Page Text
________________
No. III ]
.... JAINA ART IN SOUTH INDIA----
-
----
---47.
from about 983 A. D., 1432 A, D., and 1604 A. D. All are set on heights of more or less prominence, visible from a considerable distance around; and despit their formalism command respectful attention by their enormous mass and expression of dignifieķ serenity. That of Karkal is said to be 41 ft., 5 inches high, 101 ft. thick, weighing about 80 tons. This is one of those cotóssäl statues that are found in this part of the country," says Walhouse, "statues truly Egyptian in size, and unrivalled through out India as detached works ......... Nude, cut from a single mass of granite, darkened by the monsoons of centuries, the vast statue stands upright, with arms hanging straight, but not awkwardly, down the sides in a posture of somewhat stiff but simple dignity."
This figure of Gommata is indeed known only in South India, and statues of that size are very rare elsewhere. 4 Gommata, Bāhubali, or Bhujabali is supposed to have been the son of the first Tirthankara Vrishabha, who attained salvation in that position of Kāyotsarga. His feet are entwined with weeds and Kukkuta. sarpas. On the Chandragiri Hill at Sravana Belgoļa is also another statue that of Bharata, brother of Bălubali, of great size, broken below the knees, get standing erect: "
“A statue solid set
And moulded in colossal calm." In the Jaina cave at Bādāmi a similar figure is seem which, in the opinion of Fergusson, is much older (c: 600 A. D.) than the three great monoliths, but represents the same individual—the ideal ascetic who stood in meditation until the ant-hills arose at his feet and creeping plants grew round his limbs. “This Gomata, Gummata or Dorbali,, he also says, “has no prominent place in the Cl. Hultzech, Jain Colossi in South India, Ep. Ind. VII, pp. 108-12. Ep. Car.
II, Introd., p. 15. 2. Cf. Fergusson, A History of Indian and Eastern Architecture IỊ pp 72.8;
Buchanan, Travels III, p. 83. 3. Cf. Sturrock, Sonth Canara I, p. 86 ft. . 4. At Nara in Japan is a bronze statue of Buddha 60ft: high; and at 'Bāmiyán, a
stone image, also of Buddha, 173 ft., high. See, Carpentier, Buddhism and Christianity, p. 15; Nariman: The Indian Daily Mail Annual, 1926, p. 12. Cf. At Gwalior, Smith, op. cit,, pp. 268-70,
9.4
11
| SR No. | 529551 |
| Book Title | Jain Siddhant Bhaskar |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jain Siddhant Bhavan |
| Publisher | Jain Siddhant Bhavan |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 417 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Classification | Magazine, India_Jain Siddhant Bhaskar, & India |
| File Size | 10 MB |