The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c36: Gersāppā
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c36
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Contents
- c36.s1 Old Site and Ruined Temples — 4 parts
Gersāppā
Old Site and Ruined Temples
c36.s1.1
THE modern town of Gersāppā lies upon the right bank of the Shiravatī river, which flows between the Bombay Presidency and the state of Maisur. It is the terminus of the navigable portion of the river, which, eighteen miles to the west flows into the Indian ocean. About a mile east of the present town, up several turns of the river, and upon the other side, are the site and ruins of the ancient town of Gersāppā, which is now overgrown with dense jungle. A few forest paths traverse the site, and it is by these, alone, that access is had to the only remains of note now standing. For the last three hundred years Gersāppā appears to have been in ruins, for the traveller Della Valle in A.D. 1623, who accompanied a Portuguese embassy to Venkatappa at Bednur, went by Gersāppā, where he found that the city and palace had fallen into ruin, and were overgrown with trees. The Shiravatī was the most beautiful river he had ever seen, and the country was so famous for its pepper that the Portuguese called the queen of Gersāppā the ‘Pepper Queen’. Pepper is still one of the chief garden products in these districts.
c36.s1.2
Eighteen miles, by road, up the *ghāt*, brings one to the famous Falls near the village of Jog. They are a sight never to be forgotten. The river Shiravatī here throws itself over a perpendicular precipice with a fall of 830 feet. As the river approaches the face of the cliffs, it splits up into four separate channels forming four different falls, but, during flood time, in the monsoon, it hurls itself over in one mighty mass, clear of the rock face until it reaches the boiling waters away down in the depths below. At the bungalow above the Falls are kept two old visitors' books which are curious reading. One of the very earliest entries is by the Bishop of Madras, who stayed a week here in December, 1843. He wrote: “The Bishop of Madras passed a week in the neighbourhood of the Gersappa Falls and is thankful to Providence for having been permitted to visit the most glorious work of Nature's God that he has ever seen or ever hopes to see.” Captain Newbold, in August, 1845, wrote “I lay on this shelf [a mass of rock projecting out over the Falls with a drop of 830 feet beneath it] and drew myself to its edge, and as I stretched my head over the brink, a sight burst on me which I shall never forget. I have since looked down the fuming and sulphurous craters of Etna and Vesuvius, but have never experienced the feelings which overwhelmed me in the first downward gaze into the abyss at Gersappa. One might gaze for ever into that seething chasm where the mighty mass of the Shiravati's waters ceaselessly buries itself in a mist-shrouded grave." It is in the lower reaches of the river, just below the Falls, in the bosom of the well-nigh impenetrable and silent forests that the old site of the city lies.
c36.s1.3
The remains now consist of several ruined temples, chief among them being that called the Chaturmukha-Basti, a cruciform-planned temple having four porches, one facing each of the four cardinal points (Plates CXXXIII, CXXXVII and CXXXVIII). The temple contains in its central shrine, which has four doors, the chaumukha or chaturmukha, which is a square altar or pedestal with four seated life-sized Jinas, one on each side of the square facing each door. The spire, if it ever had one, has disappeared. Around the temple was a verandah, the solitary columns of which still stand, the roof slabs having been removed.
c36.s1.4
Other temples here, in a more or less ruinous state, are built of laterite, and are only of interest on account of the images and inscriptions which have still escaped the spoilers. The temple of Vardhamāna Svāmi, now deserted, contains a fine black stone image of the tīrthankara, almost perfect. Across the footpath from it is the temple of Neminātha, also deserted, but with a fine large image on a circular āsana, the back of which is composed of three pieces neatly joined and elaborately carved. In Pārśvanātha's temple many images have been collected from other shrines. To the west of it is a large stone building with long stone beams, and in a corner of this are nearly a dozen neglected images of standing Digambara Jinas, all huddled together. Kade-Basti wants its roof; it contains a black stone figure of Pārśvanātha, with the śeshaphāna beautifully carved. At the Virabhadra deval a large tree has grown up on what was once the back wall of the shrine, where there is a fine image of Virabhadra with arrow, sword, shield and bow, who wears high wooden sandals (khadavas). In the south-east corner of Pārśvanātha's temple is a little ruined cell containing, in and round it, a curious collection of jetiga stones, a little brass horse and horseman, a linga, stones bearing rudely-carved human figures and inscription stones (Plate CIV).