A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.90

c21.90

Mention must also be made of two Jaina monuments of particular interest at Śravana Belgola, both creations of Chāmundarāya, the minister of the Ganga king Rācamalla IV. One of them is the Chāmundarāya *basadi*, the largest and finest of a number of Jaina temples on the side of the Chandragiri hill. It measures 70 feet in length together with the portico on its eastern front and its width is 36 feet. It must have been built originally about A.D. 980 although in its present form the structure is typical of Chola architecture of the early twelfth century. The other monument is the stupendous monolithic image of Gommaṭa, son of the first Tirthankara, rising to a height of 56 feet on the hill known as Indrabeṭṭa. This colossus, carved about A.D. 983, represents the ascetic standing entirely nude and absorbed in meditation with ant-hills rising at his feet and plants winding themselves about his limbs. Two similar but smaller statues, also monoliths, were made in Kanara, one over 40 feet high at Kārkala in 1432, and the other at Yēnūr, about 35 feet high, in 1604. One feature common to Jaina temples of the South is the *mānastambha* standing in front of the temple on a wide square base of several moulded steps. The column is generally square in the lower part but becomes circular above and bears ‘shallow flutes crossed by lateral bands at regular intervals’. The capital is generally a fluted vase supporting an elaborate superstructure carried on an abacus supported by figures of rampant gryphons. Some of these free-standing pillars are over 50 feet in height and are in themselves impressive works of art.