Karkala is a place in Udupi district,
Karnataka,
India and is located about 40 km from the city
Udupi and about 450 km from
Bangalore. The name Karkala has been derived from the Kannada word karikallu, meaning black stones.
Karkala is a town of historical importance and a famous pilgrim centre for Jains. The famous single stone 42-foot (13 m) statue
Gomateshwara (Lord
Bahubali) is located about 1 km from the center of the town. There are about 18 Jain basadis here. The
Bahubali statue is the second tallest in the State. This monolithic statue of Lord
Bahubali was installated at Karkala on
February 13,
1432 on the instructions of the pontiff of Karkala,
Lalitakeerti.
The other statues of
Bahubali in the
state are at
Shravanabelagola installed by
Chamundaraya, which is 57 feet tall, at
Venur installed by
Timmaraja, which is 35 feet (11 m) tall, and at
Dharmasthala installed by D.
Veerendra Heggade, which is 39 feet (12 m) tall.
Every 12 years, thousands of devotees congregate here to perform the
Mahamastakabhisheka, a ceremony where the statue is then bathed and anointed with libations such as milk, water, and
saffron paste. And sprinkled with powders of
sandalwood, turmeric, and vermilion. The last
Mahamastakabhisheka was held in February 2002, next will be in 2014 A.D.Karkala is having many piligrimage centre like attur churche and lord padu tirupati venkateshvara temple situated in the karkala town itself.it is 45km from the iron mining centre KUDREMUKHA and 40 km from another piligrim centre SRINGERI & HORANADU.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karkala
