Venur (Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka), February 6, 2012: It was a dream come true for Delhi-based businessman Raj Kumar Jain of Veera Constructions, when he anointed Lord Bahubali on the final day of the Mahamastakabhisheka with the pratham kalasha, the first of the 1,008 kalashas to be poured on the 35-foot-high monolith, here on Sunday at 6.45 pm. He bought the pratham kalasha for Rs 11 lakh.
Though the price pales in comparison to the price of pratham kalasha that was used to anoint Bahubali at Shravanabelagola in 2006- a whopping Rs 1.08 crore bid by Ashok Patni – a marble trader from Rajasthan, Jain said that he was the next highest bidder for the second kalasha at Shravanabelagola. “It was close to the highest bid amount at Shravanabelagola,” he told TOI without disclosing the amount he paid for the kalasha at Shravanabelagola.
Jain, who was present at the Mahamastakabhisheka held in Venur in 2000, said that it was the reverence to Bahubali than anything else which prompted him to buy the kalasha. “During the process of buying the pratham kalasha, I told V Dhananjaya Kumar, executive president, Bhagavan Shri Bahubali Swami Mahamasthakabhisheka Committee, that I would be pleased if the amount was used for a good cause like education or the like,” said Jain, who has attended four Mastakabhisheka till date.
On the last day of the event on Sunday, the Shathamana (denoting five centuries of installation of the monolith) kalashas, which are five in number and are valued at Rs 5 lakh each, remained unsold. So too, Rathna kalasha, ten in number, priced at Rs 3 lakh each and Amrutha kalasha, 20 in number costing Rs 2,55,555 each.
Of the 40 Suvarna kalashas available and priced at Rs 1,11,111 each, only one was bought, according to Ashok Jain, secretary of the Mahamasthakabhisheka Committee. While 19 of the 25 available Rajatha Kalashas priced at Rs 55,555 each were bought, only four of the 25 Dhavala Kalashas costing Rs 25,555 each, were bought. Likewise, of the 100 Shanthi Kalashas worth Rs 11,111 each, only 46 were sold and 124 of the 250 Janamangala kalashas valued at Rs 5,555 each were sold.
However, Bhakthi kalasha, which were only 532 in number costing Rs 2,555 was oversold with as many as 584 devotees buying it. “Irrespective of this fact, we have 1008 kalashas for the final day,” said Jain. – News Courtesy: Times of India