Shri Bhagwan Bahubali statue, Dharmasthala

This picture was shot sometime 2003 or 2004 during my solo trip to Dharmastala. I wanted to be alone, in silence. In those two days, I visited all the temples there, the museum, saw a Yakshagana group practice and the Gomateshwara.

The statue is situated atop a hillock close to the entrance of Dharmastala. The summit is a plateau, its peaceful ambiance is something to experience, especially early mornings and evenings.

Below is a brief writeup on this statue on Shri Dharmasthala website..

Amidst the piety and frolic of the temple town of Dharmasthala, situated at a kilometer from the Manjunatha temple and led by a beautiful pathway, is the majestic shrine of lord Bahubali standing at a height of 39-feet. It was sculpted in 1973 by the famed sculptor Renjala Gopalkrishna Shenoy under the aegis of Shri Ratnavarma Heggade. The statue was then positioned atop the Ratnagiri Hill in February 1982 by Dr.D.Veerendra Heggade, after Shri Ratnavarma Heggade left to the heavenly abode.
This shrine can be reached by climbing steps of the hill for about 20 minutes or by road. The hilltop renders a heart-throbbing view of the temple town Dharmasthala with a lush green background in the mornings and lamp-lit in the nights.The best time for the tourists to visit this statue is in the morning to get away from humidity and sunny weather. On top of the hill, there are shelters and drinking water facilities for the pilgrims. The mahamastakabhisheka of lord Bahubali has since been performed thrice in 1982, 1995 and 2007, with a grand spectacle that brought together many jain monks and people from all over the country and beyond.

The monolithic stone sculpture of Lord Bahubali symbolizes renunciation, self control and subjugation of the ego as the first step towards salvation. The digambara form of Bahubali represents complete victory over earthly desires and needs, which forms the edifice for spiritual ascent towards divinity.
The transportation of the gigantic monolithic statue, 39ft. high, with a pedestal of 13 feet weighing about 170 tonnes, from Karkala to Dharmasthala was a tremendous challenge. A distance of 64 kilometers was covered with great public enthusiasm and participation, on a trolley with 64 Wheels, driven by 3 tractors of 250 HP over treacherously winding roads in 1970.

The other monolithic Bahubali statues in Karnataka are-

• 60 feet statue, Shravanabelagola, Channarayapatna taluq, Hassan district

• 41.5 feet statue, Karkala, Karkala taluq, Udupi district 

• 20 feet statue, Venoor, Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district

• 20 feet statue, Gommatagiri, Bettadur, Hunsur taluq, Mysore district

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Narasimhaghad near Dharmastala

The hill fort near Dharmastala known as Narasimhagad, also called Jamalagudda under Tipu Sultan. The black rock monolith has steep faces and accessible only by steps which have been hacked out of the rock itself. First half of the the climb is easy but the second half is steep. The steps are high & narrow, hardly enough space for an adult foot. Ascending was one thing but descending was scary, one slip and that's it!

These pictures were taken sometime December 2002, during a visit to Dharmasthala with Amma, Deepak and Praveen. Deepak and I had climbed the hill while Amma and Praveen waited at the base. The top was full of tall grass, we could hardly make out what lay ahead of us.

The first time I saw this place was sometime 1992 with Anish. Jamalabad (that's the other name) is about 22km from Dharmastala. We climbed one third way and gave up. Somehow the same had happened with Anish at Shivagange and Savandurga.

Narasimhagad is almost as tall as Shivagange with ruins on the top. The summit is small in area bit offers a fantastic view of the surrounding forest covered hills. Deepak had shot better pictures, may be sometime I'll get them from him and post them in this blog.

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