Dharmasthala: Charity, Bahubali and Manjunatha

In the green hills of the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka lies Dharmasthala, one of the most remarkable religious centres in all of India, a place of extraordinary interfaith harmony where a Jain family has for centuries administered a great shrine sacred to a wider community, and where the ideals of charity and dharma are practised on an immense scale. The very name Dharmasthala means the abode of dharma, and the town embodies a unique blend of traditions.

The administration of Dharmasthala is in the hands of a Jain family, the Heggade lineage, who serve as the hereditary custodians, or Dharmadhikaris, of the shrine. Remarkably, the principal deity venerated at the main temple is Manjunatha, a form associated with the wider Hindu tradition, and the rituals are conducted by priests of that tradition, while the overall guidance and administration rest with the Jain custodians. This arrangement, in which a Jain family oversees a shrine of another tradition and fosters harmony among faiths, is one of the most striking examples of religious pluralism in India.

Dharmasthala is also home to a great monolithic statue of Bahubali, or Gomateshwara, raised in the modern era, which stands as a magnificent expression of the Jain heritage of the custodian family and of the Digambara tradition of the coast. The towering figure of Bahubali, in the meditative kayotsarga posture, joins the great statues of Shravanabelagola, Karkala and Venur as one of the colossi of the south, and it testifies to the Jain identity that underlies the administration of this remarkable centre.

Beyond its religious significance, Dharmasthala is famous for its charitable and social works, carried out on a vast scale under the guidance of the Heggade family. These include the provision of free meals to the enormous numbers of pilgrims who visit, the running of educational and medical institutions, programmes for rural development and self-help, and a wide range of philanthropic activities that embody the Jain and dharmic ideals of compassion, giving and service to others. The scale of this charity has made Dharmasthala renowned throughout India as a model of religious institutions serving the wider society.

The atmosphere of Dharmasthala is one of harmony, generosity and devotion, and the town draws vast numbers of pilgrims and visitors of all faiths, who come to worship, to seek the blessings of the shrine, and to partake of the hospitality and charity for which the place is famous. The combination of Jain administration, a widely venerated deity, a great Bahubali statue, and immense charitable works makes Dharmasthala unlike any other centre in the country.

For the Jain community, Dharmasthala is a source of particular pride, demonstrating the tradition's ideals of ahimsa, compassion and service put into practice on a grand scale, and its custodianship by a Jain family for so many generations testifies to the enduring role of the community in the religious and social life of the region. The town stands as a living example of the harmony among faiths that the Jain tradition, with its principle of anekantavada, or the many-sidedness of truth, has long fostered.

Dharmasthala lies in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka and is reached by road, with the coastal city of Mangaluru serving as the nearest major transport centre. The site can be visited through the year, and the free hospitality extended to pilgrims is legendary.

For the pilgrim of any faith, Dharmasthala offers a profound experience of devotion, charity and harmony, and for the Jain in particular it stands as a testament to the tradition's ideals of compassion and service, a place where dharma is not only worshipped but lived, under the ancient guardianship of a devoted Jain family.