Dharmasthala Bahubali

A modern Bahubali on Ratnagiri hill, at a town whose principal shrine is Shaiva but which has been administered by a Jain family for centuries.

The arrangement at Dharmasthala is genuinely unusual and worth stating plainly: the main temple is dedicated to Manjunatha, a form of Shiva, its rituals are conducted by Vaishnava priests, and the whole is administered by a Jain family, the Heggades.

The Bahubali statue on the hill above was raised in 1973, cut at Karkala and moved. It is the newest of the Karnataka colossi by more than three centuries.

Written for Jain Times. Corrections are welcome — see sources and licences.