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E.-M. Glasbrenner, The Gommateśvara Mahāmastakābhiseka Ritual
exactly calculated astrological criteria. Mahāmastakābhisekas are performed also in other places with large Bāhubali images, such as Dharmasthala and Karkala in southwestern Karnataka. This custom seems basically southern and Digambara, but Jainas from all denominations gather for the celebrations, which receive increasing attention and appreciation in northern India.20
Religious dimensions of the Mahāmastakābhiseka A description of the Mahāmastakābhiseka opens different dimensions of a religious happening, that reveal themselves to the observer stagewise, but the participant is subject to all of them simultaneously. I wish to distinguish five dimensions of the religious event: the ritual aspect, the aisthetic, the social, and furthermore the economical component and the spiritual aspect.2' In the following, I deal with the ritual aspect to give a frame of this religious performance for those who are not familiar with this ritual, and will come then to the aisthetic analysis.
The ritual dimension Although all Mahāmastakābhisekas are basically the same, namely, a Mastakābhisekapājā, each individual Mahāmastakābhiseka can vary according to the kinds of substances used and the exact order in which the anointings take place, as well as in the number and size and material of the so-called kalaśas, the vessels in which the liquids are transported and poured out over the head of Bāhubali, and finally also in the number of days the ritual is performed. In what follows, I rely on the last Mahāmastakābhiseka in Shravana Belagola in the year 2006.22
About two weeks before the main part of the Mahāmastakābhiseka,23 the first of a series of major anointings, the first initial rituals take place. Among these are the first preparatory pūjā ceremonies for small utsavamūrtis, the festive statues of Bāhubali, as well as for the Tīrthankaras, the 24 liberated great teachers and idols in Jainism, yakşas and yakṣīs, lower deities accompanying the Tīrthankaras, and the guardian
20 Also in northern and central India there are a few Bāhubali shrines, such as in Papauraji (Madhya Pradesh), or the recently (only twenty years ago) erected Bāhubali in Gommatgiri, north of Indore (Madhya Pradesh). 21 For a detailed description see my article "Indiens prächtigster Gabenregen. Zum Mahāmastakābhişeka von Shravana Belagola", in: Münchener Indologische Zeitschrift (MIZ) Vol. I - 2008/09, pp. 18-127. 22 Sangave depicts in detail earlier Mahāmastakābhisekas with numerous references. Sangave, pp. 97-110. 23 The opening ceremony took place on January 22, 2006, and the first Mahāmastakābhiseka on February 8th. The anointing ceremony, most lavish on the first day, was repeated eight times until the official end of the main period of worship on February 19th. Afterwards an abhiseka was performed every Sunday, to satisfy the immense influx of pilgrims; the entire program was prolonged, for the same reason, till May and then June. To organize the masses of pilgrims, specially dedicated Mahāmastakābhisekas were announced. Thus journalists (many of whom had no access to the first and largest abhiseka, because the narrowness of the hill only allows a limited number of persons) were specially invited to one, and other abhișekas were reserved for certain districts of Karnataka.
