[558] See Thurston, Castes and Tribes of southern India, s.v. vol. IV. pp. 236-291 and Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. XXIII. article Bijapur, pp. 219-1884.
[559] An inscription found at Ablur in Dharwar also mentions Ramayya as a champion of Śivaite monotheism. He is perhaps the same as Channabasava. The Lingâyats maintain that Basava merely revived the old true religion of Śiva and founded nothing new.
[560] They have also a book called Prabhuling-lila, which is said to teach that the deity ought to live in the believer's soul as he lives in the lingam, and collections of early Kanarese sermons which are said to date from the thirteenth century.
[561] The use of the Linga by this sect supports the view that even in its origin the symbol is not exclusively phallic.
[562] Their creed is said to have been the state religion of the Wodeyars of Mysore (1399-1600) and of the Nayaks of Keladi, Ikken or Bednur (1550-1763).
[563] At Kadur, Ujjeni, Benares, Śrîsailam and Kedarnâth in the Himalayas. In every Lingâyat village there is a monastery affiliated to one of these five establishments. The great importance attached to monastic institutions is perhaps due to Jain influence.