BAHUBALI (also known as Gommateshwara)

While preparing the exhibition on Jainism (2024), I had been looking for an image of Bahubali, a Jain “saint” who is highly revered in South India. In the 1980s, during a trip to Karnataka, a region rich in extraordinary archaeological sites and magnificent temples, I had heard about it and decided to visit the site of Sravanabelgola, where, atop a hill of enormous boulders, stands the statue of Bahubali—a monolithic stone sculpture carved in 981 and standing about 17 meters tall. In addition to its size and age, I was struck by the perfection of the Bahubali statue, standing in the “renunciation of the body” posture, as if its rigidity symbolically represented his determination to renounce all material and mental attachments in order to attain Knowledge, according to the teachings of Jainism. Defying time and adversity, Bahubali is depicted standing in meditation. His face, with eyes closed, appears expressionless because it is free of thought—that is, he is turned inward, completely detached from his surroundings. But what had struck me were the vines that wound their way up from the base of the statue, wrapping around her legs and climbing up her arms. At this point, to “reveal the secret” of Bahubali, we must tell her story. According to legend, Bahubali was one of the hundred sons of a king who lived several centuries B.C. When the king decided to withdraw from worldly life to become a monk, he divided his possessions among his sons; however, one of them, Bharata, wanted to seize his brothers’ property: only Bahubali objected.

 The two brothers decided to compete in a non-violent manner (by gazing into each other’s eyes and through wrestling, both on land and in water): Bahubali won all three contests, but, disturbed by the violence of material things, he decided to become a Jain monk. He remained standing, motionless, for a year: slowly, the plants entwined his body, yet he never ceased his quest for absolute Knowledge. His brother, regretting having challenged him, then came to honor him and so Bahubali, realizing that even the karma caused by his futile victory had been extinguished, meditated for another eleven years and attained Enlightenment, becoming the first Jain monk to do so. He is therefore a “saint,” an Enlightened One who has put an end to the cycle of reincarnation, but he is not a Tirthankara, one of the 24 Masters of Jainism. To honor this mythical figure of Jainism, an imposing structure is built around his head every 12 years, from whose platform the figure is completely doused with four sacred substances, each of a different color (milk, clarified butter (gee), saffron, and turmeric), which symbolically purify the statue of all impurities.

You can picture the story I just described in this beautiful Bahubali figurine, which stands on a double base and is entwined with vines that wrap around his legs and climb up his arms. The legs do not touch, and the arms are held away from the body to emphasize detachment from all attachments; the body is well-proportioned, perfect in its stillness. At the feet, two cobras—symbols of victory over human passions—raise their hoods, while devotional inscriptions are engraved on the base.

BAHUBALI
India, Karnataka
18th century
Bronze
Cm. 12,5
Price on request