Venur Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple

Venur Venoor is a small village on the banks of the Gurupur river in the South Kanara, Karnataka. It was once the seat of Jainism and the capital. Distance from Mangalore to Gomateshwara Statue is 136 Km.

Venur is on the Dharmasthala-Moodabidri-Karkala route on the costal religious circuit in the Karnataka. Venur belongs to Belthangady taluq in Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka. Venur's claim to fame is the monolith of Bhagawan Bahubali also known as Lord Gomateshwara, on the banks of river Phalguni in Mangalore. The single rock statue is 38 feet in height and was erected by the Jain ruler Veera Thimanna Ajila (1558-1616 A.D.) in the year 1604. The statue is supposed to have been sculptured by Amarashilpi Jakanachari.



Venur is a small town in South Kanara District of Karnataka state situated on the bank of river Gurupur. Venur though a small town was once a great seat of Jainism. It was the capital of the Ajila Dynasty and one of the most prominent Kings of them Thimmanna Ajila built a colossus of Gommateshwara 35 feet high in 1604 A.D. He was a direct descendant of Chamundaraya, who built one at Shravanbelgola. Venur colossus is the shortest of all the three Gommateshwara's within the radius of 250 km around it. It also stands in an enclosure, on the same pattern as that of Shravanbelgola. The Kings of Ajila Dynasty ruled here from 1154 - 1786 A.D.

The statue of Bahubali is one of the four giant monoliths (of the same God) found in Karnataka (the others being at Shravanabelagola, Karkala and Dharmasthala). The last mahamastakabhisheka or the head anointing ceremony of the statue (typical of all the four Bahubali statues) was held in the year 2000. Venur also has a few other Jain Basadis and a Mahadeva temple.

Gomateshwara, Shravanabelagola

Gomateshwara is a monolithic statue standing at 60 feet (18 m) above a hill in a place called Shravanabelagola in the Hassan district of Karnataka. It was created around 983 AD by Chavundaraya, a minister of the Ganga King, Rachamalla (Raachmalla SathyaVaak IV 975-986 AD) in honour of Lord Bahubali. It was built in the 10th century AD and is the size Jains believe humans used to be. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, devotees and tourists from all over the world flock to the statue once in 12 years for an event known as Mahamastakabhisheka. At Shravanabelagola the Mahamastakabhisheka festival is held once in 12 years, when the image of Gomateshwara is bathed in milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins.



On August 5, 2007, the statue was voted by Indians as the first of Seven Wonders of India. 49% votes went in favor of this marvel. The colossal monolithic statue of Gomateshwara or Bahubali is situated at Shravanabelagola, 158 km away from Bangalore. This gigantic statue of lord Bahubali, the Jain saint, is carved out of a single block of granite and stands majestically on top of a hill. For centuries, Shravanabelagola has remained a great Jain center and thousands of pilgrims flock to see the magnificent, gigantic statue. The saint is shown completely nude, in the Jain custom. It is 17 m. (55 ft) high and is visible from a distance of 30km.

Distance from Bangalore to Shri Bahubali Digambar Jain Temple is 61 km.