Jaina Art and Architecture Vol 02

SR No.: 011013
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Ghosh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 326
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 301

MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 1300 TO 1800
[PART VI
art there is nothing, perhaps, equal to these Kanara pillars for good taste.1 In the same strain Fergusson observes' 'Though not the grandest, certainly the most elegant and graceful objects to be found in Kanara belonging to the Jaina style of architecture are the stambhas, which are found attached to many of their temples." The mana-stambhas are tall pillars topped by a small pavilion in which is usually placed a caumukha with a Jaina figure carved on each of its four faces. The Brahmadeva-stambhas have in their pavilion-like top part a figure of Brahmadeva. In a Jaina temple a mana-stambha seems to have been an almost invariable feature. Examples of Brahmadeva-stambhas are found near the Gommata figures at Karkal (plate 254A) and Venur. A beautiful example of a mana-stambha is found at Guruvayankeri. Of a column, about 16.5 m. high, from Mudbidri (plate 254B), not belonging to either of these two categories, Smith approvingly quotes Walhouse: The whole capital and canopy are a wonder of light, elegant, highly decorated stone-work; and nothing can surpass the stately grace of these beautiful pillars, whose proportions and adaptations to surrounding scenery are always perfect, and whose richness of decorations never offends." Evidently, the Jainas of the late medieval period of the Deccan have contributed a remarkable addition to the already rich and fascinating repretoire of Indian architecture by the creation of these singularly beautiful stambhas.
GOMMATA STATUES
The colossi representing the saint Gommata, the son of the first Tirthan kara, occurring in Karkal and Venur are other examples of the striking artistic creations. Like the Sravanabelgola example, they are set on the top of hillocks and are visible for long distances around. The one at Karkal (plate 255) is made of solid block of gneiss and is about 12.5 m. high. Estimated to weigh about 80 tonnes, 'the figure is made to lean against a slab which reaches up to its wrists. There is a round pedestal which is sunk into a thousand-petalled lotus flower. The colossus stands on a platform of stones and is surrounded by a stone railing and two laterite enclosures... The legs and arms of the figure are entwined with vines (drākṣā creeper), On both sides of the feet a number of snakes are cut out of the slab against which the image leans.' The inscriptions on the side of the same slabs state that this image of Bahubali or Gommața-Jinapati was set up by a chief named Vira-Pandya, the son of
1 V. A. Smith History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, Oxford, 1911, p. 22.
2 Fergusson, p. cit., p, 80-81.
3 lbid., p. 81.
Smith, op. cit., p. 22, fig. 6.
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