Place · Bahubali monolith statue · India
Karkala Bahubali
Also known as Bahubali colossus, Bahubali colossus (Karkala), Karkala, Karkala, Udupi, Udupi
The 42-foot (12.8 metre) Bahubali monolithic statue at Karkala in Udupi district, Karnataka, erected in 1432 by the Santara dynasty king Veera Pandya IV — the second-largest Bahubali monolith in India after the 57-foot Shravanabelagola statue (981 CE). The deity Bahubali (also Gommateshvara) is the son of Rishabhanatha (the first Tirthankara) who attained kaivalya (liberation) through meditation. The statue is carved from a single granite block hauled to the Karkala hilltop. The Mahamastakabhisheka (great head-anointing) ceremony is held every 12 years when the statue is anointed with milk, saffron, sandalwood paste and gold flakes — the 2015 Mahamastakabhisheka drew over 100,000 Jain pilgrims. The 1432 inscription records the Santara royal patronage. ASI protection since 1962. Managed by the Karkala Jain Mutt.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 13.210, 74.990
Connections (2)
- Gomateshwara monolithsVenur Bahubali, Belthangady
Karkala's forty-two-foot Bahubali of 1432 and Venur's smaller one of 1604 follow Shravanabelagola's colossus of about 981, and all three stand in a hundred-kilometre stretch of coastal Karnataka — a regional habit of carving a standing naked ascetic out of a single granite hill, kept up by Jain merchant and ruling families for six centuries. Each is anointed periodically in the same twelve-yearly rite.
- Gomateshwara monolithsShravanabelagola
The three Gommateśvara monoliths of Karnataka — Shravanabelagola of 981, Kārkala of 1432, Vēnūr of 1604 — are each cut from living rock and each anointed on the same twelve-year cycle. The later two were commissioned by Tulu Jain rulers explicitly to match the first. Vēnūr's statue is the smallest of the three at eleven metres and Shravanabelagola's the largest at seventeen, so each later ruler matched the form without matching the scale.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Karkala”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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