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ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE.

December, 1873.]

ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE AT

KáRKAIA,

IN THE SOUTH

KANARA DISTRICT.

-

BY A. C. BURNELL, Esq., M.C.S., M.R.A.S., &c.

There is every reason to believe that the Jains were for long the most numerous and most influential sect in the Madras Presidency, but there are now few traces of them except in the Maisur and Kanara Country; and in the South Kanara district, though still numerous, they are fast becoming extinct. Their shrines are still kept up in South Kanara, and the priest hood, members of which are distinguished by the title ‘Indra,’ are numerous if not well informed.

The accompanying plate is from a photograph of one of the most famous colossal Jain statues in

Southern India, which is at Kārkala, in South

Kanara. It is on the top of a hill, a rounded mass of gneiss of some elevation, and is visible from several miles' distance.

The block from

which it has been cut was evidently taken from the southern slope of the hill, and, as the figure is 41 feet 5 inches high and weighs about 80 tons, it almost rivals the Egyptian statues in size, though its artistic merit is not nearly so great. The date is given in an inscription near the right foot of the statue, and the native is (in the plate) represented leaning against it. It is in Sanskrit but in the Halakannada character,

and is only partly legible, owing to the exfolia tion to which gneiss is peculiarly subject when exposed to the weather. It runs :* Line 1. Sri................... ikhyā 2. tel .................. (? mand)aleśvarah ||

3. yo 'bhāl Lalitaki 4. rtyākhyas tanmunindropade

5. §atahll Svasti Srišakabhūpati 6. 7. 8. 9, 10.

trišaravahni(n)dau virodhyā dikridvarshe phālgunasau myavāradhavalašridvá dašitithau Srisomā nwayabhairavendratanu

“May the worship-worthyr statue of Båhu

balin consecrated here by Sri Virapāndyesin, son of Bhairavendra, of the Lunar race, on the

bright 12th lunar day, Wednesday, in Phálguna of the (cycle) year Virodhyādikrit,t in the Sa ka prince's year 1353, be victorious !” The remains of the Śloka which commenced

the inscription show that this statue was pro bably consecrated by advice of Virapāndya's guru, by name Lalitakirti. Its date=1432 A.D. Virapāndya seems to have been a Jain feuda tory of Vidyānagara, at Ikkēri above the ghâts but his successors seem to have been bigoted Lingaits, and to have much contributed to the decay of the Jains in South Kanara. Graul (in his Reise, I. p. 196) mentions this statue and describes it accurately, but omits mention of the inscription. In the same position on the opposite side of the statue, there are a few words of a shorter in

scription still visible, but when I was there, in August 1872, the heavy rain had covered the stone with moss and slime, and I could not make out more than a few words to the same effect

as the inscription already given. The purpose of these colossal statues has been questioned, but I am not aware of any ex

planation having been given. I would suggest the following. The Jain saints are said to have been giants in size according to the fabulous

stature of men in the ages in which they lived, but which has been, the Jains say, gradually decreasing. Båhubalin as a son of Vrishabha nātha,S the first Tirthankara, is thus assumed to be of enormous height. Now in Southern India the statues of the Jain saints vary in size, corresponding with the height assigned in the Purānas, and thus where temples are

11. jašrivirapāndyeşină ni(ya)-

dedicated to an earlier saint the statue is ne

12. maryapratimã 'tra bā 13. hubalino jiyāt pra

cessarily left exposed; as to enclose it in a cell,

14. tishthāpità i Sakavarsha 15. 1353 Sripándyarāya.

as is done in the Hindu and most Jain temples, would involve a greater expense than a small sect could afford, especially as the Jains are not very § The legend says that he was so absorbed in meditation

• My corrections and additions are marked by ( ).

+ Niyama or nema is used in South Kanara to express “worship' or ‘religious ceremony.”

• The Jains alter slightly the Hindu names of cycle

in a forest that climbing plants grew over him. (See the plate.) | There was, some years ago, a complete set of statues

years and similar words.

the Jain temple of Tirupatikunram, near Conjeveram.

of the Tirthankaras thus marked by gradation in size, at