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Shravan Belgoda is a very old place of Jain pilgrimage. It has been known around ever since the third century. Chamundray of the Gang dynasty got a gigantic icon of Bahubali sculpted on the Indragiri hill in 981 A.D. This collosal icon, about 60 feet in height and carved out of a single rock, is one of the stupendous achievements of Indian sculpture. The entire artistic Jain Kanchi: Tirupati Kunnaram structure is executed in strict accordance with the tenets of Jain iconography. There is a temple at its feet, the walls of which are adorned with beautiful paintings. The library here has some rare manuscripts among other books. But the rarest amongst all are the nine exquisite images of Lord Mahavir, each about two inches and a half in height, made out of different jewels. Here I had a rare opportunity of meeting a Jain monk Charukirti Bhattarak who is a great scholar.
Jain Kanchi: Tirupati Kunnaram
There is a small village on the bank of the river Vegvati. It is about 12 miles away from Kanchi. The village is known as Jain Kanchi. It is a place of pilgrimage for the Digambars. Beautiful paintings of various scenes from the lives of Lord Mahavir and other Tirthankars, as also scenes from the lives of Krishna and from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are portrayed on the ceiling of the rang mandap or outer parlour of the temple. The style of the paintings has close parallels with that of the ones in Sinhgiri or Sigiriya in Shri Lanka and some links with the ones in Ajanta. These paintings belong to the fourteenth century or the first phase of the empire of the Vijaynagar. Some of them seem to belong to 16th or 17th century. The paintings are characterized by the portrayal of tall and lush green trees, simple but deftly executed figures, sparce but apt ornamentations and bold lines. The colours used are white, black, red, chalk ochre, teraverte and yellow ochre.
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Jain Kashthapat Chitra: 23
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