Article: Bāhubali

Key episodes in Bāhubali’s life

Bāhubali’s life is closely connected with those of his father and his half-brother Bharata. Tales of their lives therefore contain information about him.

Bharata and Bāhubali

Small idol of Bāhubali
Image by Ashok 666 – Ashok Prabhakaran © CC BY-SA 2.0

When King Ṛṣabha renounced worldly life he appointed his eldest son Bharata as his successor, and shared the kingdom among all his other sons. Each of the men thus had his own realm.

Bharata received the special weapon of a universal emperor – cakravartin. To be true to his name, a universal emperor has to conquer all the parts of the entire world. He does this systematically in a progressive process known as dig-vijaya – ‘conquest of the cardinal points’. This entails making war on and overcoming various kingdoms in turn. In Bharata’s case, this meant conquering the kingdoms where his brothers reigned.

One by one, the sons of Ṛṣabha renounced the world and thus ceded their territories to Bharata. But Bāhubali was different from the others and very powerful. After Bharata had gained all the other territories and was recognised as the universal emperor, Bāhubali refused to submit to his authority because Bharata had not conquered him.

There are two main scenarios outlined in different versions of the story.

First scenario

All negotiations failed so preparations for war began. Both kings and armies marched towards each other to wage war, which is described at length in many versions. Before fighting, each of them is said to have paid homage to Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, their father.

The next step is the duel between Bharata and Bāhubali. There are different versions of this episode.

In the first, before striking the fatal blow, Bāhubali realised that wealth and kingship were meaningless if his brother were no more. He stayed the hand holding his weapon.

In the second version Bāhubali and his half-brother fought on. Bāhubali struck Bharata but, seeing that this blow could be fatal, he helped him regain consciousness. The fight, however, continued with more intensity, as Bharata struck again. But Bāhubali suddenly froze as his hand was raised to strike again, when he realised that a fight against one’s brother for a mere kingdom is pointless.

Now the embodiment of tranquility, Bāhubali decides to become a wandering mendicant. Bharata is so awed by this behaviour that he also decides to renounce worldly life.

This scenario is the one described in Johnson’s translation of Hemacandra’s epic.

Second scenario

After listening to advice persuading them not to cause large-scale bloodshed, the two kings engage in a duel. This takes place in three stages:

• ‘encounter of sight’ – dṛṣṭi-yuddha
• ‘encounter in water’ – jala-yuddha
• ‘wrestlers’ encounter’ – malla-yuddha.

In the first duel Bāhubali’s face remains motionless and undisturbed, whereas Bharata is disturbed for a moment. Bāhubali is declared victorious.

In the second part, Bāhubali moves at ease in the pond where the fight takes place while Bharata cannot face water splashes and has to turn his face aside.

In the final stage, the brothers have a classical wrestling match, which Bāhubali wins easily.

As universal emperor, Bharata has the special weapon of the disc – cakra. When he launches this at Bāhubali the disc neither reaches nor strikes him.

After his victory, Bāhubali announces his decision to give up worldly life.

This scenario is the one followed by, for instance, Settar 1981 (page 49) and Strohl 1990 (234).

Rejection of worldly life and the body

Having thus renounced battle and worldly life, Bāhubali stands in kāyotsarga, the ascetic posture of meditation meaning ‘rejection of the body’, with arms hanging down.

Devoted to meditation[,] his eyes fixed on the end of his nose, motionless, the muni appeared like a sign-post. Like a forest-tree his body endured the wind in the hot season spreading hot grains of sand like grains of fire. Plunged in the nectar of good meditation, he was unconscious of the sun in the middle of the hot season, like a fire-pit, over his head. Covered from head to foot with mud made from dust and perspiration caused by the heat, he looked like a boar that had come out of mud. In the rainy-season he was no more disturbed by streams of water than a mountain by trees shaken by wind and rain. He was not shaken from kāyotsarga nor from meditation by the flashes of lightning nor by the mountain-peaks shaken by thunder-storms. Both of his feet were covered with moss caused by dripping water, like the steps of a deserted village-tank [= reservoir]. In the winter season in which elephant-deep streams were frozen, he remained comfortable from the fire of meditation active in burning the fuel of karma. On winter nights when trees were frozen by cold, Bāhubali’s pious meditation bloomed especially, like jasmines. Forest-buffaloes scratched themselves on him just as [though he were] the trunk of a huge tree. […] He was surrounded completely by creepers with a hundred branches shooting up, like a drum by leather thongs. Dense clusters of reeds grew up and around him […]. Abundant darbha-grass filled with moving centipedes grew up around his feet[,] buried in the mud of the rainy season. Hawks, sparrows, etc. […] made nests on his body [which was] covered with creepers. Thousands of serpents hid in the thickets of [the] creepers, terrified by the call of forest peacocks. Bāhubali looked as if he had a thousand arms [created] from [the many] hanging serpents fastened to his body. His feet were surrounded by serpents, like anklets, that had left the ant-hill near his feet.

Johnson’s translation of Hemacandra’s account
pages 324 to 325

This is just one instance of the graphic depiction of the posture that has become associated for ever with Bāhubali.

Omniscience, Brāhmī and Sundarī

Buchanan’s sketch of Bāhubali
Image by  © Heidelberg University Library

Bāhubali’s meditation lasted one year. It resulted in the destruction of many karmas. The next stage to reaching liberation was to overcome his passions, especially pride. Bāhubali’s main characteristic, his pride prevented him from reaching omniscience.

His half-sister Brāhmī and Sundarī, his full sister, had become disciples of their father Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha. They were sent to Bāhubali to give him a helpful hint: “Kevala[-jñāna] cannot arise in those seated on an elephant’s shoulder.”

After some time Bāhubali understood this statement, enigmatic though it was. He was proud because he did not show respect to his younger brothers, even though they had become mendicants earlier than he and were therefore worthy of his homage. Realising this, he made a spiritual step and reached omniscience.

Two goddesses

Goddess with Bāhubali
Image by ~rajooda – Rajeev Vuttharahalli © CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

In the Digambara tradition, Brāhmī and Sundarī are not credited with any role in Bāhubali’s enlightenment.

Yet two female characters play a part. They are goddesses or, according to some sources, vidyā-dharīs – goddesses who believe Jain teaching and thus have various magical powers. They intervene to remove the creepers that climb all over Bāhubali’s body.

Final liberation

According to Digambaras, Bāhubali was the first person to attain final liberation in our era.

However, the Śvetāmbaras say that Marudevī, mother of Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, and thus Bāhubali’s grandmother, was the first to be liberated. She achieved this while riding an elephant to hear Ṛṣabha preach to the universal gathering.

Images of Bāhubali

Bāhubali statue at Shravana Belgola
Image by Takeo Kamiya © Takeo Kamiya

The strong presence in art of Bāhubali can be detected as early as the sixth century. Stone sculptures of him are found all over south India and Deccan, in the modern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. Examples include:

• Cave IV at Bādāmi
• the Meena Basti at Aihole
• ninth-century images at the Ellora caves.

As might be expected, Bāhubali is always shown in art in the characteristic posture of kāyotsarga. Usually naked, he is depicted either alone or flanked by two female characters. Depending on whether the monument is Śvetāmbara or Digambara, these women are identified as either his two sisters or two goddesses.

Many Bāhubali idols are carved from stone but metal images are frequently seen. Created in varying sizes, they are often found in Digambara temples, along with brass images of Jinas and Jain deities.

The battle between Bāhubali and Bharata is the subject of many paintings, such as those in illustrated manuscripts of the Digambara epics, Ādi-purāṇa and Mahāpurāṇa (Doshi 1981, 1985). Less frequently, the battle scene is found in Śvetāmbara Kalpa-sūtra manuscripts.

A unique depiction of Bāhubali is a painted wooden manuscript cover featuring the battle between the half-brothers, as well as Bāhubali’s austerities (see Jain in Doshi 1981: colour plate 1).

Bāhubali’s near-equivalent status to the Jinas is occasionally illustrated by the following signs in art, when the image:

• is underneath the triple parasol, which is a royal insignia
• has god-like figures on each side, similar to the yakṣa and yakṣī flanking the Jinas
• sometimes appears in triple images known as tri-tīrthika, where he is shown along with two Jinas – for example, in Ellora Bāhubali stands near Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva, the 23rd Jina.