Mutilated sculpture of Janardhana belonging to 11th century, ancient inscription discovered at Ulluru Mutt in Uttara Kannada

The inscription refers to Kamadevarasa and Basavayya of Chandavara which was a sub-capital of the Alupas of the then South Canara, says Associate Prof., Dept. of Ancient History and Archaeology

A mutilated sculpture of Mahavishnu or Janardhana and an inscription written in Kannada and Tigalari scripts were found at Ulluru Mutt of Kumta taluk in Uttara Kannada district. The sculpture belonged to the 11 th century, while the scripts of the inscription could be traced back to the 14 th century, according to T. Murugeshi, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty College, Shirva in Udupi district.

“The inscription refers to Kamadevarasa and Basavayya of Chandavara which was a sub-capital of the Alupas of the then South Canara. The epigraph is still under detailed study. It was written in the early characters of 14 th century,” he said in a press release issued on Thursday, February 16.

Ulluru Mutt is located below the foot hills of Sahyadri and nearby a small stream. Here is a small modern shrine of Ganapathi and architectural members of an ancient temple, he said adding that the mutilated sculpture is a master piece of the art of 11 th century.

“The mutilated sculpture is locally identified as Mahavishnu, but iconographically it is a Janardhana. It holds ‘pinda’ in its frontal right hand and ‘gadha’ in the left land. At the back left land, is ‘shanka’ and ‘chakra’ is in the back right hand. The image is in a standing posture of ‘samabhanga’, having an ornate long ‘karanda mukuta’ as its head gear. The curly hairs on both sides of the head are great testimony of its grandeur.”

“It has a hallow rim of charming ‘prabhavali’ with fire decorations on the top edge. Graceful face with handsome nose, lips, chin and eyes make it a marvelous one. It wears rich ornaments, ‘makarakundalas’ in its ears, kantihara, kaustubhahara, udarabhandha, bhujakeertis, tolbhandhis and bangles on both the hands. It wears an under garment with ‘simhakeerti’ at its waist belt. It’s about 80 cm in height without pedestal and 85 cm in height with ‘padma pitha’. This master piece of art could be traced to the period of Chalukyas of Kalyana,” he added.

Bhagavata cult was in Uttara Kannada from 7 th century. The earliest Vishnu sculptures discovered at Gokarna and Igunda both dated back to 7 th century. During the Chalukyas of Kalyana, trinity worship was very popular and large number of Trikuta temples were built in Chalukyan Kingdom, where the Sun, Vishnu and Shiva were worshipped equally. Ulluru Mutt was also a centre of trinity worship, Mr. Murugeshi said.