four doors, each of which opens on three black stone figures of the three Tīrthankaras . Ari, Malli, and Munisuvrata. Each of the figures has a golden aureole over the head." According to a legend recorded by Mr. M. J. Walhouse,*[1] the Karkal statue, when finished,was raised on to a train of twenty iron carts furnished with steel wheels, on each of which ten thousand 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.
The legend of Kalkuda, who is said to have made the colossal statue at "Belgula," is narrated at length by Mr. A. C. Burnell.†[2] Told briefly, the story is as follows. Kalkuda made a Gummata two cubits higher than at Bēlūr. Bairanasuda, King of Karkal, sent for him to work in his kingdom. He made the Gummatasami. Although five thousand people were collected together, they were not able to raise the statue. Kalkuda put his left hand under it, and raised it, and set it upright on a base. He then said to the king "Give me my pay, and the present that you have to give to me. It is twelve years since I left my house, and came here." But the king said " I will not let Kalkuda, who has worked in my kingdom, work in another country,"and cut off his left hand and right leg. Kalkuda then went to Timmanājila, king of Yēnūr, and made a Gummata two cubits higher than that at Karkal.
In connection with the figure at Srāvana Belagola, Fergusson suggests ‡[3] that the hill had a mass or tor standing on its summit, which the Jains fashioned into a statue.
