Gommateshvara Commemoration Volume

SR No.: 012066
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Parshwanath Shodhpith Varanasi
Publication Year: 1981
Total Pages: 198
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Smruti_Granth & Articles
File Size: 8 MB

Page 67

Gommafes vara Commemoration Volume Thus S. Srikantha Sastri fixed the date as 907-908 A.D., A. Venkata Subbayya 978 A D., S. C. Ghoshal 980 A. D., M. Govind Pai“ and N. C. Sastri 981 A. D., S. R. Sharma," M. H. Krishna's and J. L. Jaini" 983 A, D, A. N. Upadhye 984 A. D.," and Shama Sastri and Hira Lal Jain 1028 A D.
We know for certain that the image was set up by Cāmundarāya who completed his Purāņa in 978 A D. and was the minister of Ganga Mārasimha II (961-974 A. D.) and Rācamalla IV (975-984 A. D.) and whose son Jinadevan built a temple about 995 A. D. We also know that Ācārya Ajitasena of the Senagana, the family preceptor of Cāmuqdarāya presided over the consecration of this image-- the same guru had guided the Ganga King Mārsimha II in performing Sallekhanā in 974 A. D., and probably also presided over the consecration of the temple built by Jinadevan about 995 A D. The poet Ranna, in his Ajitanāthapurāņa (993 A.D.) claims to have been a protege of Cāmundarāya. And, Nemicandra Siddhānta-Cakravarti, who owned Indranandi (939 A.D.), Kanakanandi, Abhayanandi and Viranandi (circa 950 A. D.) as his gurus, and who wrote his Trilokasāra in 973 A.D., assisted at the consecration of the Bahubali image, and specifically mentioned in his Gommațasāra that Gommațarāya (Camundarāya) had set up the Dakşiņa-Kukkuța-Jina (The Bahubali colossus) on the Vindhyagiri. All these synchronisms clearly point to a period from about 950 to 995 A.D. for the principal actors in these drama, namely Cāmundarāya, Ajitasena and Nemicandra. Moreover, since Camu darāya makes no mention of the image in his Purāņa (978 A.D.), nor Nemicandra in his Trilokasāra (973 A.D.), it is plausibly inferred that the image was set up sometime after 978 A.D. On the other hand, since Ranna speaks of its existence in 993 A. D. and Amitagati (993-1016 A. D.) utilised in his Sanskrit Pancasangraha (1016 A. D.), Nemicandra's Gommafasāra which contains a definite reference to the image, the latter must have been erected sometime before 993 A.D. The time limits are thus narrowed to 978-993 A.D.
The scholar who advocated the 907 A.D. date, ignored all historical considerations and made the sole basis of his assumption an inscription" from Cikka Hanasoge, which bears no date but is conjecturally assigned to circa 910 A. D. This short record contains the names of Ereya, presumably a ruler, Kalneledeva, a guru described as the moving Tirtha, and Gommaţadeva, described as the fixed or immobile Tirtha or sacred place. There is nothing in the record to identify the first two or to fix its date, yet presurning the ruler to be identical with Ereya, the Ganga King (c. 907-913 A. D.), the date of the erection of the Gommaţa image has been fixed as 907 A. D. Apart from the fact that this date is impossible for historical reasons, as discussed earlier, a ruler named Ereya, the father of Vişnuvardhana Hoysala, and a guru named Kalneledeva of the Surastha-gana, are known to have belonged to about the end of the 11th century A.D." Hence, in all probability the inscription in question belongs to that period and not to the beginning of the 10th century, and is thus irrelevant for our purpose.