The incident is said to have occurred in 1130 A.D. A grant from the state seems to have been made to his family by the successor of the deceased, in as much as he had fulfilled his vow, a thing which corroborates the view that such public instances of self-sacrifice were rare, but were held in high esteem and hence encouraged by the authorities.

Inscriptions Nos. 5 and 27 of Arkalgud Taluq7l disclose the self-destruction of two persons on the deaths of their respective masters, the Ganga King Nitimarga, who lived about 915 A.D., and Satyavakya Kongunivarman, lord of Nandagiri, who also lived about 915 A.D.

In the case of the former a faithful friend and follower, Racheya by name, immolated himself by entering fire; and in the case of the latter, Babiyamma, probably a woman of the royal household entered the fire. The inscriptions in the Epigraphica Carnatitika disclose two kinds of upright secreted in honor of the departed. One is Vira- 95sana,and the other is Virgal. The sculpture on the pillars consisted of the deities worshipped by a particular family. Some times, the heroic way in which the persons destroyed them selves was also depicted on the stones, as is evident from the following:

'And on the pillar they became united with Lakshmi and with Garuda.'72

The introduction to the volume states that 'the sculpture on the pillar points unmistakably to suicide, being all figures of men with swords cutting off their own arms and legs, and even their heads'.73

These sculptures disclose some striking instances of self-destruction, where great heroism and strength of mind were display ed. Inscription No. 112 of the Belur Taluq,74 which is dated 1220 A.D., states that, on the death of King Ballala, his minister and general, Prince Kuvara-Lakshma, who had been brought up by the King as his own son, and was on intimate terms with him, destroyed himself, along with his wife, Suggala Devi. It can be conjectured from the description engraved on the pillar that the couple mounted the Vira-Sasana and cut their bodies limb after limb, and thus immolated themselves.