October
11
/ 2018
The Gommateshwara Statue is a colossal statue of Bahubali (meaning ‘the One with Strong Arms’), found in Karnataka, India. Bahubali was a son of Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara of Jainism. Jain legends say the statue was the result of a dream and elements of the religion’s stories and symbolism are represented in features found across the 10th century statue. The Gommateshwara Statue is located in the town of Shravanabelagola. The massive statue is located on the top of Vindyagiri, one of the two hills in Shravanabelagola (the other being Chandragiri). The statue was carved out of a single piece of granite and reaches a height of 17 meters (about 56 feet), making it one of the largest monolithic statues in
