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JAINA ANTIQUARY.
[Vol. I Svetāmbara pantheon, though Pārsvanātha is with them occasionally represented in a similar position "1.
The question naturally arises, as to how these huge images were moved to their present place. « The task of carving a rock standing in its place had it even been twice the size, the Hindu mind never would have shrunk from ; but to move such a mass up the steep smooth side of the hill seems a labour beyond their power, even with all their skill in concentrating masses of men on a single point," says Fergusson. Yet the fact remains that at least at Karkal the statue with its immense proportions was moved up a smooth and steep rook nearly 800 feet high. According to tradition, it was raised on to a train of twenty iron carts furnished with steel wheels, on each of which 10,000 propitiatory cocoanuts were broken and covered with an infinity of cotton; it was then drawn by legions of worshippers up an inclined plane to the platform on the hill-top, where it now stands. 3
Folk songs of South Kanara also throw some light upon this point, and seem to contain the soul of truth within their legendary exterior. They ascribe the erection of all the three statues to the familiar devil Kalkuda :
The king of Belur and Belgula sent for Kalkuda the stone mason of Kallatta Mārnād (N. E. of Mangalore). He put the thread on his shoulder to let people know his caste, and held up an umbrella He made sharp his adze and put it on his shoulder. He made sharp his chisel and put it in a bag. He made sharp his axe and put it on his shoulder. He carried a cord and a pole for measuring. He dressed himself in his dressing room, and then he dressed himself again. "I am going to the kingdom of Belgula," he said to his wife. He reached Belgula where he ascended twelve steps of stone. He passed by the gate. He passed by a painted chāvadi. He passed by a pillar of precious stone, and a large yard. There the king sat down on his throne with
1. Fergusson, op. cit., pp. 72, 73 no. 3 ; Ep. Car, II Introd., pp. 12-1.
2.
ş. Thurston, The Castes and Tribes of Southern India II, pp. 422-23
