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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 1300 TO 1800
(PART VI
times. Sedam, also in Gulbarga District, is another place where a number ot Jaina bastis are reported to contain similar sculptures of the same age. At Hampi also some Jaina sculptures are known to exist, So also at Sravanabelgola, Mudbidri, etc. At Venur a Jaina dharmaśālā is known to store a number of metal images of beautiful workmanship. Several places with Jaina bastis to which images were donated by devout Jainas mentioned in numerous inscrip tions are reported in the Epigraphia Carnatica volumes and the Mysore Archaeological Reports up to 1956.
Of these, a very early group of Jaina sculptures is found carved on the rock-surface at Anegondi on the northern bank of the Tungabhadra just opposite Hampi. Though they have been called 'crude' they are rather good examples of the art about the fourteenth century. The standing figures in the kāyotsarga-posture with the usual mukkudai (triple umbrella) above their heads are beautifully proportioned. The workmanship of one group is obviously different from that of the other and the one on the proper left is definitely a fine piece of sculpture. Its facial features are expressive of the inner calm, the shoulders are well-formed, the arms are beautifully worked and the portion below the waist is not without its points of interest. The attendant-figures in seated positions are also good studies with their finely-proportioned bodies and expressive gesture of hand and features.
Among the few examples of Jaina sculpture known from the west-coast areas, those from Haduvalli (Sangitapura) and Bhatkal may be noticed here. One of them is a metal figure of a Tirthankara from the former place, with an inscription of the fourteenth century. It has been identified as Tirthařkara Rşabha, on the basis of the seated figures with Gomukha on pedestal. The lion is, however, usually found in the representations of Mahāvīra. The pedestal is separate, and it is not known definitely whether it belongs to the figure. The inscription does not mention the name of the Tirthankara. The figure is seated in the paryarkasana and bears the srivatsa-mark on the chest. Probably the figure bears strands of hair falling on the shoulders, a characteristic of Adinātha. Behind the figure is an elaborately-worked prabhavali, enclosed within a beautiful makara-torana supported on either side by pillars with several details. Seventy-one Tirthankaras are represented on the prabhāvali,
? Klaus Fischer in Transactions of the Archaeological Society of South India, I, 1955,
P. 57.
2 Ibid., fig. 15.
3 R.S. Panchamukhi in Annual Report on Kannada Research in Bombay Province for 1939-40, pp. 91 ff., for the metal and stone sculptures from Haduvalli.
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