936 Description of a Colossal Jain figure [Sept. 



colossal image, as well as all the other figures, are Jaina. I cannot trace 

 one single symbol of Brahmanical intrusion, and in this there is a strik- 

 ing singularity ; in every other situation and country it has struck me to 

 be so universal as to amount almost to a law or principal that wherever 

 edifices, temples or caves of any religious persuasion abounded, that was 

 selected by the holders of a rival and succeeding creed as the spot to 

 establish themselves, and to vie with their predecessors in magnificence 

 and extent of structure. Such is not the case however either with the 

 colossus or temple of Bawangaj, nor, with the trifling exception of a 

 single insignificant image of Ganesa, is it so at the caves of Bang. 

 This may possibly argue no very great antiquity for them, but it ena- 

 bles us in this age to see them unmixed and in their purity, seathed 

 only by the ruthless hand of time. It is not the least remarkable part 

 of the colossal figure at Bawangaj, that it is the only one of the kind as 

 yet known in India. There are statues at Kanara, at Belegula, 70 feet 

 3 inches high ; at Einur, 35, and Karkal 36-6. The largest of these is 

 variously computed 18 times a man's height, (18 fathoms and) 6 times 

 its own feet, which is 9 feet, e. i. 54. This is so exactly the half of 18 

 fathoms, or 108 feet, that there must have been some error in reckoning 

 the fathom, however the true height, according to Dr. Buchanan, is little 

 more than 70 feet. The Bawangaj must be at least 90, it being 73-8 

 to the calf of the leg alone. The height, nudity and posture of the 

 Kanara figures and their dedication to Gomat Iswara, or Indra Bhuta, 

 the disciple of M aha, proved now almost beyond question to be identical 

 with Buddha himself, indicate resemblance to the Bawangaj figure, 

 and the differences perhaps consist in respects which may be considered 

 merely local, for instance, the hair is arched, not cut straight across the 

 forehead ; the earrings do not touch the shoulders, and on the arms and 

 legs are traced branches of a tree with leaves which arise from a series 

 of mounds behind, and between the legs, one for each arm and leg. In 

 India the figures that approach nearest to Bawangaj in point of con- 

 struction are those in the hill fort of Gwalior, of which there are very 

 meagre descriptions. Mr. Fergusson says of rock cut temples, that 

 " the colossal figures, some sitting, some standing, some 30 or 40 feet 

 high, have sometimes a screen before them which form a small cham- 

 ber," and Colonel Sleeman thus depicts them in his Rambles of an 

 Indian Official: "On the face of the rock between the glacis and foot 



