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Process and Models of Translation: Cases fromMedieval Kannada Literature 121Jainism but was a wide spread practice among other sectarian groupsas well, we can look at Vīraśaivism. If we consider the cases of theNāyanārs of Tamil Nadu and the Vīraśaiva Śaranas of Karnataka andAndhra Pradesh, the hagiographies depicting the life-stories of thesesaints were as sacred as, if not more than, the Purānas depicting thesixty-four līlās of Śiva. In Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, thehagiographies of these saints were written not only before thecompilation of the Śiva-purāna but also have remained as popularas, if not more popular than, the Purānas. Let us look at the case ofCiruttondar, a Nāyanār among the sixty-three saints from TamilŚaivism whose story has been retold several times in Tamil,Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit and in literary, popular and folkversions.Ciruttondar ‘little servant’ who is called Siriyāla in Kannadaand Telugu, Sirāl Seth in Marathi and Seth Sagun Shah in Gujarati,was historically known as Paranjyōti. He was the Commander-in-Chief for the Pallava king Narasimha Varma. He is said to have beenresponsible for the fall of Vatapi, the capital of the Chalukya kingPulikeshi II in 642 C.E. Though rudimentary versions of his life arerevealed in verses composed by Sundarar (c 850 C.E.) andNambiyāndār Nambi (c 10 th cent. C.E.), it was Śēkkilār (1064 C.E.)who wrote the first detailed hagiography of Ciruttondar. Nearlytwenty retellings of his story could be seen in Kannada and Telugu.At least one text in Marathi and an oral version in Gujarati have beenreported. In addition, in Karnataka there is a vow (vrata) known assiriyāla-settiya-vrata. There are also folk versions of the ritual inKarnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The tellings and renderings of thestory of Ciruttondar in Tamil come to an end with Śēkkilār.However, the Kannada and Telugu hagiographers provide multiplerenderings of the story during the subsequent period. As Vīraśaivismgradually spread over Maharashtra, the Marathi renderings of theepisode came into existence. In addition, the folk versions of the