were kings over the Banavasi country till the 6th century. In the north-east the Pallavas of Kanchi, of Parthian origin, were the overlords, the actual rulers being the Mahāvalis, or Bāņas. After the Pallavas were overthrown, they continued to be represented in Mysore by the Nonambas or Nolambas, whose territory was known as Noṇambavadi or Nolambavaḍi. Their subjects survive in the existing Nonabas. The Chalukyas (whose name suggests a connexion with Seleukeia), claiming to come from Ayodhya, appeared in the Deccan in the 4th century. At the end of the 6th cent. they subdued the Kadambas, and, having established themselves at Vātāpi (Bādāmi in the Bijapur District), entered upon prolonged struggles with the Pallavas. The Satyasraya, or Western, Chalukyas long dominated the north of Mysore, where Belgami was their seat of government. But from the latter half of the 8th cent. there was a check to their power for 200 years from the Rashtrakutas, or Raṭṭas (progenitors of the Mahrattas of the Bombay country), whom they had on their advent overcome. The Rashtrakutas seized the Ganga kingdom of Mysore, and appointed their own viceroys to govern it. But before long they reinThe Western Chalukyas again secured the ascendancy in 973, and held it for 200 years more. They were then ousted by their general, who was a Jain and of the Kalachurya family. 2. History. In its history, which has now been brought pretty fully to light by a study of the vast array of its inscriptions, the State has passed through many vicissitudes. The earliest period to which this can be traced with certainty is the time of the Maurya emperor Aśoka (3rd cent. B.C.). His edicts have been discovered incised on rocky hills in three places in the north-evidence that it was included in his empire. Many Bud-stated the king, in conjunction with the Pallavas. dhist coins of the first centuries have also been found to the west of Chitaldroog. The south there is reason to identify with the Mahisamandala to which Buddhist missionaries were sent in his time, as well as to the neighbouring Vanavåsa or Banavasi country on the north-west. But even previous to this his grandfather Chandragupta (the Sandrakottos of the Greek historians), contemporary with Alexander the Great, had, according to Jain traditions, abdicated the throne and accompanied the great Jain teacher, Bhadrabahu the Śrutakevali, on the migration which he But the Cholas from the Tamil country in the south had, in their career of conquest, overturned the Ganga power in 1004 and held possession of the south and east of the State till 1116. The Hoysalas, a Jain family from the hill country in the west, then expelled them and became rulers of the whole of Mysore and beyond, up to the Krishna river, till overwhelmed by the Muslim invasions from the north in the 14th century. They had previously acquired possession of the Chola country to the south, but were exposed to attacks on the north-west from their rivals, the Seūnas, or Yadavas, of Devagiri. The Hindu empire of Vijayanagar was now established, and continued till 1664, although the capital was destroyed a century before. It was the overlord of all the southern kingdoms, including Mysore. But, after its power was broken in 1565, the Sultans of Bijapur, with the aid of Mahratta forces, held the north and east, while in the south rose to independence the Mysore royal house of Wodeyars. Except during the Muhammadan usurpation of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (1761-99), from which they were released by the British, they have held the sovereignty till now. But, owing to the deposition of the Raja for misrule, the country was under British administration for 50 years till 1881. 3. Name.-The name of the State, properly Maisūru, is that of the capital, and may be explained as meaning buffalo-town.' The Sanskrit mahisha, buffalo,' becomes maisa in Kannada, and uru is the Kannada for 'town' or 'country.' It derives its origin from the legend of the destruction of Mahishasura, a minotaur or buffalo-headed monster, by Chamundi or Mahishasura-mardini, the form under which the consort of Siva is worshipped as the tutelary goddess of the ruling family. The name may be traced in the Mahishamandala, or Buffalo country, of Asoka's time (3rd cent. B.C.). A possible ground for the appellation may be found in the fact that buffalo-worship was, and remains, a special cult of the Todas of the Nilgiris, the southern part of Mysore. The language of this interesting primeval tribe is that of Mysore in the old form. The earliest mention of them so far discovered is in a Mysore inscription of 1117, but they must have been settled there for ages before. They have orders of priests consecrated to the service of the buffalo; their temples are dairies where buffalo-milk is the holiest offering, and where the bell worn by the buffalo-cow is the most sacred symbol. Their affinity to hill tribes in Mysore is attested by the fact that their palal, or priests, who are chosen only from the Paiki, or highest clan, describe themselves as Der Mokh, i.e. Devara makkalu, or 'God's children,' which is also the case with the mande and grama patels in Manjarabad. Then there are the wellknown Hale Paiki in the Nagar Malnaḍ. The mand of the Todas corresponds to the mandu of Coorg and the mande of Manjarabad. The buffalo is a sacrificial animal among the lower orders throughout the south of India, and is periodically slaughtered with special rites in the groves or before the shrines of the grama-devată, or villagegoddesses. | | hill, which becomes its shrine. To embrace this was a recognized mode of taking sanctuary. The sculptured images of serpents mentioned above generally consist of three slabs erected in a row, facing the rising sun, on a raised platform. The first bears the figure of a male cobra, middle one shows the form of a woman from the waist upwards, with one or more heads of an odd number up to seven; the crowned with a tiara, in the upper half, ending in a serpent in the lower half, sometimes holding a young serpent under each arm; the third slab has two serpents intertwined in congress, as in the Esculapian rod or the caduceus of Mercury, with sometimes a linga engraved between them. The stones are worshipped by circumambulation, chiefly by women, with a view to obtaining offspring. The grama-devatā, or village-goddess, is familiarly spoken of as Amma, the mother, or in the honorific plural Ammanavaru, which is the Amnor of the Todas. Māramma or Mariamma is perhaps the commonest, and most villages have a Mārigudi; but she sometimes bears various local names combined with amma. Though euphemistically styled mother,' she is more feared lest her wrath should be aroused than loved as a tender protector. In some respects she seems to correspond to Durga, or Kali, also called Chamundi, and is explained as one of the furies attendant on that goddess. She reminds one of the demon of love, anger, evil, and death, called Mara, who opposed Buddha and the spread of his religion. The class of deities known as bhūta, demon spirits, or the occult powers of nature, are worshipped under the form of a few naturally rounded stones placed together either under a tree or in a small shrine, and smeared with oil and turmeric. Charms to avert the evil eye, engraved on stones, called yantra kallu, are often erected at the entrance of villages. Similar ones on medals or metal plates are hung round the necks or waists of children. 5. Jainism.—The adoption of primitive animistic beliefs into Jainism is regarded as one evidence of its antiquity. The view now held is that it did not originate with Mahāvīra or Vardhamāna, but some centuries earlier, the 8th B.C., with Pārsva or Pārsvanatha, the Tirthankara who preceded him. For the Nirgranthas mentioned in the early records of Buddhism were followers of Parsva. But Mahāvira was a reformer, who promoted Jainism and introduced new features into it. He lived a little before Buddha, but they were for some time contemporary. Mahavira had three personal disciples who succeeded him as teachers and were styled Kevalis. The next succession of Jain teachers after them were the five Srutakevalis. Of these the last was Bhadrabahu. He it was under whose influence Chandragupta became an ascetic and journeyed in his company to the south, where both died at Sravana Belgola in Mysore, in the circumstances related above. The story is met with in ancient records, and is repeated down to modern times. It is also supported by local memorials of antiquity at Sravana Belgola and Seringapatam, in which the summit of the hill on which they died at the former place is described as consecrated by the footprints of the inseparable pair (yugma) Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta. 4. Animism.-The worship of these deities gives expression to pre-animistic and hylozoist or animistic beliefs that probably had their origin in remote ages, long before any organized systems of religion. But they retain their hold on the multitude of the submerged, who are too low in the scale of humanity to count upon interest on the part of the great gods. Thus serpents and trees, or other objects, which are closer at hand and Jainism no doubt already existed at that time invested with mystery, are propitiated, with a view in Mysore and other parts of S. India. Though to good gifts and the warding off of portentous its antiquity and its priority to Buddhism are now evils. The serpent venerated is the naga, or generally known, and it was freely distributed in deadly cobra, and its worshippers, called Nagas, upper India, it is singular that the first discovery were a widely spread race in pre-historic times. by Europeans of the Jains as a sect should have Many minor royal families in the west claim to been made in Mysore, and that not till so late as be of Naga descent. Effigies of the cobra are set the beginning of the 19th century. The discovery up to this day at the entrance of most villages or was due to Colonel Colin Mackenzie, who at that towns for the adoration of the public, and cere- period made the survey of Mysore. It is thus only monial offerings are made to the living cobra. Few in recent years that the Jains have received special natives will consent to kill one, and the body of attention and the distinction between them and one that has been killed is solemnly cremated. A Buddhists, of whom they had been considered an cobra often takes up its abode in a deserted ant-offshoot, has been established. Their creed is called the Jina-śāsana, a leading doctrine of which is the syadvada. The Bhavyas is another name for the Jains in inscriptions. There are two divisions of the Jains-the Digambara (sky-clad or nude) and the Svetambara (white-clad). Those in Mysore belong to the former, and there is reason to believe that the separation took place when Bhadrabahu forsook the north for the south. They are composed of yatis, or clerics, and śrāvakas, or laity. Only the former now discard clothing and that only at meals; at other times they are covered with a yellow robe, becoming Pitambara. The Jain images of the Tirthankaras, many of colossal size, are always nude. The priests claim to be of the Sri-Müla-sangha, which was formed by Arhadbali, it is said, into four, namely, the Sena, Nandi, Deva, and Simha sanghas. The sanghas are composed of ganas, and the ganas of gachchas. The seat of the chief guru, or high priest, in Mysore is at Sravana Belgola, and he claims jurisdiction also over the Jains in Delhi, and certain places in North and South Kanara. From the beginning of the 12th cent. the Sravana Belgola gurus have the distinctive title of Charukirti Panditacharya. They are of the Kondakundanvaya, Nandi-sangha, Desi-gana, and Pustaka-gachcha. They had a subordinate establishment at Maleyür, in the south of Mysore, which is now closed. Its gurus apparently had the name Bhaṭṭakalanka Deva. The other existing seat of a Jain guru is at Humcha, in the Nagar country to the west, dating from the 8th cent., but it is in a very reduced condition. The gurus bore the name Devendrakîrti Bhaṭṭāraka. Jainism enjoyed royal patronage down to the 12th century. It was greatly promoted by Samantabhadra in the 2nd cent., and was the State creed in the time of the Gangas, of some of the Rashtrakūtas and Kalachuryas, and the early Hoysalas, also of the minor States of Punnata, of the Santaras, the early Changalvas, and the Kongalvas. But the extinction of the Rashtrakūtas in 982, the Chola conquests in 1004, the conversion of the Hoysala king in 1098, and the assassination of the Kalachurya king in 1167 were severe blows to its influence. It had been opposed on its religious side by the Brahman reformers Kumārilabhaṭṭa and Sankaracharya in the 8th century. Sectarian bitterness then became pronounced, and at about the same period the Jain leader Akalanka is said to have overcome the Buddhists in disputation before the royal court at Kanchi, in consequence of which the latter were banished to Ceylon. On the other hand, in 1368, in the reign of Bukka-Raya of Vijayanagar, when the Jains or Bhavyas complained of being persecuted by the Bhaktas, or Vaisnavas, the king summoned the leaders of both parties before him, and, after full inquiry, took the hand of the Jains (as the record graphically puts it) and, holding it in the hand of the Vaisnavas, decreed that no differences could be recognized between them, and that each might freely carry on their respective religious ceremonies without interference. Even before this broader views had been spreading among the Jains, for we find Jina described in 1151 as the Universal Spirit who is Śiva, Dhatri (Brahma), Sugata (Buddha), and Visņu, while for a generation following there were chieftains who supported all four creeds. The Jains were the earliest cultivators of Kannada, the language of Mysore, and created in it an extensive literature of great excellence and variety. Their numbers in Mysore were returned as 17,630 in the census of 1911, an increase of 28 per cent in the last decade. But they are not a proselytizing sect, and this accession is due to the Sadas, a class of Vokkaligas, or cultivators, in the central parts, having entered themselves as Jains. Such they no doubt were originally, but at the present time only one section worship Jina, the other two sections being worshippers respectively of Visnu and Siva. All eat together and intermarry, the wife adopting the practice of her husband. A few Jains also have migrated from the Rajputana States. These are Svetambaras, and are money-lenders or merchants. Most of the Jains are traders and landlords, some are workers in brass and copper, but few are farmers. There has been some movement among the Jains of recent years in organizing their members and opening communications with those in other parts, for which there are now so many facilities. 6. Buddhism.-Buddhism was, of course, the official creed in such part of the north of Mysore as was included in the Maurya empire in the time of Asoka, the 3rd cent. B.C., towards the close of his life, though he is considered by some to have been a Jain in his earlier days, and was probably brought up as one. Be that as it may, Buddhism was carried in his reign by missionaries to Mahishamandala, the south of Mysore, and Vanavāsa (Banavasi) in the north-west. These countries, which were beyond but bordering on the Maurya empire, were thus newly brought into connexion with the religion at that time. There is no evidence that it made much progress, but Rhys Davids has found mention in early Pali writings of Buddhist scholarship in Karnataka. Certain references also occur in inscriptions. One informs us that a Buddhist affixed a challenge to the main door of the palace at Talakad, the Ganga capital, in A.D. 247, claiming that no disputants would be able to stand up against him. But a Brahman took up the challenge, and, when the Buddhist denied the existence of the soul, refuted and overcame him, making him crouch down like a vanquished elephant. The Baṇa king in 338 is said to have been like Bodhisattva in compassion for all living things. A grant to a Buddhist by the Ganga king Madhava (357-370) has been obtained, the site of which was apparently near the old religious centre Avani, in Kolar District, and the donation was made for the benefit of a vihāra. As Pathak has pointed out, 'the Buddhist writer Taranatha, the Jaina writer Brahmanemidatta, and the Brahmanical writer Madhavacharya are all agreed in dating the final decline of Buddhism from the time when the illustrious authors Kumārilabhatta, Akalanka-deva, and Sankaracharya appeared in Southern India,' i.e. the 8th century (JRASBo xviii. [1894] 238). The victory of Akalanka the Jain over the Buddhists and their consequent banishment to Ceylon have been already mentioned. Still, even so late as 1055, a Buddhist viḥāra was erected in Belgāmi in the north-west, and a Buddhist sāvāsi, or nun, was living there in 1098, while a great Buddhist town named Kalavati is mentioned even in 1533. It is of interest to note that an effort has been quite recently made to revive Buddhism in Mysore by missionaries connected with the Buddhists of Burma and Ceylon. Two branches of the S. India Sakya Buddhist Society have begun work, one in the civil and military station of Bangalore in 1906, and one at the Kolar gold fields in 1909. There were at the time of the 1911 census 622 Buddhists, though only 10 were returned in 1901. The increase is due to converts. The religion seems to appeal especially to the Tamil-speaking artisans and middle classes in the localities named. There are no Jains at the gold fields. 7. Saivism and Vaisnavism. Brāhmanical Hinduism is principally associated with the worship of Siva and Visnu. No definite beginning can be assigned for these systems. They have existed from the earliest historical times. Both gods were generally recognized, while minor deities found a place as varied manifestations, female counterparts, or attendants of one or the other. They were sometimes combined under their names Hari and Hara. Hindus in 1911 numbered 5,340,908, or 92 per cent of the population. The common symbol under which Siva is worshipped is the linga, or phallus, a solid, round, stumpy pillar, fixed in the centre of a flat circular slab representing the yoni, but there is practically no consciousness of their significance, and the worship is free from anything indecorous. Facing the linga is the recumbent bull Nandi, the vehicle of Siva. But the god is also sculptured in anthropomorphic forms, bearing certain emblems or posing in particular attitudes. The spread of Śaivism in the south seems largely due to a teacher named Lakulisa (also written Nakulisa), who can be traced to the 1st cent., and was believed to be an incarnation of Siva. He was born in Kārohana (Kārvān in the Baroda State), and is mentioned in the Vāyu | and Linga Purānas. His system was that of yoga, or asceticism, which was followed by the Pasupatas, so called from Pasupati, a name of Siva. It was known as the Lākula-siddhānta, Lākulāmnāya, and Lākulāgama. His being sculptured as Siva with a club, which is the meaning of his name, suggests comparison with Hercules and his club. He had four disciples-Kusika, Gargya, Kaurusha, and Maitreya-who gave rise to four branches of the sect. The Lakula system was established at Mewar in Rajputana and other places in the north. In the south the Pallava kings of Kanchi had the bull, or Nandi, as their crest, and the khaṭvānga, or Siva's club, on their banner. The Mahavali, or Bāṇa, kings in the east of Mysore claimed to have made Paramesvara (or Śiva)-worshipped by all the three worlds, the lord of gods and demonstheir door-keeper, which probably means that they had erected a notable temple of Siva at the entrance of their capital. A Bana queen built the Siva temple at Nandi, at the foot of Nandidroog, before 806, and the Kālāmukhas, adherents of the Paśupata system, were at that period established on the hill and parts around. In the 8th cent. arose the great Saiva reformer Sankaracharya, who recognized the Pasupatas. He was the founder of the Smarta sect, and established his principal math, or monastery, in the west of Mysore, at Sringeri, the head of which is styled the jagad-guru, or priest of the world, and is widely acknowledged as a pope in the south. On the north-east of Mysore we have a record of the Nonambas or Nolambas, who were descendants of the Pallavas, dated in 943, which brings to notice a muninātha named Chilluka, in whom Lakulisa is said to have been born again, fearing lest his name and works should be forgotten. This points to a fresh revival of the system after some decline. In 1020 a Lakulīša appears at Melpāḍi in N. Arcot. He may be the same as the one to whom a grant was made in 1035 at Belgāmi, in N.W. Mysore, by the Chalukya king Jayasimha, for the PanchaLinga temple, which is described as the KālāmukhiBrahmachari-sthāna. The Kālāmukhas (or black friars) were exponents of the Lakulisa system, and they are explained to be a branch of the Saktiparshe, of the Muvarakoneya-santati of the Parvatavali. At the end of the 11th and during the 12th cent. there was a wider adoption of the Lakulisa system, under the Hoysala kings. The principal centres were Dorasamudra (Halebid), Arsikere and its neighbourhood, but especially Belgāmi. Here an eminent line of learned gurus who were Kālāmukhas is mentioned in connexion with the Kodiya-matha attached to the DaksinaKedaresvara temple. In 1162 it was visited by Bijjala, the Kalachurya king, who was a Jain. So impressed was he by the erudition of the high priest and the unstinted charities dispensed by the institution-food and medicine being given freely to all comers-that he added to its endowments. And, among other extensive praises, it is said to be a place where commentaries were made on the Lakula-siddhanta, the Patanjali, and other Yoga systems. Towards the close of the 13th cent. we are informed, in a record in Tiptur taluq, of apparently a new Lākula-samaya, which perhaps refers to some fresh features introduced into the system. At the same date grants were made to the PanchaLinga to the west of Chitaldroog. Below the Ankli-maṭha at this spot is a series of subterranean caves with special arrangements for yogāsana. Though in this form more a philosophic than a popular creed, it doubtless had its influence on the people in general. But in the middle of the 12th cent. took place the revival which resulted in the establishment of the Lingayat, Jangama, or ViraŚaiva religion. This was a revolt against Brāhmanism, and it still persists as the popular faith of the Kannada-speaking people. Basava, the prime minister at Kalyāna of the Kalachurya king Bijjala, whose sister the king had married, was the moving spirit of this reformation. He was an Aradhya Brahman of Bāgevāḍi in Bijapur District. He had refused to be invested as usual with the sacred thread, which involved adoration of the sun, and had then retired to Sangamesvara, where he was initiated in the tenets of the ViraSaiva creed. This, according to one account, was originally founded by five sages-Ghanṭakarna, Gajakarna, Renuka, Dāruka, and Viśvakarṇawho, in the present Kali age, acquired the names Ekorama, Panditarya, Revanasiddha, Marulasiddha, and Viśvārya. Their seats are at Kedarnath (in the Himalayas), Śrīśaila (Karnul District), Balehalli (in W. Mysore), Ujjini (on the MysoreBellary frontier), and Kasi (Benares). ChannaBasava, the son of one of Basava's sisters, is considered a joint promoter with his uncle of the Lingayat faith. Ekorāma is no doubt identical with Ekantada-Ramayya, who, in a record of the end of the 12th cent., is related to have signally defeated the Jains. He was a Saiva Brahman of Alande in Gulbarga District, and settled at Ablūr in Dharwar District, where, by means of a miracle, he gained his victory, certified by the king Bijjala, who was himself a Jain. The epithet before his name signifies that he had only one aim,' the worship of Siva. Finding Basava freely spending the public funds for his religion and putting his own adherents into all offices, the king interfered, and incontinently ordered two pious Lingayats to be blinded. This cost him his life, for he was poisoned or assassinated. His son resolved to avenge his death, and Basava fled to Ulavi on the west coast. It was besieged, and, when the place was reduced to extremity, Basava in despair threw himself into a well and was drowned. But, according to the Lingayats, he disappeared into the Linga at Sangamesvara. The new faith, however, rapidly spread, and within 60 years after Basava's death, or by 1228, it was embraced from Ulavi, near Goa, to Sholapur, and from Balehalli (in Kadūr District) to Sivaganga (Bangalore District), superseding that of the Jains, many of whose images and temples were adapted for Siva-worship. Virtually all the States in Mysore professed it, especially those in the north and west. The sthavara, or fixed linga, as an object of worship in a temple, was by it brought more home in the jangama, or movable linga, attached to the person. This is a small acorn-like black stone, enshrined in a silver reliquary suspended from the neck or bound on the arm. It is worn throughout life and buried with the body at death. The karma-marga, or way of rites and ceremonies, especially animal sacrifices, which promised salva |