[5] The Mahamastakabhisheka festival is held once every 12 years, when the Gommateshwara statue is ritually bathed in milk, saffron, ghee, sugarcane juice (ishukrasa), etc.

His facial features are perfectly chiseled with a faint touch of a smile at the corner of the lips that embodies a calm inner peace and vitality.

The entire figure stands on an open lotus signifying the totality attained in installing this unique statue.

Carved on the rear side of the anthill is also a trough for collecting water and other ritual ingredients used for the sacred bath of the statue.

In the introduction to his English translation of the Gommatsāra, J. L. Jaini writes:The grandeur of the Image, as also its serene-looking and peace-inspiring presence, are well-known to all Jainas and non-Jainas who have the good fortune of visiting it.

They worship the qualities of total renunciation of the world, the acquisition of undisturbable Harmony with the Infinite, and the identity of the liberated soul with peace everlasting, which these images represent.

[10]The event has been attended by multiple political personalities including Krishna-Rajendra Wodeyar in 1910, and Narendra Modi and Ramnath Kovind in 2018.

Kushmandini appeared disguised as a poor old woman holding milk in the shell of half of a white Gullikayi fruit and the abhisheka was done from head to toe.