The statue anointed every twelve years depicts a man who is said to have stood so still in meditation that plants grew up his own legs.
Standing until vines took hold
Jain tradition holds that Bahubali, son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha, stood in unmoving meditation for so long seeking enlightenment that climbing vines grew up around his legs and arms, and birds nested undisturbed in his hair, a story the statue directly depicts through carved vines and creatures on its limbs.
A single block of granite
The monolithic statue, standing some fifty-seven feet tall, was carved from a single mass of granite around 981 CE, commissioned by Chavundaraya, a general and minister serving the Ganga dynasty, an undertaking on a scale that placed Shravanabelagola among the most ambitious single-statue projects in the premodern world.
The anointing itself
The Mahamastakabhisheka, held roughly once every twelve years, involves pouring milk, water, saffron paste, sandalwood and other substances over the statue from specially constructed scaffolding reaching its head, drawing enormous crowds of Jain pilgrims for a ceremony whose long interval between occurrences is itself part of what gives each performance its significance.