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231
BAHUBALI COLOSSI what and when is not stated (the language of this inscription is Tamil, but as 'regards the script, the first two words are in what is called Grantha' characters, and the last one is in the Vatteluttu' characters.
(iii) No. 179._“ Sri Camunda Raya caused to be made_" what and when is not stated. (This inscription is in Marathi langague and Nagari script).
These three inscriptions, which record the earliest references to the installation, clearly show that neither was the colossus called 'Gommata'(or 'Gommatesvara') nor could Camunda Raya have any such name at the time of the installation.
If therefore the colossus or for matter of that Camunda Raya was called 'Gommata' (or 'Gommatesvara'; neither at the time of the installation, nor perhaps till at least 993 A C.,1 when did the colossus then come to be called 'Gommata' (or 'Gommatesvara') and Camunda Raya 'Gommata' (or Gommata Raya") ?
A glance at the index of the Sravana Belgola inscriptions, (Epigraphia Carnatica, vol. II. Index, p. 13) will show in how many of them, has the colossus been called Gomata, Gomatadeva, Gomatesa, Gomatesvara, Gommata-jina, Gommata-natha, etc. Of these Nos. 73 and 125 (1118 A.C.) which are the earliest to contain this name, have Gommata-deva, and the same mention Camunda Raya as the Raya of the Gangas (i.e., the king of the Ganga dynasty) of yore, and not at all as 'Gommata Raya', though, be it noted, 'Gommata Raya' instead suits the metre exactly. From this I am tempted to conclude that the colossus had already become famous as 'Gommata' (or Gommata-deva), whereas Camunda Raya was not known to have had any such name, or if he had, the fact was quite forgotten. No. 234 of Sravana Belgola inscriptions (1180 A.C ) which calls the image by such name as Gommata-jina, Gommata-deva, Gommata-natha, Gommatesvara and also simply as Gommata, names Camunda Raya also as Gommata.2
1. Vide Supra.
2. (1) Gommata (i.e., Camunda Raya) thus caused this god (i..., the image of the god Bahubali) to be made ; (2) Was it not Camunda Raya, alias Gommata, who is an equal of Manu, that thus caused this god (i.e., this image of the god Bahubali) to be made with (great) effort ?'
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
