Karnataka, India

The coastal Karnataka basadi trail

Shravanabelagola, Moodabidri, Karkala and Venur — the stretch of coastal Karnataka with the highest concentration of monumental Bahubali statues anywhere, and of the basadis around them.

This is the one part of the Jain world where a pilgrim can stand before three separate monolithic Bahubali colossi within a few days’ travel of each other, each raised by a different dynasty over three centuries, and each still living: garlanded daily, and the subject of its own Mahamastakabhisheka anointing tradition.

The route commonly runs Shravanabelagola first — the largest of the four and the one most pilgrims already know — then west and north along the coast to Moodabidri, called the "Jain Kashi" for its eighteen basadis, the best known of which is the Saavira Kambada, the thousand-pillared hall where no two pillars repeat. From there Karkala and Venur, the second- and third-tallest of the coastal Bahubali figures, are a short distance apart.

Tour operators and Karnataka’s own tourism board give the full circuit as about five days; a shorter version dropping Moodabidri is sometimes run in three or four. Dharmasthala, a short detour from Venur, is often added even though its principal shrine is Shaiva rather than Jain — the newest of the region’s Bahubali statues, cut at Karkala in 1973, stands there.

The route

1. 1
   Shravanabelagola Hassan district, Karnataka

   The traditional start of the circuit, and the largest of the four Bahubali figures — most pilgrims arrive already knowing this one, and the others are read against it.

2. 2
   Moodabidri Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka

   A detour inland from the coast road to a town of eighteen basadis rather than one great statue — the circuit’s change of register, from a single colossus to a whole quarter built around the faith.

3. 3
   Karkala Gommateshwara Udupi district, Karnataka

   Back on the coast: the second of the three great Bahubali colossi, and for over five centuries the tallest such figure anywhere before Shravanabelagola’s was raised.

4. 4
   Venur Gommateshwara Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka

   The smallest and latest of the three coastal colossi, a short distance from Karkala — the circuit’s natural close, on the banks of the Phalguni.

Verified against Karnataka tourism and Jain pilgrimage tour operator itineraries this session (2026), which consistently give the four-site route as roughly five days and describe Moodabidri, Karkala and Venur in this order relative to Shravanabelagola.