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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 14.─ INSCRIPTIONS ON THE THREE JAINA COLOSSI In the course of my two last cold-weather tours I had occasion to visit the sites of the three famous monolithic images at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa in the Hassan district of the Mysore State and at Kârkaḷa and Vêṇûr in the South Canara distrcit of the Madras Presidency. For descriptive notice of these monuments the reader is referred to Mr. Rice’s Inscriptions at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, Introduction, p. 29 ff., and Mr. Sewell’s Lists of Antiquities, Vol. I. pp. 231 and 236 f. The largest and most ancient of them is the one at Beḷgoḷa, which, according to Mr. Rice, is 57 feet high and was set up by the minister Châmuṇḍarâja between A.D. 977 and 984. The second, at Kârkaḷa, is 41’ 5” high and was erected by the chief Vîra-Pâṇḍya in A.D. 1432. Along with the two inscriptions on the image at Kârkaḷa, I publish an inscription (E. below) on a neighbouring pillar which was raised by the same Vîra-Pâṇḍya in A.D. 1436. The smallest and most recent of the three monoliths is the one at Vêṇûr, which is 35 feet high and was established by the chief Timmarâja in A.D. 1604. The saint or god whom the three images represent is called in Sanskṛit Bâhubalin or Bhujabalin[1] and was believed to have been the son of Âdijina (G. below), i.e. the first Jina Ṛishabhanâtha.[2] His vernacular name was Gummaṭa (D.), Gummaṭêśa (G.), Gommaṭa or Gommaṭêśvara.[3] The inked estampages from which I am publishing the Kârkaḷa inscriptions (Nos. C., D. and E. below) were prepared by my peons. Those of the Beḷgoḷa and Vêṇûr inscriptions (Nos. A., B., F. and G.) had to be done by Jainas under my supervision, because none but Jainas are permitted to touch the images at Beḷgoḷa and Vênûr.[4]
A.- On the proper right side of the colossus at Beḷgoḷa. This inscription (No. 52a of 1902) was first published by Mr. Rice.[6] who, however, did not succeed in reading the second word in l. 2. The alphabet and language of the first and third lines are Kanarese. The second line is a Tamil translation of l. 1 and consists of two words, of which the first is written in the Grantha and the second in the Vaṭṭeluttu alphabet. The first two lines record that Châmuṇḍarâja caused to be made the image at the foot of which the inscription is engraved, and the third line, that Gaṅgarâja caused to be made the buildings which surround the image.
In Mr. Rice’s opinion, these inscriptions “are undoubtedly of the period when that work
was completed.”[6] A comparison of the alphabet of l. 1 with that of the epitaph of Mârasiṁha
II.[7] and of the alphabet of l. 3 with that of an inscription of Gaṅgarâja[8] has convinced me that
Mr. Rice is correct, i.e. that l. 1 belongs to the time of Châmuṇḍarâja, the minister of the two
Gaṅga kings Mârasiṁha II. and Râchamalla II.,[9] and that l. 3 belongs to the time of Gaṅgarâja,
the minister of Hoysaḷa king Vishṇuvardhana.[10] The second line is probably contemporaneous
[1] See the inscriptions C. and F. below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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