The Gomateshwara Statue

Number two of the four awesome but unpronounceable places I visited last Sunday. First was the Chaturmukha Basadi. Second was the Gomateshwara Statue at Karkal. Again ,all pictures were taken on my Nokia N82.



Gomateshwara (The Calm Stone) : Legend has it ,Bahubali or the “ one with strong shoulders” was a local prince who fought his brother Bharata and won the kingdom. Having done so,he was overwhelmed by both the enormity and the futility of the desire for material wealth - a pursuit that sets brother against brother. He gave it all up for meditation and prayer. This went on for 12 long years and even the surrounding creepers had grown around him. In his honour, the ruler at that time Veerapandya Bhairava Raja built this temple and statue.




It was completed on 13.02.1432. The statue is 42 feet 12.6 meters in height and was engraved from a single stone at the foot of the hill on which the temple stands. It was carried up the crest by a forty-wheeled vehicle. In 1907, 212 steps (182 are continuous) were cut into the rock face of the hill leading up to the Temple.



A stone pillar, Brahma Stambha, and holy stone or Kshetrapalaka stand in front of the Temple as protectors. Two steps cut into this holy stone commemorate a Jain Muni or holy man who died during the building stage.



A festival in Bahubali’s honour is held every 12 years and is called the Maha Masthakaabhisheka. It is held for 9 days. The 10-hour ceremony that is estimated to attract over 30 lakh devotees, involves priests climb hundreds of steps leading to the top of monolith, the 2nd largest in the world, and emptying hundreds of pots of tender coconut, sugarcane juice, milk, rice flour, turmeric paste, kashaya (a herbal concoction), shrigandha (sandal paste), chandana (coloured sandal paste), ashtagandha (eight varieties of sandal paste), saffron, gold and silver flowers, precious stones and finally a shower of flowers, all onto the Statue.

You can view the rest of the pictures from the trip on my Facebook Album or below, on my Share on Ovi account :



-Teh Cj