129
ŠRAVANA BELLIGOLA.
May, 1873.]
caves are too full of water and débris to admit
of pacing, but I estimate the length of the ve randa at about fifty feet, and it is five deep. This veranda terminates at each end in a cell,
and communicates by three doors ornamented with scrollwork, with as many square caves. These have no inner communication.
The roofs
are supported by pillars about eight feet high, hewn in the living rock, of a pattern very like what I have seen at Ajantä. About one-third of the pillar is square (the corners terminating in a sort of leaf), surmounted by an octagonal band, as this in its turn is by a circular one; and then the same arrangement is repeated: from the base of the last circle a triangle rises into the capital. The ceiling is crossed by broad joists intersecting at right angles at, and be
tween, the pillars. I failed to detect any image or inscription, or any sign of plaster or painting, but I had no light and my inspection was neces sarily brief. The westernmost cave opens by a hole 6inches square into a large pit or cistern, which the villagers say was a dungeon; and this hole was used to feed the prisoners through. The pit is about fifty feet long by thirty wide, deep, and open at the top along the whole of . one side, but there are no steps down into it. I should think it was originally made to hold water, which is bad and scarce on the rock; but it may afterwards have been used as related.
There is
another cave on this southern side of the hill, and
three or four on the northern ; but they are all of the same class as those first entered.
I know
of no other Buddhist cave within sixty miles.
ŠRAVANA BELLIGOLA. BY CAPT. J. S. F. MACKENZIE, MAISUR COMMISSION.
Total height to the bottom of the ear ... 50' 0"
Five miles from Chen raip at a m, in the Hassan District, Maisur, is the small town of
From the bottom of the ear to the crown
Šrá v an a Belli go 1 a, famous for its co lossal statue of the Jaina god Go mate év a ra.
of the head (not measured), about ... 6 6 Length of the foot ........................... 9 ()
The town lies between two rocky hills, and
Breadth across the front of the foot ......
4,
6
is but a mean collection of houses whose inha
Length of the great toe ..................... Half girth at the instep ..................... of the thigh .............. From the hip to the ear..................... , coccyx to the ear ............... Breadth across the pelvis ..................
2
9
6
4.
bitants gain a precarious living by working in brass and copper. The larger of the two hills is crowned by the statue, 56} feet high, and
cut out of one solid block of gneiss. It is a striking object and can be seen for miles. The nude figure of the god differs in no way, except in size, from the other statues of the same god which are to be found, now no longer revered, here and there throughout the district. High square shoulders, curly hair, flat nose, thick lips, and small waist, are here faithfully, but on a large scale, represented. Once in twenty years the great ceremony of washing the god is performed. The last occa sion was in the early part of June 1871. To perform the ceremony a platform is erected. Mr. Scandon, who happened to be on the spot, took advantage of this to measure the different parts. Unfortunately before he could complete the work some of the priests interfered. This is, I believe, the first and only time such mea surements were taken. Those now given may be relied on as correct.
5*
- - - - - - -
10
0
24,
6
20
0
13 at the waist ........................ 10
0 0
From the waist and elbow to the ear ... 17
0
,, armpit to the ear ............... 7 Breadth across the shoulders............... 26 From the base of the neck to the ear ... 2
()
3*
O
6
Length of the forefinger..................... 3 6 middle finger ............... 5 3 3rd finger..................... 4 7 4th finger .................. 2 8 The statue is surrounded with buildings, which prevent the full figure being seen until one is close up to it. This of course destroys the general effect, but the head and shoulders as viewed from the opposite hill impresses one with a strange feeling of awe. Calmly gazing away into space, the statue fully realises the idea of perfect repose which the sculptor aimed at. One of the local legends has it that Ma 27
22