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Gommateswara Mahamastakabhishek : AUnique 1000th Year Event
The 58 feet and 8 inches (17.9 metres) high Gommateswara colossus of Lord Bahubali atop the Indragiri hill in tiny town of Sravanbelgola in Chennayapatna taluka of Hassan district of Karnataka is the poem in stone. A masterpiece of craftsmanship, it has become symbolic of the best of inconography.
The Imperial Gazeteer praised the colossus as a 'wonder of the world'. Duke of Wellington (later Sir Arthus Wellesly and Governor General of India) who passed through southern parts of Mysore during his conquest in the south was greatly impressed by this gigantic and artistic statue. The distinguished archaeologist Fergusson had all praises for this lofty monolith beautiful piece of sculpture.
Sh. Satish Kumar Jain
One and all of the thousands of Indian and foreign visitors who come to visit daily this lofty statue of great serenity invariably express at its sight "Marvellous !", "Magnificent !", "Unimaginable !".
Carved out of a single rock on the summit of Vindhyagiri hill, locally known as Indragiri or Dodda Betta in Kannada i.e. the larger hill, the statue is in fine grained light grey granite stone, which is known for its hardness and durability. The hill is 3347 feet high from main sea level and 470 feet high above the plain at its feet. It is the highest monolith statue of this beauty and great serenity in the world. Even though the Buddha images at Bamiyan in Afghanistan are 120 to 175 feet high and there is yet another 84 feet high statue of Lord Rishabhadeva, father of Bahubali and first Jain Tirthankar among the 24 of the present cycle, known as Bawangaja at Chulgiri hill in Satpura range, 8 kms. from a place called Barwani in West Nimar district of Madhya Pradesh, and the image of Rameses II in Egypt is probably near to the height of Gommateswara statue, they all lack in that fineness of chieselling and divinity. They are supported too. The freestanding Gommateswara statue is unique for its divine smile on the face, highly impressive body fiture and height.
Dr. Anand K. Coomaraswamy, an eminent painter, art critic and writer from Sri Lanka has referred to the Gommateswara statue in his book on Indian and Indonensian Art as 'one of the largest freestanding images in the world in the serenity of Kayotsarga undisturbed by the serpents about his feet, the ant-hills rising to the thighs and the growing creepers reaching the shoulders'.
Another foreign writer Jack Firegan speaks of the image as "a colossus statue of a great man of the Jain faith", and "a remarkable example of the latter type of sanctuary at Vindhyagiri".
Appreciating the statue, Boppanna, a great Kannada poet of 12th century A D. wrote in his verse, which has been inscribed in epigraph of the same century (cir 1180 A. D.) near the entrance of Suttalaya at Indragiri, "when an image is very lofty it may not have beauty; when possessed of loftiness and real beauty it may not have supernatural power; but loftiness, real beauty and mighty supernatural power have very well united in this image of Lord Bahubali making it worthy of worship in its glorious form".
According to Jain scriptures Rishabhadeva or Adinath ruled over Ayodhya. He gave to the people the art of asi (swordsmanship for defence), krishi (agriculture), vanijya, (barter and commerce), vidya (literature and arts), and shilpa (crafts). He also evolved a social order for organised and better living of the
आचार्य रत्न श्री वेशभूग जी महाराज अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ
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