White Pond of the Saint is the meaning of Shravanabelagola in Kannada, the state language of Karnataka, India. Located 144 km from Bangalore, the capital cosmopolitan city in South India, Shravanabelagola is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Jainism. In fact, the town of Shravanabelagola has two hills, Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri that have sacred places for Jainism.
Actually, on top of Vindhyagiri hill, which is 3347 feet high, stands Gomateshwara or Bahubali. This grand statue is the tallest monolithic statue in the world carved in 978 A.D. Standing at a height of 58 feet, Gomateshwara is sculpted out of a single block of granite weighing 80 tons. The temple is on top with 620 steps carved into the mountain side from the bottom of the hill. The original sculpture is a block of granite but what can be seen currently of Gomateshwara is covered with cement.
According to Jain texts, Bahubali was one of a 100 sons born to the first savior or spiritual teacher of the dharma of Jainism and his wife. Bharata was one of the brothers with an ever-increasing kingdom and his 98 other brothers relented to him becoming Jain monks except for Bahubali who challenged him to a fight. After winning a series of contests over his elder brother, Bahubali was filled with disgust at humiliating Bharata.
At this time is when he renounced his kingdom and worldly possessions and clothes and went to obtain omniscience. He began meditating standing motionless for a year while vines climbed around his legs. After he destroyed the harmful karmas, he finally obtained omniscience.
In fact, this place is so special that even the great emperor Chandragupta Maurya after converting to Jainism spent his final days at Shravanabelagola. His grandson the emperor Ashoka built a Basadi or Jain temple for him on Chandragiri hill in the 3rd century B.C.
In conclusion, this sculpture has deep meaning behind it not only being a formidable structure on top of a hill let alone on the ground. Many people consider it a great accomplishment to climb the already carved steps on the side of the mountain to see the statue, but what about the sculptors. Wondering how someone was able to drag and beautifully carve this 80-ton block of granite on top of a hill over one thousand years ago is mind-boggling.