Gommatagiri spectacle kicks off

Mysuru: The 69th Mastakabhisheka Puja Mahotsava at Gommatagiri near Bettadur Village in Bilikere Hobli of Hunsur Taluk was held on Sunday.
Eight months after the Mahamastakabhisheka to the statue of Lord Bahubali at Shravanabelagola in Hassan district, the Bahubali statue at Gommatagiri on the outskirts of the city, which is nearly 24km from Mysuru, received abhisheka on Sunday.

Like at Shravanabelagola, abhisheka was performed to the 20-feet monolith of Gommateshwar at Gommatagiri. Hundreds of Jain community members from not only across Karnataka, but also from from North India attended the religious event.

The rituals began at 11am and lasted for more than three hours. Abhisheka started with Suvarna Kalasha and was followed with tender coconut, sugarcane juice, milk and host of other items, which was followed by jalabhisheka. The rituals were conducted under the guidance of Devendrakeerthi Bhattaraka Pattacharyaverya Swamiji of Srikshetra Hombuja Jain Mutt.

The mastakabhiksheka to the statue is an annual affair at Gommatagiri which is located off the Hunsur road near Yelwal, unlike the grand anointment held once in 12 years to its more famous counterpart at Shravanabelagola.

Usually, the annual mastakabhisheka is held in the month of September, but this year due to Mahamastakabhisheka in Shravanabelagola, it got delayed by nearly two months.

Speaking to TOI, M V Shantha Kumar, secretary of Sri Gommatagiri Kshetra Seva Samithi, said, “Though we had invited district and higher education minister G T Devegowda and JD (S) president Vishwanath as chief guests for the event, both couldn’t attend due to emergency work in Delhi. The rituals started at noon and went on for nearly two hours. There was more number of devotees when compared to last year. Devotees will keep coming for another four to five days. Due to construction of railings this year, devotees were comfortable in reaching the statue.”