Note 3 — J

The most important Jain settlement in Southern India at the present day is at Srāvana Belagola in Mysore, where the Jains are employed in the manufacture of metal vessels for domestic use. The town is situated at the base of two hills, on the summit of one of which, the Indra Betta, is the colossal statue of Gomatēsvara, Gummatta, or Gomata Rāya,3 concerning which Mr. L. Rice writes as follows.4 “The image is nude, and stands erect, facing the north. The figure has no support above the thighs. Up to that point it is represented as surrounded by ant-hills, from which emerge serpents. A climbing plant twines itself round both legs and both arms, terminating at the upper part of the arm in a cluster of fruit or berries. The pedestal on which the feet stand is carved to represent an open lotus. The hair is in spiral ringlets, flat to the head, as usual in Jain images, and the lobe of the ears lengthened down with a large rectangular hole. The extreme height of the figure may be stated at 57 feet, though higher estimates have been given—60 feet 3 inches by Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington), and 70 feet 3 inches by Buchanan.” Of this figure, Fergusson writes5 that nothing grander or more imposing exists anywhere out of Egypt, and even there no known statue surpasses it in height, though, it must be confessed, they do excel it in the perfection of art they exhibit.”