Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 389

DACEMBER, 1873.)
ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE.
358
ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE AT KÂRKAĻA, IN THE SOUTH
KANARA DISTRICT.
BY A. C. BURNELL, Esq., M.C.S., M.B.A.S., &o. There is every reason to believe that the "May the worship-worthyt statue of BÅhuJains were for long the most numerous and balin consecrated here by Sri Virapândyesin, most influential sect in the Madras Presidency, son of Bhairavendra, of the Lunar race, on the but there are now few traces of them except in bright 12th lunar day, Wednesday, in Phålguna the Maisur and Kanars Country; and in the of the cycle) year Virodhyâdikrit, I in the SaSouth Kanara district, though still numerous, ka prince's year 1353, be victorious !" they are fast becoming extinct. Their shrines The remains of the sloka which commenced are still kept up in South Kanara, and the priest. the inscription show that this statue was prohood, members of which are distinguished by the bably consecrated by advice of Virapandya's title Indra,' are numerous if not well informed g uru, by name Lalitakîrti. Its date=1432 A.D.
The accompanying plate is from a photograph Vîrapândya seems to have been a Jain feuda of one of the most famous colossal Jain statues intory of Vidyanagara, at Ikkêri above the ghâţs Southern India, which is at Karkala, in South but his successors seem to have been bigoted Kanara. It is on the top of a hill, a rounded Lingaits, and to have much contributed to the mass of gnoiss of some elevation, and is visible decay of the Jains in South Kanara. from several miles' distance. The block from
Graul (in his Reise, I. p. 196) mentions this which it has been cut was evidently taken from
statue and describes it accurately, but omits the sonthern slope of the hill, and, as the figure mention of the inscription. is 41 feet 5 inches high and weighs about 80 In the same position on the opposite side of tong, it almost rivals the Egyptian statues in the statue, there are a few words of a shorter ingize, though its artistic merit is not nearly so scription still visible, but when I was there, in great. The date is given in an inscription near August 1872, the heavy rain had covered the the right foot of the statue, and the native is (in stone with moss and slime, and I could not make the plate) represented leaning against it. It is out more than a few words to the same effect in Sanskrit but in the Halakannada character, as the inscription already given. and is only partly legible, owing to the exfolia The purpose of these colossal statues has tion to which gneiss is peculiarly subject when been questioned, but I am not aware of any exexposed to the weather. It runs :
planation having been given. I would suggest Line 1. Sri.................. ikhya
the following. The Jain saints are said to have 2. te .................. (? mand)aleśvarah 11 been giants in side according to the fabulous 3. yo 'bhůl Lalitaki.
stature of men in the ages in which they lived, 4. rtyakhyas tanmunîndropade
but which has been, the Jains say, gradually 5. sataḥll Svasti Śrisakabhupati
decreasing. Bahubalin as a son of Vrishabha. 6. trisaravahni(n) dau virodhya
nátha, the first Tirthankara, is thus assumed 7. dikridvarshe phålgunasau
to be of enormous height. Now in Southern 8. myəvåradhavalasridva
India thu statues of the Jain saints vary in 9. dasitithau śrisoma.
size,ll corresponding with the height assigned nyayabhairavendratant
in the Puråņas, and thus where temples are 11. jasrivirapând yeáinâ niya).
dedicated to an earlier saint the statue is ne12. maryapratima 'tra bâ.
cessarily left exposed; as to enclose it in a cell, 13. hubalino jiyât pra
as is done in the Hindu and most Jain temples, 14. tishthâpitâ Sakavarsha
would involve a greater expense than a small sect 15. 1353 Áripând yarảya.
could afford, especially as the Jains are not very • My corrections and additions are marked by ( ).
The legend anys that he was so absorbed in meditation
in a forest that climbing plants grew over him. (See the Niyams or nems is used in South Kanars to express plate.) worship' or 'religious ceremony.'
There was, some years ago, a complete set of statues The Jains alter slightly the Hindu names of cycle of the Tirthankarus thus marked by gradation in sise, at years and similar words.
the Jain temple of Tirupatikanam, near Conjerersm.