________________
JAINA MEN OF ACTION
111 hat thus caused this god to be made with great effort ?1 In the same inscription we have a lengthy account of the great inage itself which we abstain from citing.
The above account of the setting up of the image of Gammateśvara as given in one of the inscriptions at Śravana Begoļa is repeated with a few additions and variations in sereral Kannada works like Bhujabaliśataka by Doddayya of Periyapattana (circa A.D. 1550), Bhujabalicarite by Pañcabāņa (A.D. 1614), Gommațeśvaracarite by Anantakavi (circa A.D. 1780), Rājāvaļīkathe by Devacandra (A.D. 1838), and in the Sthalapurāņa of Sravana Belgoļa.?
The late Mr. Narasimhacarya, who collated the above references to Gommateśvara in Kannada literature, opined that the great statute was built in A.D. 983.3 But Dr. Shama Sastry has shown, on the evidence of a work called Bāhubağcaritraśataka, attributed to Nemicandra, that the statue was constructed in A. D. 1028.4
Cāmunda Rāya also constructed a basadi on the Cikka betta or smaller hill at Śravaņa Belgoļa. Here, we may observe, his son Jinadēvaņņa, the lay disciple of Ajitasena, also caused to be made a basadi, " amidst the acclamation of all the people.” This is related in a record of about A. D. 995.6
It was Cāmunda Rāya who patronized Ratnākara, or Ranna, the well known Kannada author of Ajitanātha. purāna, Sāhasbhimārjuna, and Rannakanda. The first work
,1. E. C. II., 234, p. 98. See also ibid., Intr., p. 12. 2. Ibid., Intr., pp. 13-15. 3. Ibid., Intr., p. 15. 4. M. A. R. for 1928, 127-129. 5. E. C. II, Intr., 45 ; 122, p. 50. 6 Ibid., 121, p. 50.
