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Why are the Bahubali Colossi called
•Gommata'? * THERE are threel Digambara Jaina colossi in South India, all
1 of which were raised to the memory of Bahubali, the son of the first Tirthankara Sri Rsabhanatha, by his second wife, Sunanda Devi. These represent him as standing upright in pratimayoga just before his attainment of perfection. The striking thing about these colossi is that all the three are universally known by the name of 'Gommata'; 'Gomata', 'Gomatta', 'Gummata ',% or with an affix 'Isvara' added in honour of the divinity of Bahubali, thus, 'Gommatesvara' etc., amongst Jainas as well as non-Jainas, as if they were the images, not of Bahubali but of some other perfected being of the Jaina mythology known only as 'Gommata' etc. (or Gommatisvara etc.). It is the purpose of this paper to investigate the reasons why and how these colossi of Bahubali came to be known by the novel appellation which Bahubali certainly did not have.
It may be noted here that Bahubali had no such name for himself as Gommata etc., nor, in fact, any other name, for none of the other names 'Bhujabali', 'Dorbali' etc., by which he has been called, is any distinct alter nomen. They are identical in sense with one another, the words 'Bahu', 'Bhuja', 'Doh' etc. signifying one and the same thing (bahu = bhuja = doh = arm). It may also be noted here that the earliest of the three colossi, viz, the one installed by Camunda Raya (or Cavunda Raya) at
# Roprint of the article which appeared in the "Indian Historical Quarterly" of Calcutta, June 1928.
1. The three colossi stand at the three following places: (1) 'Sravana Bolgola' in Mysore State, installed in 981 A.C. : height 57 ft.; (2) Karkala' in South Kanara district, installed in 1432 A.C.: height 42 ft.; and (3) · Venur' in South Kanara district, installed in 1603 A.C.: height 35 ft. All these colossi belong to the Digambara' sect of the Jainas.
2. Gommata, Gomata, Gomatta, Gummata are variants of the same Ramo, of which the first seems to be the earliest form.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
