The Statue of Gommateshwara Bahubali is a monolithic granite image, about seventeen metres tall, carved in place from a single outcrop atop the larger of the two hills at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka. It depicts Bahubali, son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha, standing in kayotsarga meditation so long that carved vines wind up his legs. The nudity of the image is doctrine rather than incidental: the Digambara position holds that a fully renounced ascetic possesses nothing at all, including clothing. Commissioned around 981 CE by Chavundaraya, general and minister of the Western Ganga dynasty, it is ritually anointed roughly every twelve years in the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony and remains under the care of the mathas of the Bhattaraka lineage.
Facts
Custody
Current LocationVindhyagiri hill, Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, India 2 Current CustodianThe mathas of the Bhattaraka lineage 1 Custody HistoryThe statue has remained in place on the summit of Vindhyagiri under the continuous care of the mathas of the Bhattaraka lineage since its dedication around 981 CE. Standing in the open air rather than housed in a shrine, it is subject to ordinary weathering, staining and lichen growth between anointments; the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony, held roughly every twelve years and resumed on that cycle since Indian independence (1953, 1967, 1981, 1993, 2006, 2018), both renews its devotional consecration and serves as the occasion for cleaning and close inspection, with routine conservation work carried out by the mathas between ceremonies. 1 Physical Form
MediumMonolithic granite, carved in place from a single outcrop 1 DimensionsApproximately seventeen metres (fifty-six feet) tall 2 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectBahubali (honoured as Gommateshwara), son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha, shown standing in kayotsarga meditation 1 Devotional FunctionFocus of Digambara Jain veneration; ritually anointed with milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold and silver flowers in the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony, held roughly once every twelve years and drawing large numbers of pilgrims. 1 Origins
Date of Creation Commissioned ByChavundaraya, general and minister of the Western Ganga dynasty 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThe statue itself, carved in the tenth century, carries no copyright as an expression. A modern photograph of it may carry its own separate copyright depending on who took it and when; this atlas describes the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 1 Open Questions
Attributed ToThe individual sculptor or workshop responsible for carving the image is not named in the surviving inscriptions at the site; only the patron, Chavundaraya, is recorded. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Ganga, Deities This source names Ganga directly: "general and minister of the Western Ganga dynasty, it is ritually anointed roughly every twelve years in the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony and remains under the care of the mathas of the Bhattaraka..."
This source names Rishabhanatha directly: "It depicts Bahubali, son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha, standing in kayotsarga meditation so long that carved vines wind up his legs."
This source names Shravanabelagola directly: "atop the larger of the two hills at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka."
Belongs to Tradition
The statue's defining nudity embodies specifically Digambara, sky clad, doctrine that complete spiritual renunciation includes the abandonment of clothing, distinguishing it from Svetambara practice.
Housed At
The statue is carved into the summit rock of Vindhyagiri, the larger of the two hills that make up Shravanabelagola; this atlas records the cult image and its precinct as separate pages, following the same convention as every other housed-at cult image on the atlas.
Sources
1. The Jains
Paul Dundas, Routledge, 2002Gommateshwara / Bahubali colossus at ShravanabelagolaView the Source 2. UNESCO World Heritage List
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage CentreSacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas / Shravanabelagola tentative-list entryView the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Who Carved the Statue of Gommateshwara Bahubali?
No inscription at Shravanabelagola records the name of the sculptor or workshop that carved the image, even though the patron, Chavundaraya, is well attested. Digambara colossal images of this scale from the tenth century rarely name their carvers at all, so the silence is consistent with the period's own convention rather than a loss of a record that once existed.
What would resolve this A donative or masons' inscription naming a sculptor or guild, of a kind found at other Hoysala and Ganga-period sites but not yet identified at Shravanabelagola itself, or a documentary source from the Ganga court not yet examined.
South Indian art history, Ganga-period epigraphyPaul Dundas, The Jains
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.