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Gommateshwara Statue

Gommateshwara Statue

Photo: Kuldeep S · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Vindhyagiri Hill, Shravanabelagola, Hassan district, Karnataka, India
Client / Owner
Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Western Ganga dynasty
Year
Completed 981
Access
Public
Style
—

The Gommateshwara statue, also called the Bahubali statue, stands on Vindhyagiri Hill in Shravanabelagola, in the Hassan district of Karnataka, India. Chavundaraya, a Western Ganga minister and commander, commissioned it. The infobox dates it to 981, and the text says around 983.

The statue is carved from a single block of granite and is 57 feet (17 meters) tall. It was one of the tallest monolithic statues in the ancient world and the tallest Jain statue until 2016. The standing nude figure is in the kayotsarga posture. Vines and a snake climb the legs and arms, and the figure stands on an open lotus.

Yaksha and yakshini attendants flank it, and an anthill sits behind. Every 12 years the statue is ritually bathed in milk, saffron, ghee and sugarcane juice in the Mahamastakabhisheka, most recently in 2018. A 2007 Times of India poll voted it first of the Seven Wonders of India.

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