D*cx*B*a, 1873.] ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE. 353 ON THE COLOSSAL JAIN STATUE AT KARKALA, IN THE SOUTH KANAKA DISTRICT. BY A. C. BURNELL, Esq., M.C.S., M.R.A.S., Ac. 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 8outh 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 Kirkala, 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. Tho 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 :* Lino 1. Sri ikhyA- 2. te | (? wand)alesvarah || 3. yo ’bind Lalitakt- 4. rtyakhyas tanmuniadropade- 5. satahll Svasti Srisakabhfipati- 6. trisaravahni^njdau virodhyA- 7. dikridvarshe phllgunasau- 8. myavAradhavalasridvA- 9. dasitlthau SnsomA- 10. nvayabhairavendratanu- 11. jasriviraplndyesinA ni(ya)- 12. m iryapratimi ’tra bA« 13. hubalino j:yAt pra- 14. tishthupita 1 Sakavarsha 15. 1353 SrlplndyarAya. • My corrections and additions ars marked by ( ). t Niyama or nema is used ia South Kanara to express
- worship ’ or ' religious ceremony.’
J Tho Joins alter sightly the lli-da names of cyclo years and similar w„rcU. “ May the worship-worthyt statue of BAhu- baliu consecrated here by Sri Virap bjujye&n* son of Bhairavendra, of the Lunar race, on the bright 12th lunar day, Wednesday, in PhUguna of the (cycle) year VirodhyAdikrit.J in the Sa¬ ka prince’s year 1353, be victorious !** § *The remains of the sloka which commenced the inscription show that this statue was pro¬ bably consecrated by advice of Yiraplndya’s guru, by name Lalitakirti. Its date =1432 a.d. VirapAndya seems to have been a Jain feuda tory of VidyAnagara, at Ikk<3ri above the gh&ts but his successors seem to have been bigoted Lingaits, and to have much contributed to the decay of the Jains in South Kanara. Graal (in hi3 Rviac, I. p. 19o) mentions this statue and describes it accurately, bat 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, bat when I was there, in August 1872, the heavy rain had covered the stone with moss and slime, and I could not make out mor3 than a few words to the same effect as the inscription already given. The purpose of these colo33al statues has been questioned, but I run 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 fabalous stature of men in the ages in which they lived, but which has boon, the Jains say, gradually decreasing. Biliubalin as a son of Vrishahha- nAtha,§ the first Tirthunkara, is thus assumed to be of enormous height. Now in Southern India tho statues of tho Jain saints vary in size,|| corresponding with the height assigned in the Pur mas, and thus where temples are dedicated to an earlier saint the statue is ne¬ cessarily left exposed ; as to enclose it in a cell, as is done in the Hindu and most Jain temples, would involve a greater expense than a small sect could afford, especially as tho Jains are not very § The legend says that ho wai s> abiorbod in meditation in a forjot taut climbing plaatj grow over him. (See tho plat?.) || Th're was, mmo years ago, a complete set of statues of th j T*rtha.tjcann t ins mirked by grad vti >a ia site, at tho Jain tomplo of Tirap-itikaaram, near (Jonjaveram.
