Jainism and Karnataka Culture

SR No.: 011062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 263
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 139

CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE, ETC.
105
Pārsvanatha is with them occasionally represented in a similar position."122
The question naturally arises as to how these huge images were moved to their present place. "The task of carving a rock standing in its place had it even been twice the size, the Hindu mind never would have shrunk from; but to move such a mass up the steep smooth side of the hill seems a labour beyond their power, even with all their skill in concentrating masses of men on a single point," says Fergusson.123 Yet the fact remains that, at least at Karkala, the statue with its immense proportions was moved up a smooth and steep rock nearly 300 feet high. According to tradition, it was raised on to a train of twenty iron carts furnished with steel wheels, on each of which 10,000 propitiatory cocoanuts were broken, and covered with an infinity of cotton; it was then drawn by legions of worshippers up an inclined plane to the platform on the hill-top, where it now stands.124
Folk-songs of South Kanara also throw some light upon this point, and seem to contain the soul of truth within their legendary exterior. They ascribe the erection of all the three statues to the popular devil Kalkuda :
'The king of Bêlur and Belguļa sent for Kalkuḍa the stonemason of Kallaṭṭa Mārnād (N. E. of Mangalore). He put the thread on his shoulder to let people know his caste, and held up an umbrella. He made sharp his adze and put it on his shoulder. He made sharp his chisel and put it in a bag. He made sharp his axe and put it on his shoulder. He carried a cord and a pole for measuring. He dressed himself in his dressing-room, and then he dressed himself again. I am going to the kingdom of Belgula," he said to his wife. He reached Belguļa where he ascended twelve steps of stone. He passed by the gate. He passed by a painted cavadi. He passed by a pillar of precious
"
122 Fergusson, op. cit., pp. 72, 73 n 8; Ep. Car. II introd., pp. 12-13. 128 Fergusson, op. cit., pp. 72-3.
194 Thurston, The Castes and Tribes of Southern India, 11, pp. 422-28. JK0-2528-14