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directed him to use for anointment the little milk brought by a pious old woman in a gullakāyi, it instantly ran down all over the statue in streams and covered the hill. It is said that Gullakayajji or granny was the goddess Padmavati who, in order to break the pride of Camunda Raya at his great accomplishment, appeared at the time of the anointment in the guise of a poor old woman. According to another tradition she was the mythological Kushmandini. It is said that Camunda Raya got this image of Gullakayajji erected here and as mentioned above the origin of the name of the village is also attributed by some to this tradition.
On the summit of the hill stands the image of Gommatesvara in an open court surrounded by a battlemented verandah enshrining images of Jaina saints. This enclosure is again surrounded at some distance by a heavy wall, a good part of which is picturesquely formed by boulders in their natural position.
A traditional account of Gommata is given in an inscription of circa 1180 A.D. and is repeated with some additions and variations in the details in several literary works such as the Bhujabališataka, Bhujabalicarite, etc. The particulars mentioned about Gommata in the inscription are that he was the son of Purudeva, the first Tirthankara, and the younger brother of Bharata and that his name was Bahubali or Bhujabali. In a struggle for empire between the brothers, Bahubali won, but generously handed over the kingdom of the earth to the defeated elder brother and retired from the world in order to do penance. He thus became a 'Kevali' and attained such eminence by his victory over karma that Bharata erected at Paudanapura an image in his form. In course of time the region around the image became infested with innumerable kukkuta sarpas or cockatrices. The image afterwards became invisible to all but the initiated. But Camunda Raya having heard a description of it, set out with the desire of seeing it. Finding that the journey was beyond his power, he resolved to erect such an image himself at Sravana Belgola. An arrow shot by him from Candragiri struck a boulder on Indragiri, which appeared to him in the form of Gommata. With great effort Camunda Raya succeeded in getting this statue made under the supervision of the monk Aristanemi. The literary works mentioned above support this tradition but differ only in minor details.
Inscriptions definitely state that the statue of Gommata was caused to be erected by Camunda Raya, the minister of the Ganga king Rajamalla Satyavakya or Racamalla, whose reign began in 974 A.D. and ended about 984 A.D. Since according to tradition the consecration
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