Overview:-
- The place Shravanabelagola is famous for its Gomateshwara Temple also known as Bahubali Temple.
- Shravanabelagola has two hills, Vindhyagiri and Chandragiri. The 58 feet tall monolithic statue of Bahubali is located on Vindhyagiri Hill.
- The base of the statue has an inscription which praises the king who funded the effort and his general, Chavundaraya, who erected the statue for his mother.
- The Bahubali statue is both magnificent and munificent.
- Magnificent in form, it is a 57 feet high monolithic statue built in around 983 A.D.
- The Gomateshwara Statue can be viewed at a distance of 30 km.
Brief History:-
- According to the Jain texts, Bahubali or Gomateshwara was the second son of first Tirthankara of Jains, Rishabdeva or Adinath.
- It is said that Adinath had in total 100 sons.
- When Rishabdev left his kingdom, a tussle took place between two of his sons – Bharatha and Bahubali for the empire.
- Although Bahubali defeated Bharatha in the combat but he was not happy due to the sourness between him and his brother.
- Thus, he decided to give his kingdom to Bharatha and went to achieve Kevala Jnana (Absolute Knowledge).
