Jain Journal 1974 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 41

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before the 56 feet tall image of wonderful execution came to shape. The date of installation is determined by Manjeswara Govinda Pai to be March 13, 983 A.D. It is estimated that for over 130 years the colossus stood all alone, without any surrounding structures or buildings in close vicinity. Gangaraja, whom we find mentioned in an inscription dated 1116-1117 A.D., constructed the surrounding pavilions that we see today.
JAIN JOURNAL
The colossus is 56 feet 6 inches in height, chiselled out of a living monolith of 'fine grey gneissic granite' on the hillock, Vindhyagiri, 3767 feet above sea level. The figure, for the size, is marvellously well proportioned, with broad shoulders, thin waist and square face, facing north; it stands utterly nude, in a posture of determined but easy contemplation. The legs are rather thick and stubby; a small rock reaching well above the knees is made to represent the ant-hill, while physically it supports the colossus. The suggestion of the ant-hill is given by the delineation of small snakes emerging from their cavities. Creepers spread over his legs and arms; the sage is one with wild nature, for practical intents inanimate. The countenance of the colossus is indeed an achievement, perhaps never surpassed in the world of art; for the gigantic proportions of the figure the face is executed with consummate dexiterity. Ordinarily such dimensions instil in the beholder a sense of bewildered amazement; with a conspicuous streak of awesome repugnance; but the face of Gommata is child-like-as charming, as innocent, as happy. A faint but evident smile shoots forth from the womb of disciplined serenity, suggesting sympathy with the sorrowing and struggling mankind and an absolute mastery over himself. The saint stands above the world, and no mortal shackle taints him. What can reach such heights? He is verily a victor, a 'Jina', a lone one, a 'Kevalin'. His nudity proclaims his detachment, his freedom from human passions and sentiments, social defilements and mortal limitations. He is sky-clad (digamabara); he is as free as the sky. The saint stands siff in a resolute posture; it speaks of the effort that is needed for emancipation. One who has his eyes set on kaivalya cannot afford to be indolent; it would have been grotesquely absurd were Gommata represented in a 'sukhāsīnamurti' posture. Says Zimmer : "The image of the released one seems to be neither animate nor inanimate, but pervaded by a strange and timeless calm. It is human in shape and feature, yet as inhuman as an icicle; and thus expresses perfectly the idea of successful withdrawal from the round of life and death, personal cares, individual destiny, desires, sufferings and events". As Dr. S. Srikantha Shastri says, "the bliss of kayotsarga and kaivalya radiates from the face".