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Śramaņa, Vol 54, No. 10-12/October-December 2003
image evocative of the ethos of self-sacrifice and ahimsā preached by the Jinas. It is further believed that Bāhubali perhaps was the first to have propounded no-war policy by preferring duel to battle between the armies to avert violence and killing of war. The entwining creepers and the figures of scorpions, lizards and snakes on the body of Bahubali perhaps also symbolise the intimate relationship between man and nature and their rhythmic coexistence. The Bāhubalī images are suggestive also of the elevation of a Man (Kevalin) to the point of becoming an object of worship.
The earliest reference to the fight between Bharata and Bahubali is noticed in the Paumacariya of Vimala Sūri (AD. 473), the Vasudevahindi and the Avaśyaka-niryukti (c. early sixth century A.D.)." The Paumacariya, although alluding to the renunciation of Bāhubali and his attainment of kevala-jñāna, does not mention the details concerning creepers, reptiles etc. that crept on his body. The detailed account of the tapas of Bāhubalī is narrated in the literary works of the southern Jainism, from seventh century A.D. onwards, namely the Padmapurāņa of Ravişeņa (A.D. 676), the Harivaṁsa purāņa of Jinasena of Punnāta-sangha (A.D. 783), the Adipuräņa (Mahāpurāņa) of Jinasena of Pñcastūpānvaya (after A.D. 837), and also the northern works such as the Trişaștiśalākāpuruşacaritra of Hemacandra (c.mid 12th century A.D.) and the Caturvimśatika Jina Caritra of Amara Candra Sūri? (13th century A.D. - 70.367-396) which invariably refer to the meandering and entwining vines and serpents. The association of deer and elephants, hawks and sparrows, and lizards and scorpions with Bahubali is also envisaged by these texts.'
The antiquity of Bāhubali images dates back to c.late sixth or early seventh century AD. Then on Bāhubali was a popular subject of depiction as well as adoration throughout the subsequent cnturies in almost all the regions and in both the Svetāmbara and Digambara traditions. The present paper deals with the landmarks of Bāhubali images in Karnataka. In this connection four main points are to be noted (i) The earliest images of Bāhubali are found from Karnataka, (ii) These images, belonging to Digambara sect, established the iconographic formula of the depiction of Bāhubali which was
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