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Friday, October 19, 2007

The Statue of Lord Bahubali Gomateshwar

India’s Number One Wonder!

It is less known, but very wonderful! It is a unique statue. The uniqueness of this statue is that the statue is the highest monolithic statue in the world. The statue is about 17.6 Meters (58.8 Feet) high. It is historical, very attractive and naked!

This statue of Lord Bahubali was carved in a single piece of Granite stone in 10 Century A.D. by Chamundrai, the great General of king Marsimha of Ganga Dynasty. This statue is known also as ‘Gommateshwar’ (Lord of Gommat) as one of the names of Chamundray was Gommatt.

The statue is situated on Vindhyagiri, also known as Indragiri, at Shravanbelagola in Hassan District of Karnataka, South India. Shravanbelagola is an ancient Jain center and its history goes back to at least 3rd Century B.C. It is a sacred place for Jains and others especially from South India.

There are two big hills in Shravanbelagola, the another is Chandragiri. There are many Jain temples on Chandragiri built in ancient and medieval age. This hill is known as Chandragiri because Chandragupta, the emperor of Magadh came here as a Jain monk and died by fasting. We can see his footprints carved on a high point on this hill.

At the base of the statue, an inscription ‘Done by Chamundray’ is carved in three languages; Kannada, Tamil and Marathi. These inscriptions are very important for students of history of Indian languages and archaeology.

© Photos and article
M.S. Chavan

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