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| Gomateshwara at Shravanabelagola |
ISKCON Bangalore: The Beginning is a historic
fiction inspired by the greatest epic Mahabharata and it has nothing to
do with the story of real Baahubali. Who is Baahubali?
Srimad Bhagavatam gives the list of kings who appeared in the dynasty
of Swayambhuva Manu. Manu had two sons: Priyavrata and Uttanapada.
Priyavrata married the daughter of Vishwakarma and begot ten sons. Three
of them accepted the renounced order of life. Priyavrata divided the
entire world into 7 islands and handed it over to his seven sons. The
eldest son, Agnidhara, became the ruler of Jambudvipa. He married a
celestial girl named Purvacitti and begot nine sons: Nabhi, Kimpurusha,
Harivarsha, Ilavrta, Ramyaka, Hiranmaya, Kuru, Bhadrasva and Ketumala.
He divided the Jambudvipa into nine tracts of land, called varshas, each
named after his sons.
The son of Nabhi, Rishabadeva, became the ruler of Ajanabha. He had one
hundred sons headed by Bharata (after whom the tract of land called
Ajanabha was named as Bharatavarsha). Rishabhadeva thought his sons how
to rule the world. The instructions given by Rishabhadeva are recorded
in the fifth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. You can read a synopsis of
those instructions here.
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Transcendental Teachings of Rishabhadeva
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Instructions of Nava Yogendras
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Nine
of his sons became mendicant preachers and their instructions are
recorded in eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. You can read the
synopsis of their instructions here.
It is said that Baahubali was one of the
sons of Rishabhadeva. When Bharata became the king, he wanted to
establish his sovereignty over the entire world. The entire world
accepted his supremacy and whenever someone opposed, Maharaja Bharata
conquered them. Thus he became the emperor of the entire world. All his
brothers, except Baahubali, accepted his supremacy and surrendered to
him. Baahubali challenged him for a fight. To avoid further bloodshed,
the ministers decided that the two brothers engage in a duel and decide
amongst themselves who the strongest is.
Baahubali was victorious in the wrestling match (and thus the name
Baahubali meaning mighty armed) but he felt disgusted that he had to
fight with his own brother to attain material possessions which are
temporary. So he decided to give up everything to become a renunciant.
Note: The above story of Baahubali is not mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, but has its source in the scriptures of Jains.
In Karnataka there are 5 monolithic statues of Baahubali (also known
as Gommateshwara) located in Shravanabelagola (57 feet), Karkala (42
feet), Dharmasthala (39 feet), Venur (35 feet) and Gommatagiri (20
feet). There are also temples in Kumbhoj (Maharashtra) and near Indore.
The story line adopted in the movie Baahubali: The Beginning has
nothing to do with the historical Baahubali described in Jain
literature. The movie is inspired by the Indian epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata.
