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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India Rşabhanātha, Chandraprabha and Mahāvira are to be seen at Naunia in Narsinghpur district (Bajpai 1975b). This trend was not only confined to central India, but was popular in south India also. There is a sixteen feet high rock-cut colossus of Neminatha, carved at Tirumalai in Tamil Nadu. It is dated to the 11th century (Nagaswamy 1975: Fig. 6). A number of Jaina temples belonging to the Hoysala period also have colossi in the shrines such as the Parsvanatha icons in the Parsvanātha basti at Chandragiri in Shravanabelgola and Parsvanatheshvara temple, and in the Archaeological Museum at Halebid. Apart from the well-known Bahubali icon from Shravanabelgola, there are two more colossal icons of Bahubali in Karnataka, one at Karkal and the other at Venur. The former is dated to 1431-32 CE, while the latter is dated to 1603-04 CE (Srinivasan 1975). A fourteen feet high image of Parsvanatha has been reported from Patancheruvu, Hyderabad district (Murthy 1963). Thus, it is clear that carving colossal icons was a very popular trend with the Jainas, which continued throughout the medieval period.
Donor figures
There are some devotee figures at Ellora lower caves and Ankai-Tankai, which appear to be donor figures. Some of these are with individual donative inscriptions below, while some, with their large size and significant position occupied in the panel, are quite distinct. Of the former are a male near large standing figure of Jina on the pillar in the hall of J15 at Ellora, a male near similar large standing Jina figure outside J13 at Ellora and a male and couple on the shrine doorway of Cave VI at Ankai-Tankai. In the case of J15, the figure to the right is seated facing the Jina with hands in añjali. He wears a necklace, has a beard and his hair is tied in a bun above the head and the inscription below him records that this image (of the Jina) was made by Sri Nagavarmma. Obviously, this devotee' is meant to be the donor Nagavarmma. Similarly, outside J13, there is a youthful male devotee kneeling down to the large Jina image with hands in anjali mudra, wearing a short lower garment, an uttariya draped across the shoulders and the head shown plain. The inscription below him records that this image of Santinatha was made by Sri Sohila brahmachari. This 'brahmachari' is apparently the devotee described above, his brahmachari status emphasised by his attire, plain head and lack of ornaments. On the pedyā of the stambha sakhā of shrine doorway in Cave VI at AnkaiTankai, there is a male to right and a couple to left, all standing and males with hands in anjali and female with right hand in a sort of varada mudra and left hand on the hip. The males have beards and hair tied in large buns on sides and all three are fully decked up, though they do not wear any crown. There is an inscription below each of these. These figures are repeated in the central compartment on the uttaranga, occupying the same position, male to right and couple to left, but here all three are seated with hands in anjali mudra. These are very clearly the donor figures, probably only of the doorway, as the entire doorway is structural.
The large figure of a male devotee seated facing Chakresvari in J20A at Ellora also appears to be donor as indicated by his placement in a separate niche and size though it does not carry any inscription. Similarly, a large male devotee riding an elephant and a female du votee above him, seated in Vāmalalitasana on a pedestal and hands in anjali mudrā to the right of Ambikā in Cave II and III at Ankai-Tankai could also be donors,
