________________
94
THE JAINA GAZETTE. the artist. It is larger than any of the statues of Rameses in Egypt and it is more impressive both on account of its commanding position on the brow of the hill overlooking the wide stretch of plain and of its size. It attracted the attention of the late Duke of Wellington when, as Sir A. Wellesley, he commanded a division at the siege of Seringapatam. He, like all those who followed him, was astonished at the amount of labour such a work must have entailed, and puzzled to know whether it was a part of the hill or had been moved to the spot where it now stands. The height of the image may be put down at 57 feet. The following dimensions are very interesting =
Inches.
Total height to the bottom of the ear Breadth across the shoulders Length of the foot
middle finger
fourth finger do. great toe
do.
It is impossible to overestimate the sublimity and grandeur of the image of Sri Gommatesvara for at the height of its massive conception and perfection of art, if defies all description even as it does any imitation of it. Hence at best we can have only a flash-light view of the Image through words. Nothing short of a pious pilgrimage to the Sacred feet of Sri Gommatesvaraswami can give an adequate idea of what he is at the sanctified top of Vindhyagiri.
According to Jaina tradition, as may be seen from treatises like the Rajavali-kathe and Muniuamsabhyudaya the venerable image of Sri Gommata at Belgola was formerly worshipped by Rama and Ravana, as also by the latter's wife Mandodari. It is also said that Rama and Sita brought the image from Lanka and installed it on the larger hill. But from the inscriptions on the hill one is led to conclude that Chamunda-Raya had the statue of Gommata made. Inscriptions numbered 234 and 254 give clear expression to this statement. We have further synchronous records Nos. 175, 176 and 179 in Kannada, Tamil and Marathi
languages respectively engraved at the sides of the image itself Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
