2018 Mahamastakabhisheka: Brighter and better Led magic for Bahubali

In an innovative measure, LED bulbs have been used to illuminate streets and monuments at Shravanabelagola for the Mahamastakabhisheka for 20-days (February 7-27) . The advanced technology bulbs will cut down  power consumption and ensure the illumination of the area and the monuments is much brighter. The LED bulbs were  not available in the market during the previous Mahamastakabhisheka of 2006, Now the technology has improved over the years and CESC engineers have used LED bulbs for the 2018 head anointing ceremony.

The cynosure of all eyes, the Bahubali statue too has been illuminated. A combination of colours using floodlights will be flashed on the gigantic Bahubali statue, 58.8 meters in height,  from the inaugural day (February 7) of the  Mahamastakabhisheka all the way till the valedictory ceremony  on February 27.

Having decided to illuminate the statue, Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (CESC) engineers worked on the colour combination and included amber and yellow lights among others,” says Satish Kumar, who heads the sub-committee on illumination for the Mahamastakabhisheka. Five power beams will focus on the Bahubali statue. One beam will cover the face while two others will be focused on the body and the remaining floodlights will focus on the toes.

The required permission from officials concerned of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) who are the custodians of the monuments at Shravanabelagola, has been obtained by the engineers and they have exercised caution so as to not do any drilling to fix the flood lights to illuminate Bahubali. “We have placed floodlights opposite the statue,” says Satishkumar. 

Even during the previous Mahamastakabhisheka ceremonies, the statue of Bahubali was illuminated but CESC this time is using advanced technology wherein they will programme the colours on Bahubali using computers. In earlier ceremonies, the colour programming was done manually.

Meanwhile, CESC officials have also illuminated the three rows of steps on Vindhyagiri leading to the Bahubali statue and the monuments at Chandragiri Hill besides the ancient Kalyani (pond) and roads for 20-days.

“Small LED bulbs will be used to illuminate the monuments. With the usage of LED bulbs, illumination of Shravanabelagola and monuments will be much better,” says Mr Satishkumar.