Jain Journal 1985 04

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

Page 50

150
JAIN JOURNAL
It was past first quarter of the night. All the pilgrims were asleep in their camps. Only the Acarya was out side seated in deep meditation on a white stone slab. At midnight he ended the meditation when he heard some one speaking to him,
“Drop the idea of proceeding any further. Lord Gommatesvara is highly pleased with the devotion of the pilgrims. Let the valiant Camundarai throw a golden arrow from the mountain Candragiri on Indragiri. The image of the Lord will be visible where the arrow will hit the mountain.”
The Acarya narrated what he had heard to Camundarai. Camundarai then bowing his head at the feet of Bahubali threw the golden arrow. The arrow struck a huge slab of stone. As it struck, the large chunk of the slab fell with a thunderous sound and the head of the image of Lord Gommatesvara became visible. All pilgrims began to shout, “Hail Bahubali ! Hail Gommatesvara !" The news spread like wild fire that the image of Gommatesvara had come up in the Vasati of Sravana Belgola. Visitors started to pour in. Camundarai engaged his men and soliders to cut the stone and level the ground. Messengers were despatched to king Raimalla informing him of this wonderful event. He was also requested to send famous sculptors for the work.
It appeared as if there had started a great work of construction at Sravana Belgola. Many workers were engaged in cutting and levelling the ground. Master sculptors came and chiseled out the image from the frame. But Camundarai and his mother Kalaldevi were not satisfied. They offered gold equal to the weight of the stone to the sculptors who would make it still more beautiful. They began to work again with a new zeal. They removed more stone from the creeper, stone lying in between hands and feet and got their reward. Still Camundarai was not satisfied. He again offered, this time not gold, but diamonds equal to the stone chiseled out from the image to make it still more attractive. They again started work but their chisels failed to move. So they laid down their chisels and accepted defeat. They reported it to Camundarai and said,
“We mortals cannot lay our hands on the image made by the gods themselves. We have not made this image we have only cleaned it of the extra stone attached to it. No mortal can ever make such an image."
Camundarai accepted their verdict and gave them whatever they wanted. The 57 feet high image of Lord Gommatesvara was before them in its full glory. A glowing halo was visible around the image. Whoever looked at it felt immense joy and happiness. The changing hue of morning