BAHUBALI
Karnata, India
15th to 16th C.
Bronze
Height: 42 cm
Bahubali, also called Gommateshvara. According to the traditions of the Indian religion Jainism, the son of the first Tirthankara (literally, “ford maker,” a metaphor for saviour), Rishabhanatha, who is said to have lived many millions of years ago.
After Bahubali won a duel with his half-brother for control of the kingdom, he realized the transience of temporal affairs and renounced the world. He then stood immobile, with feet straight ahead and arms at his side, meditating for an entire year in the yogic position called kayotsarga ('dismissing the body'). He was so unmindful of the world around him that vines grew undisturbed up his arms and legs and anthills rose around his feet.
His meditation led him to true victory over human passion and, according to the beliefs of the Digambara sect of Jainism, enabled him to become the first human of this kalpa (world age) to gain liberation.
Several works of sculpture depict Bahubali, including an outstanding 9th-century bronze in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum) in Mumbai (Bombay). A colossal 10th-century sculpture stands atop a hill in the town of Shravanabelagola, a centre for the Digambara sect in the southwestern state of Karnataka. Cut from a single block of gneiss, the figure stands 17.5 m (57 ft) tall and is one of the largest freestanding images in the world. Every 12 years, in one of the greatest Jain rites, the entire image is ceremonially bathed in curd, milk, and ghee before enormous crowds of people.
Condition: Immaculate. Traces of ritual ash.
Provenance: European private collection, acquired in India before 1972
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