India GOBahubali, Gommateshwara: the Jain prince behind the name and the stone giants of Karnataka
बाहुबली
Son of Rishabhanatha, not a tirthankara himself: he won the duel with his brother for the empire and gave it up on the spot to meditate.
Before the films there was the prince. The Baahubali films of 2015 and 2017 share the name but tell an invented story; the original Bahubali, “the strong-armed”, is a figure of Jain tradition, son of Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara, and is also called Gommateshwara. In Karnataka he stands as monolithic granite statues on hilltops, naked, with vines carved climbing his legs, and the tallest of them, at Shravanabelagola, has stood there since around 981.
Story
When Bharata demanded that his brothers submit, Bahubali alone refused; to spare their armies the two agreed to fight in person (by gaze, by water, by wrestling), and Bahubali won all three. Lifting his brother to throw him, he stopped, set him down and walked away from the kingdom he had just won; he stood a year in meditation while creepers grew up his legs, and, in the Shvetambara telling, was freed only when his sisters came to whisper that he must climb down from the elephant of his pride (for the Digambaras, when Bharata came and bowed to him). Every twelve years at Shravanabelagola his statue is bathed in milk, saffron and flowers from a scaffold; Karkala's, an hour from Udupi, has its own anointing.
Places linked to them
Chaturmukha Basadi, Karkala · UdupiWho he is, and who he is not
Bahubali is not one of the twenty-four tirthankaras, the teachers Jains worship in their temples. He is honoured for something else: the most complete renunciation in Jain story. In the Jain story he beat his elder brother Bharata in three contests, gave up the kingdom at the moment of victory, then stood in meditation until he reached kevala jnana, omniscience, and liberation. How long he stood differs between texts: the Adipurana says a year, other tellings twelve years.
That is why he is shown standing and unclothed. The posture is kayotsarga, “abandoning the body”, held so long that creepers grow up the limbs. Nakedness is the sign of complete detachment, the way Digambara (“sky-clad”) monks still live. The statues are sacred images, not curiosities, and are visited as such.
The monolithic statues of Karnataka
Each is cut from a single block of granite and stands on its own hill. Shravanabelagola and Karkala are the two most travellers see.
Shravanabelagola, Hassan district
The 57-foot (17-metre) Gommateshwara on Vindhyagiri hill, raised around 981 (some sources say 983) by Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Western Ganga dynasty; the Prakrit inscription at its base says he set it up for his mother. The town is 51 km from Hassan and 83 km from Mysuru.
Karkala, near Udupi
Forty-two feet of granite on a rocky hill above the town, set up by King Veera Pandya of Karkala at the urging of Lalitakeerti, head of the Karkala Jain math, in 1432 (some sources give 1430); only Shravanabelagola has a taller one in Karnataka. A kilometre away, Chaturmukha Basadi (1586) repeats the same three tirthankaras behind four identical doors.
Venur, Dharmasthala, Gommatagiri
Three more monolithic Bahubalis in Karnataka: Venur (1604), Dharmasthala (1973) and Gommatagiri.
The anointing every twelve years
Once in twelve years the Shravanabelagola statue is bathed from a scaffold built around it: water, milk, saffron, turmeric and sandalwood poured over the head run down the granite to the feet. This is the Mahamastakabhisheka, “the great anointing of the head”, probably the largest Jain gathering in the world. The last was on 17–25 February 2018; the next is due in 2030, and its dates have not yet been announced by the Shravanabelagola Jain Math and the Karnataka government. Karkala has its own anointing.
❓ FAQ
Who is Bahubali in Jainism?
The son of Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara. By Jain tradition he defeated his brother Bharata in three contests, renounced the empire at once and meditated standing until he attained omniscience and liberation.
What does the name Bahubali mean?
“One with strong arms”. His other name, Gommateshwara, is the one used at Shravanabelagola.
Whose son was Bahubali?
Of Rishabhanatha, the first Jain tirthankara; Bharata, the brother he fought, was his elder brother.
Who killed Bahubali?
That question comes from the cliffhanger of the 2015 film Baahubali: The Beginning, whose plot is fiction. In the Jain story nobody kills him: he gives up the kingdom and attains liberation through meditation.
When is the next Mahamastakabhisheka?
It is due in 2030, twelve years after the last one in February 2018; the dates have not been announced yet.