Shravanabelagola

Shravanabelagola is a Jain holy place between the granite hills of Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri. Above its white pond rises the immense monolithic image of Bahubali, also called Gommateshwara. The Western Ganga commander Chamundaraya commissioned the statue in the late tenth century. Its standing figure represents the prince who renounced power and achieved spiritual liberation through austerity. Temples, memorials and inscriptions on the two hills record centuries of devotion and patronage.

The shrine retained its importance under Vijayanagara. A fourteenth-century inscription records the intervention of King Bukka after a dispute between Jains and Vaishnavas, including provision for guards at the great image. Devotees periodically gathered to anoint Bahubali in the ceremony known as the Mahamastakabhisheka; a recorded celebration took place in 1398. Inscriptions left by monks, rulers and donors preserve the changing fortunes of the community under Vijayanagara and the Wodeyars of Mysore, while the towering image continued to draw pilgrims from across southern India.