HUBBALLI: A 11th-century statue of Jain Tirthankara Shri Parshwanath has been unearthed from a temple at Hukkeri taluk in Belagavi district. The statue was found when foundation work was in progress near a Jain temple in Hebbal village.
Devotees and historians have been flocking to the village to have a glimpse of the statue. Hebbal village has a Jain temple which was built in the late 1800s where a statue of Adinath Tirthankara is located.
The village was a prominent Jain centre in the 10th century, say, historians, who are demanding further excavation of the area. According to Bahubali Handur, a historian from Gadag, this is the second time a statue that dates back to the 11th century has been found in the temple area in Hebbal. Earlier, another 11th-century statue was found here which was shifted to a Jain centre at Kothali in Maharashtra.
“Hebbal village has been an important Jain centre from medieval times. The area under Chalukyan kings was ruled by the Savadatti Rutt family between 850 AD and 1230 AD. The family embraced Jainism and constructed temples in every village in the region. The rich tradition of Jainism can be seen even today in the Belagavi district,” Handur said.
“The finding of the Parshwanath statue proves that there could have been a temple here earlier. Maybe the temple was destroyed or had to be rebuilt due to which the statue got buried underground,” he explained.
“The present statue has a beautiful prabhavali (the ornamental ring around statues) and the length of the statue is 2.5 feet. The makers of the statue had a vast knowledge about Parshswanatha purna which is evident from the way it has been made. Further excavation and documentation of statues are required in this area,” Handur added.