Shravanabelagola

I have seen pictures of Gomateshwara, and have heard that it is the largest monolithic statue in India. The more pictures I saw, the more I wanted to go to the place to see him for myself.

I had planned Shravanabelagola several times, but it never materialized. Finally we made it, but on the way to Chikmaglur. We visted Belur and Halebid temple complexes as well.

These three places can be visited from Bangalore as a single day excursion.

One can reach Shravanabelagola by road, and the route is simple. Drive from Bangalore – towards Hassan via Nelamangala. After Nelamangala, one has to take a 18 kms detour towards a small village on the left to reach Shravanabelagola.

You will find yourself driving through small villages, paddy fields and the scenery looks beautiful. I remembered that the Gomateshwara temple is on the top of a small hillock, but there were no hillocks at sight. I was wondering, if we were going in the right way. Then suddenly, we saw the statue of Gomateshwara rising high on top of the hillock.

A few hillocs appear in the horizon and one can see a temple at the top. The statue of Gomateshware can be seen as we drive closer to the temple premise.

We left Bangalore at about 7.30 am and we reached Shravanabelagola temple premises at about 9 am.

We parked the car in the parking lot. The scenery around was like that of any other temple town. There were rows of shops for pooja items – flowers, baskets with coconut, agarbathis, betel leaves, saffron, framed photos of the diety and religious books. As Mahavir is the God of the Jains, there were a lot of Jains in the area.

We had a quick breakfast in the nearby restaurant. Idlis are best when you travel. Coffee in these areas is also good, as we are now close to coffee country – Chikmaglur.

We deposited our footwear at the temple entrance. We purchased socks from a local vendor for Rs. 25 per pair. First we thought that it is not going to be of much use. But, we realized that as the time went by, the mountain steps started getting hot like a oven. The socks really helped.

There are 2 hillocks and a pond here - Chandragiri and Indragiri. Chandragiri has the Chandragupta basadi of the Gangas and the Parashwanatha basadi here is the biggest. The town below the hill has the Jaina matha whose walls have very old paintings.

Indragiri has the Gomateshwara monolith, 58' tall, installed by a Ganga general and scholar Chavundaraya, and also Siddhara basadi, Odegal basadi, Chennanna basadi and Chauvvisa Tirthankara basadi, and also the finely engraved pillar called Tyagada Brahma Pillar. The floral designs on it are excellent.

To the north of town is Jinanathapura which has the Aregal basadi and the Shantinatha basadi of Hoysala times.

Shravanabelagola has over 500 inscriptions, and some of them are recording death by starving (`sallekhana') by Jaina ascetics and laymen.

Indragiri has nearly 600 steps to the top, where the Gomateshwara statue is present. These steps are not steep like in the case of Tirupati steps, but, as you go higher, one tends to get tired. There are two sets of steps – one set to go up, and one set to come down.

We started climbing the steps slowly. We decided that we ought to finish the entire thing, climbing up, darshan and climbing down in 1 and half hours. We had to proceed to Halebid and Belur after this.

As we reached a little higher, we could get a complete view of the town below. It looked really beautiful with all the coconut trees and the terracotta tiled roofs on top of the buildings. Right in front of the temple is a small temple tank, and its view with the water and the reflection of the gopuram in the water, looked beautiful. Right in front of this temple, was another hillock - Chandragiri, with temple on top of it. We could see the steps and could see people climbing the stairs. We took a few quick photographs.

We found people of all ages climbing the steps. For old people who cannot climb, there were palanquin bearers, who would take carry you up on a chair for Rs. 150 ( one way ). We saw several old people using this service.

We reached the temple on the top in about 30 mins. We took a little rest as we were running short of breath. The temple had a larger entrance and had huge doors. It has statues of several dieties and several inscriptions in a language I could not understand.

We entered the premise and then the statue of the Gomateshwara appeared in front of us. He was so tall and beautiful. Wonderful features were chiseled on stone by master craftsmen. There were devotees performing puja.

We spend some time, outside the temple, looking at the scenery below the hillock - lots of coconut trees and beautiful fields.

I must say that the temple is being maintained quite well, and I felt glad that at last I could do this trip to see the Gomateshwara.

A special puja is held once in 10 years. At this time, Gomateshwaras statue is bathed with milk, honey, curd, ashes, sweets, ghee and other important ingredients. Special poojas are also performed here during Mahavir Jayanthi.

How to get there :

By Air / Rail : Bangalore ( 157 Kms )

By Road : Shravanabelagola is well connected by road from all important towns in Karnataka. You can here from Mysore, Bangalore or Hassan.

Best time : Any time of the year, but during summer, a pair of socks can come in handy. The boulders can get really hot in summer

Trip duration : 1 day

Places to stay : One goes to Shravanabelagola while visiting Belur and Halebid. The best places to stay at are in Hassan, Chikmaglur and in Bangalore. It is not really necessarily to stay at Shravanabelagola.