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APRIL, 1981
inscriptions in old Kannada, Marathi and Tamil stating that Camunda Raya got the image made and that Ganga Raja got the suttalaya or the surrounding buildings constructed.
The mantapa or pillared hall in front of Gommata is decorated with nine well-carved ceilings. Eight of them have figures of the aşta-dikpälakas or regents of the eight directions, while the central one has in the middle a fine figure of Indra holding a kalaśa or water vessel for anointing Gommata. The ceilings are artistically executed and considering the material used, namely, hard granite, the work redounds to the credit of the sculptors. From the inscription in the central ceiling it may be inferred that the hall was caused to be erected by the minister, Baladeva, in the early part of the 12th century.
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The Kannada, Marathi and Tamil inscriptions engraved on either side of the image immediately below those of Camunda Raya state that the enclosure around Gommata was caused to be made by Ganga Raja, the general of Visnuvardhana Hoysala. The cloisters in this enclosure enshrine a large number of beautiful images of the Tirthankaras, yaksi Kusmandini and Bahubali or Gommata. Most of them are of high class Hoysala art. Many of these images bear votive inscriptions on their pedestals and there are name boards fixed over these images. The twentyfour Tirthankaras are: (1) Adinatha, (2) Ajitanatha, (3) Sambhava, (4) Abhinandana, (5) Sumatinatha, (6) Padmaprabha, (7) Suparsvanatha, (8) Candraprabha, (9) Puspadanta, (10) Sitalanatha, (11) Sreyansa, (12) Vasupujya, (13) Vimalanatha, (14) Anantanatha, (15) Dharmanatha, (16) Santinatha, (17) Kunthunatha, (18) Aranatha, (19) Mallinatha, (20) Munisuvrata, (21) Naminatha, (22) Neminatha, (23) Parsvanatha, (24) Vardhamana.
Some of the above Tirthankaras are however not represented in the group.
from A Guide to Sravana-Belgola/3rd revised edition, 1953/pp. 7-15 Courtesy Department of Archaeology, Government of Mysore
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