'Real-Life Bahubali': Olympic Medalist Ravi Dahiya Performs Jalabhishek At Shiva Temple Upon Returning Home

Olympic silver medalist Ravi Dahiya performed the ‘Jalabhishek’ of the Shivling at a Shiva temple upon returning home from the quadrennial event.

As per local media reports, Dahiya’s family had lit an Akhand Jyot at his home so that the 23-year-old wrestler realises his wish of finishing at the podium in the Olympics.

This devout gesture has earned the grappler the name of a ‘real-life Bahubali’, drawing parallel from the character played by actor Prabhas in the famous two-part movie.

Dahiya in fact comes across as a very religious person, given that he along with friend and fellow Olympian Deepak Poonia had trekked to the world’s highest Shiva temple situated in Tunagath in Uttarakhand in 2020.

The wrestler also visited Jammu on Monday to meet his mentor Vickrant Mahajan. A few years back, Mahajan had initiated the GoAthlete Program to mentor Indian athletes for this year’s Olympics, and this was where the two had met, OpIndia reports.

“Initially my goal was to just qualify for the Olympics but Vickrant inspired me to set the goal for a medal and asked me to commit wholeheartedly to it,” Dahiya was quoted in a report by the aforementioned website.

“Together, we have worked out a vision for the next 10 years and this is just the beginning,” he further added.