Get Religious with tours to Shravanabelagola

A very popular and impressive destination in Karnataka, Shravanabelagola comes with its own share of travel attractions and pilgrim pleasures. Situated in the district of Hassan in the state of Karnataka in India, this is one Jain pilgrim destination where everyone must visit. At a height of around 3350 feet above the sea level, this beautiful region lies between the Chandragiri Mountain and the Vindhyagiri Mountain. Around 11 km from a place called Channaryapatna, and around 52 km from the town of Hassan, Shravanabelagola is well connected with the rest of the country in its own way. The city of Bangalore is around 157 kms from Shravanabelagola and hence when we were in Bangalore last month, we decided to visit Shravanabelagola also. We had the time and the interest so very soon we made our way to this popular place.

The name Shravanabelagola comes from the world Bela, which means white and Kola which means a pond. There is a pond in the middle of the town hence the name. Jains consider this as a holy site and in fact, there is a Mutt here where their Guru lives. A Sanskrit Pathshala imparts education of the Sanskrit language and also the Shastras.

It is believed that one of the successors of Vardhamana Mahaveera passed away in a cave in the region of the Chandragiri hill, when there was a migration to the southern part of India from the city of Ujjain, which was facing a 12 year famine. Thus the religion got established in this region.

As we entered the place we saw  many monuments and architectural testimonies of the Hoysalas and the Gangas who ruled here. The Vindhyagiri and the Chandragiri are areas where there are lot of monuments of their times that are found here.

How to Reach

We were quite intrigued by the Kannada language here which was spoken everywhere.

With Bangalore as the nearest airport and Hassan as the nearest railhead, Shravanabelagola is connected to the Indian cities by the national Highway too. We reached here by taking the road to Nelamangala and then the Mangalore Bangalore highway and reached the small Jain hub. The Karnataka Road State Transport Corporation or the KRSTC also has buses which ply between the major cities and Shravanabelagola.

We walked around the town and were quite struck by the simplicity of the place. There were many people who had come here just to relax and it was very interesting to note that the place had this inherent attitude of relaxing and feeling calm. People normally come here to see the Vindhyagiri, the Chandragiri and some temples in and around.

Vindhyagiri Mountain

We went to the Vindhyagiri Mountain which is about 470 feet above the ground. Made of solid rock, this is a place where we had to go barefoot. People of all ages were climbing the rock steps and the steeper the rock, the more exciting it was for us. We got tired of climbing the hill. We saw some elderly being carried up in the palanquin and the chairs. The climb totally fatigued us and we went up and saw the view from above and came down. There are two sets of stairs. We were on one set. The other set is on the western side and this is normally taken if you want to feel calm, and tranquil. The other steps have crowded tourists jostling against each other to get the glimpse of their lord ‘.

Lord Gomateshwara

We saw the huge statue of Lord Gomateshwara measuring 17.38 metres. This monolithic statue is a star attraction in Shravanabelagola tourists from across the world come to see it. There were inscriptions at the base of the statue and these were written in Tamil and Kannada. It also has some Marathi written sometime in the year 981AD. The inscription depicts the praise showered on the Ganga King who financed this effort of creating and erecting the statue. This one piece monolithic is carved exquisitely and has the best depiction Gommata with his curly hear, beautiful eyes and strong arms.

Anthill

Later we  visited the anthill behind which depicted the unbreakable presence of the Lord. There was a snake coming out of the anthill and many creepers which entangled the Lord’s entire body. Believed to be in the Kayotsarga posture, the statue faced north. I also saw the chauri bearers of the Lord – the two Yakshis. One was for male chauri bearer and the other too was the same.

We saw a trough on the back side of the anthill for collecting water and other rituals. There was a hall here which had around 43 images of the Thirthankaras. A woman by the name of Gullakayani was sculpted and shown with good built wearing expensive ornaments.

Brahmadeva temple

Also we went to the Brahmadeva temple on this hill,and we saw the Odegal basti which is the most interesting place here. Also called the Trikuta basti, the name depicts the three cells facing different directions. There is Hoysala period granite too here. This had three cells and a sukhanasi and a mukha mantapa and a navaranga.

The navaranga pillars were looking like cylinders and there was a lotus pendant on the central ceiling. There was a majestic figure of the Adinatha in the main cell and a greatly carved Prabhavali which had male chamara bearers on both sides.

As we came down the steps we were quite happy with our trip to Shravanabelagola, and came back a happy lot. We saw the Chandragiri hill and other places in and around this place and were quite thrilled with our entire experience.