Bahubali – Shravanabelagola, Karnataka

Bahubali was the son of the first Tirthankara – Rishabhnathji as per the Jain tradition and is generally regarded as the first to attain siddhapada – freedom from the cycle of births and deaths.

Consecrated in the 980s C.E. and carved in hard granite; the statue of Bahubali at the scenic hill of Vindhyagiri, towers over the town of Sharavanbelagola. The 58 feet+ tall monolith was conceived, commissioned and executed by the Ganga general, Chamudaraya, to fulfil his mother’s wish.

One of the wonders of India, the calm and gentle yet majestic Gommatesvara is a stark reminder of the rich cultural practice of abandoning the mortal body – kayotsarga in favour of attaining kevala jnana – absolute knowledge.

Garima Chaudhry

Garima Chaudhry is the Founder and Editor of Cultural Samvaad and Founder and Managing Partner of Hiranya Growth Partners LLP, a boutique consulting and content advisory firm based in Mumbai.

A scholar-practitioner with deep roots in Indic Studies, Garima has been a visiting faculty member for over a decade at Mumbai University and KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, among other institutions. She has taught diploma, graduate and post-graduate courses in Development of Religious Thought in India, Hindu Thought, Bhartiya Purakatha, Buddhism and Comparative Mythology. She regularly conducts immersive workshops on India's dharmic traditions, civilisational heritage, enduring values, stories and symbols for diverse cohorts across institutions and organisations.

Garima brings over 25 years of leadership experience across financial services, digital payments, eCommerce, education and media. She began her career as a TAS Officer with the Tata Group, working across functions and sectors including FMCG and Power. At Citibank, she held progressive leadership roles culminating as Head of Strategy, Citi South Asia — working with the CEO, South Asia and Asia Pacific office on near and long-term strategic initiatives. Garima earlier led the business team for Digital Marketing, ePayments and eCommerce across India, building one of the country's early digital payment platforms. As Director at Capital18 (Network18), she led investment transactions and managed portfolio companies across focus sectors. She also served as CEO of GreyCells18 (Topperlearning and Topper TV), where she turned around and scaled the company to a 150-member team and built one of India's foremost supplementary education platforms.

Garima holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics from DAV College, Kanpur.Her scholarly interest in India's ancient संस्कृति — culture — and her conviction that a native idiom rooted in India's own ethos is essential to equitable growth and sustainable change, is the founding impulse behind Cultural Samvaad.

View all posts