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JAIN JOURNAL
Patan in Saurashtra.22 The typical representation of the ant-hill and the snakes near the feet is noteworthy. A tree spreads its branches over the head and fills up the top part of the relief sculpture. Brahmi and Sundari are not shown. In Digambara shrines all over India, many late bronze figures of Bahubali do not show two sisters.
A stone sculpture of Bahubali from Devgadh is preserved in a Jaina collection in Delhi.23
A big black stone sculpture of Bahubali from Patancheree, Andhra Pradesh, is now preserved in the State Archaeological Museum at Hyderabad (A. P.) 24 The two sisters standing by the side of Bahubali are depicted not as Jaina nuns but as two beautiful princesses. To make the whole composition well-balanced, the artist has introduced two prominent roundels of long creepers, on two sides of the head of Bahubali. Figures of Vidyadharas are inserted in these roundels, possibly to suggest that Bahubali has now attained kevala-jñāna. The sculpture is a fine specimen of art showing Calukyan influence, and assignable to c. 11th century A.D.
In the ceiling of the front porch of the sabhāmandapa of the Vimala Vasahi, at Abu, is narrated, in miniature reliefs, the whole story of Bharata and Bahubali, including the scene of the latter's penance and kevalajñāna. The mandapa dates from 12th century and was erected by a minister of Kumarapala.
A beautiful metal image of Bahubali, reported to have come from a field at Sravana Belgola, is preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. The figure stands on a circular disk and is 20 inch high. A creeper, done in high relief, and consisting of meandering stems and leaves entwines his legs, thighs and arms. The hair is combed back in almost parallel rows, and the curled locks are placed on the back and across the shoulders. The face is ovaloid but full and powerfull neck is deeply set. The long arms, drooping from powerful broad shoulders follow the rhythm of the body. The modeling of the figure is of excellent quality and early date, assignable to c. 8th-9th century A.D.
22 Ibid., fig. 4. 28 Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari has published some more images of Bahubali,
from North India, in one of the issues of the East and West, 24 See, Prachya Pratibha, op.cit., fig. 2.
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