BAAHUBALI-THE REAL HISTORY OF INDIAN KING

                              Baahubali means the one with very strong arms. At a point in his life Baahubali without a single piece of cloth on his body, abandoned his kingdom, decided to give up on all the relations and greed and did Tapas to attain Moksha (Liberation). He is said to have meditated in standing posture (Kayotsarga) for over a year and attained Omniscience or Moksha.

                               Jain religion have 24 Theerthankaras.They were believed to be Holy souls and came to earth to save us from evil and injustice by their preachings.Vrishabhanatha was the first of Twenty four Theerthankaras. Vrishabhanatha was the father of Baahubali.

                         Before becoming Theerthankara, Vrishabhanatha was a king with Ayodya as his capital. He had two wives namely Yashaswathi Devi and Sunanda Devi. His kingdom was very peaceful and full of prosperity. Yashaswathi Devi was the elder Queen. She gave birth to hundred sons of which Bharatha was the eldest. Later she gave birth to a girl child namely Sundari. The younger Queen Sunanda Devi gave birth to one son and one daughter. The boy was named Baahubali and the girl as Brahmi. A few years passed,and the time for educating the children arrived. There were hundred of them so it was difficult for Vrishabhanatha to organise for their education. So he himself taught all the children. All his children taught according to their interests in various fields. Bharatha was very much interested in Economics and Politics so he was taught those and Baahubali was interested in Medicine, Weaponry, wrestling and some other branches. Like this the king taught every son according to their choice. At even that small age Bharatha showed signs of transforming into a great emperor.

                              On the other hand Baahubali was an expert in wrestling. His name itself meant, the one with strong arms resembling his appearance. He was well built and very tall. He was very much interested in warfare. He would be the victor in any kind of duel with his companions, like wrestling. He was very brave and has fear of nothing.



                               Once lord Devendra (the lord of Heaven), arranged the dance of a lady in the court of King Vrishabhanatha. The performance of the lady started. Everyone in the court started praising the performance of the lady. She was dancing very well. As the dance was in progress she lost her life. That was the end of her life. She was about to fall on ground but Lord Devendra with his magical powers made the dead body of the lady to continue dancing because he didn't want to disappoint the King Vrishabhanatha. But the king recognised the change.

                                   That is the moment the king developed strong disgust towards life.The king thought "so this is human life!". And he also thought "nothing in this world is permanent. Everything must die. Nothing lasts forever. "He decided that he had enough of this kind of life. He gave up his kingdom, his sons, his wives and went to do Tapas i.e,meditating on God. he then started Tapas to attain Moksha.

                                     Vrishabhanatha made his eldest son as the king of "Ayodya" and Baahubali as the king of "Paudanapura". He gave smaller kingdoms to remaining sons. He gave an advice to his sons, to rule Justly and Righteously, and left for doing Tapas to attain salvation.

                                     One day as Bharatha was in his court, a messenger ran in and told that his father Vrishabhanatha attained Kevala jnana (the supreme knowledge that can see all and understand all). Another messenger ran in and told him that a weapon had appeared in kings armory. Bharatha was very happy for his father and astonished to hear about the unknown weapon. The weapon was a "Chakra or discus" and it was a extraordinary weapon. The Chakra-Ratna has supernatural powers. It could conquer any enemy. Along with it several unique objects of great powers appeared in royal armory. One of them is "Chatra-Ratna", which would protect army from natural calamities like heavy rains, ferocious storms and burning sun's heat. Another object is "Charma-ratna", which is a magic boat which helps army to cross any river or ocean anytime of the year. Another object is "Danda-Ratna", which is a magical staff which could easily make a way through forests and hills for the army. "Kakini-Ratna", a gem which gives light in pitch dark for the army.



                                      With all these mystical objects having great powers, king Bharatha decided to conquer other kingdoms. Bharatha was himself a mighty warrior and with these powers he aimed at expanding his kingdom. He started marching towards east and started conquering. He was waging wars and defeating every king whom he aimed. There was't a thing called defeat for him that time. Bharatha,who conquered all other monarchs of the world,became an emperor. Thus with the help of "Chakra-Ratna", he marched from victory to victory. He occupied all the kingdoms of the world. The victorious army with joy and shouts marched towards  Ayodya. Bharatha thought "there is none to equal me, no one can defeat me, I am the worlds greatest king".

               Finally he returned to his capital with all of his victories. Bharatha was about to enter the city, suddenly the Chakra-Ratna which had all along been moving stopped. Everyone was stunned including King Bharatha. He inquired the reason about that with ministers of his court. The priests said that even he defeated all the kingdoms he still have enemies left within his kingdom. They said that his brothers could be a threat to him in future. By hearing this Bharatha wrote to all his brothers to surrender to him. All of his brothers except Baahubali thought fighting with their elder brother wouldn't be appropriate. Also they were hurt by the warning of their elder brother. They also gave up their kingdoms and went to do Tapas to attain Moksha. By hearing this Bharatha was surprised and his heart was full of their self-respect and their greatness. But Baahubali determined to fight with his elder brother who warned his own brothers for superiority over kingdom.

                                     Bharatha ordered his army to get ready for war. His entire army with it's four wings marched towards Paudanapura. The news of Bharatha's march towards his kingdom reached Baahubali. He stood ready for the war with his army. The ministers on both sides knew that there was going to be a heavy loss of men on both sides. They dont want that to happen.They requested both the kings to fight a duel i.e,one on one without army. Both the Kings agreed. 



                                    Three types of contest would be held between Bharatha and Baahubali. First one is "Dhrishti-Yuddha" (eye fight), in which both the kings have to stare into each others eyes continuously without moving their eyeballs and without blinking. Baahubali won in this battle and Bharatha was raged with anger.the second contest is "Jal-Yuddha" (water fight), in which the Kings had to fight by splashing water on opponents face with immense power so that the other king was hurt. This contest was also won by Baahubali. The third one is "Malla-Yuddha" (Wrestling), both the kings were masters in wrestling but Baahubali defeated Bharatha in this contest too. Bharatha was defeated by Baahubali infront of both the armies. The shame of defeat was intolerable by Bharatha. He ordered his Chakra-ratna to go and kill Baahubali. Everyone thought that was not fare to kill Baahubali as he won battle. The Chakra went near to Baahubali. Everyone felt sad that Baahubali was going to be killed. But the chakra stopped beside him and didn't kill him.

                                     Baahubali thought to himself that "what made his elder brother wanted to kill him, for the sake of the kingdom men even forget their own brothers and also not hesitate to kill his own brother?". He grew weary of life. This incident changed Baahubali. Baahubali thought "I don't want this position,I don't want this desire. The best thing to do is give up everything and go perform Tapas.

                                        Thus Baahubali abandoned his clothes and kingdom and started Tapas in standing posture for over a year to attain Moksha. Many days rolled by, but he did not move from where he stood. He had no food or sleep. Very big anthills grew around his body. Madhavi creepers entwine his legs and arms. Snakes crawled all over him. But he stood still, exposing his naked body to sun, storm, cold. So much time passed but Baahubali did not attain supreme and ultimate knowledge which is called as Moksha. Bharatha was concerned that why Baahubali did not attain enlightenment? Bharatha went to his father and asked him about

this. His father told that Baahubali had feeling that he was in your kingdom, tell him to abandon that guilty feeling and he will attain enlightenment. Bharatha went to Baahubali and said to him that "brother, remove the guilty feeling from your heart, that you are meditating in my kingdom, this land is no ones, this land is for everyone". By hearing this, Baahubali got enlightenment. The people praised Baahubali's greatness in achieving Moksha. They worshiped him with devotion. He preached them and brought their lives into the light from darkness.

                                 Baahubali went to many places and taught people about righteousness. He became a great saint praised by the whole world. Bharatha made a statue of Baahubali in Paudanapura made of emerald. It is said that the statue was now under the sea. Several other statues were also constructed of Baahubali. Important among them are the at Shravanabelagola, Venooru, Bastihalli, Dharmasthala, Karkala. The statue at Shravanabelagola is the tallest of all. It was installed by Prime minister of Ganga dynasty named Chavundaraya. It is Fifty seven feet high. A gentle smile on the face and broad shoulders, Anthills covering his body, Creepers entwine his blimbs, this statue exactly resembled the meditating Baahubali in standing posture. This Baahubali's statue is also referred as Gommateshwara. It was built around 981 A.D. and is one of the largest free-standing statues of the world.

                                  The Aadi Purana, a sanskrit poem of 9th century, deals with first Thirthankara, Vrishabhanatha and his two sons, Bharatha and lord Baahubali. It was written by Jinasena, a Digambara monk. The Jains preserve their history by means of story tellings from ancient times. So that their history remain forever.