MYSORE: They stand tall shooting towards the sky and perhaps a witness to history of at least 800 years. Regal, splendid and serene, they stand condemned in isolation epitomising the neglect of all things ancient and classical.

These are two statues of Bahubali or Gomateshwara. One is at Basadihalli in K.R. Pet taluk and the other located at Bastitippur in Maddur taluk, both in Mandya district. There is no reference to either of them in the District Gazetteer published by the State Government.

N.S. Rangaraju of the Department of Studies in Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Mysore, told The Hindu that these are part of seven Bahubali statues found in Karnataka.

Basadihalli

Prof. Rangaraju said the Bahubali statue at Basadihalli — now called Kurubara Basadihalli — is in ruins. The pillars display the characteristic features of the early Gangas and the area has many scattered sculptures in the padmasana pose indicating that they represent the Tirthankaras.

The 24-foot tall Bahubali is a monolithic granite statue. It has floral scrolls on the legs are different from the other Bahubalis found in Karnataka, Dr. Rangaraju added.

Absence of Jains

The region was a stronghold of Jains once but there is not a single Jain family in the village now and hence the statue is grossly neglected. A few villagers who took pride in the presence of such an ancient monument in their village helped build a supporting structure, which may have been exposed to vagaries of nature and crumbled.

Prof. Rangaraju has evinced interest in shifting the statue to the proposed museum at Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion under the care of University of Mysore.

The Bahubali statue at Bastitippur in Maddur and located about a few km. from Kokkrebellur is the only example of a sculpture of Bahubali with a back-support for the entire structure.

Perched atop Doddabetta, it is difficult to estimate the date of the figure although the local people believe that this is the original site for sculpting the statue of Gomateshwara.

Is the Bastitipur statue a prototype of its famous counter-part at Shravanabelagola? A question best left for historians to answer. But as of now the statues are not protected either by the State Government or by the Archaeological Survey of India.

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