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THE FOURTEEN-FOLD PATH TO FREEDOM
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Rishabha himself is depicted as an arhat (or arahant, literally destroyer of his (inner) enemies) with three umbrellas above his head. Three umbrellas means that he is sovereign (has knowledge and conimand) over three worlds: the Middle World (including the earth), the lower worlds and the higher worlds. The best artistic accomplishments in this style are found on the same rock as Bahubali. Taken as a whole this rock can be seen as a temple. On the backside of the same boulder we find a female devotee, in sitting posture with hands joined (photo 16).
The difference between men and women can not be seen from their hair style, but only from the contours of the breasts, as common in Indus art. This style of art can also be seen on the other hill of Śravana Belagola, “the hill where pious people die,” now called Chandragiri after Emperor Chandragupta Maurya who lived and died there.
One of the Indus seals from Harappa looks like a replica of this place – which again would indicate that this South Indian culture is older than that of Harappa in Pakistan. The same form of art is found in most rock Jinas at remote places in the province of Tamil Nadu (Southeast of Śravana Belagola, which is in Karnataka), and is represented by engravings or relief carvings of the Tīrthamkara Suparsvanāth (the seventh), Adināth or Rishabha (the first) and Bāhubali, Rishabha's favorite son described earlier in this book. These signs of the oldest culture in India are now threatened by quarries, which transform sacred rocks into slabs and rubble.
In earlier millennia a great deal of rock art may already have been destroyed by volcanic activity and earthquakes. But the two-storied temple on the Vindhyagiri, which was built on the bedrock, has been preserved. The surrounding structures have collapsed and rolled down the hill. Perhaps there was an ancient effort to save the Key Indus Rock and to keep it in its place, because masons seem to have been working on it. The Bāhubali temple was constructed much later, and in such a way that its roof has destroyed half
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