40 
NOTE ON A TOUR IN MYSORE. 
and T was very soon after my arrival surrounded by a 
crowd of natives inquisitive as to tlie object of my visit. 
So well known is the amateur pbotographer even in this 
out-of-the-way spot, that it was assumed that I was going 
to take photographs, and the most popular spot (half way 
up Indrabetta) was pointed out. Sravan Belgola I was 
anxious to see with two objects, viz : lo examine the cele- 
brated Jain figure of Gomata or Gomatesfara and the 
bastis (temples) ; and also the local manufacture of brass- 
ware. 
The colossal figure, which I visited in company with the 
courteous Amildar of Chanrayapatna, stands on the sum- 
mit of Chandrabetta, which is reached by ascending 
several hundred steps cut out of the rock. At the summit 
we were met by Brahma Suri Sastri, who is referred to by 
Mr. Lewis Rice as the greatest Jain authority in Southern 
India. Daring the ascent of the hill no v-iew of the figure 
was obtained ; but when, after examining the bastis, a 
certain spot on the summit was reached, boots being 
removed, a door was opened, and I found myself in full 
view of it, rising in all its grandeur and simplicity from 
the back of an open court. 
The symbolical lotus and ant-hills at the base, and the 
branches of the tree {Ficzis religiosa) turning over the 
thighs have been described by Mr. Rice who has^ published 
a Bowdlerised photograph of the figure. It is also figured 
by Buchanan, and in the plates illustrating Moor's ' Hindu 
Pantheon ' from a picture in the collection of Sir Arthur 
Wellesley. But no photograph or drawing can convey an 
adequate idea as to its size or proportious ; and to be 
realised, it must be seen. But, in all probability, out of the 
solid rocks, iiccordiug to tradition before the Christian era, 
' Inscriptions at Srava^ia Belgota. 
