A day trip to the Jain Heritage Center in Hassan District - Shravanabelagola

Location:
Hassan District
Karnataka

Distance from:
Bangalore - 167 Kms
Mandya - 71 Kms
Hassan - 52 Kms

Estimated Travel Time from:
Bangalore - 3 Hrs & Forty Five Mins
Mandya - One Hour Forty Minutes
Hassan - One Hour

Route:
Bangalore - Bidadi - Ramanagar - Channapatna - Nagamangala - Shravana Belagola

Best Time to Visit:
Any Time during the year. However, Winter season will be pleasant to trek the hills.

Stay:
The nearest place to stay is Hassan.

I, Mr. Naveen & Mr. Sachin planned to visit the monolithic idol of Lord Gomateshwara on Sunday. We started from Bangalore at 07:15 AM in car and were able to reach Shravanabelagola by 11:00 AM after having breakfast in Bidadi. Bidadi is famous for "Thatte Idli", a tasty South Indian breakfast item. There are two hills here, one housing the monolith statue of Lord Gomateshwara and the other small hill housing many Thirthankaras. We planned to first trek Vindyagiri to finish the bigger hill first.

1. Vindhyagiri:

We parked our vehicle on the roadside and started climbing the steps. There is an arch at the bottom of the hill and also a counter to deposit shoes on the right side of the arch.

Arch at the bottom of Vindhyagiri

As we moved further, we found a board displaying the places to been in Shravanabelagola.

Board displaying the places to be seen

We were very happy looking at the hill as it is small and does not require much time to climb. We took about half an hour to reach the top of the hill with small breaks in between for taking pics and rest. The climb to the top of the hill was joyful due to these two people.

Mr. Sachin (on Left) & Mr. Naveen (on Right)

There is big square shaped pond in front of the hill which can be seen in the following pic. The green color of the water shows how dirty it is. The trek was very easy as the steps were clearly carved and there is supporting of metal pipes on either sides of the steps.

On the way to the top of the hill, there were foot steps inscribed on the rocks and protected by borders and by glasses in some places. More than 800 inscriptions were found here dating to various times from 600 A.D. to 1830 A.D.  

As we go up the hill, the cool breeze gives immense pleasure and the view of the surroundings provides a feast to the eyes. This shade helped us in protecting from hot Sun. 

There is a small historically important pillar which is unmatched in artistic beauty called "Thyagada Khamba". It was erected in the late 10th Century and it was believed that King  Chavundaraya distributed gifts to the needy and deserving from here. Another view is that he renounced all his worldly possessions including his life here. 

Thyagada Khamba

A few steps from Thyagada Khamba leads us to "Akhanda Bagilu" or the Monolithic gateway. It has Gajalakshmi panel above the door lintel. Goddess Lakshmi is seated on a Lotus flanked by two elephants who anoint the goddess with pots held in their trunks. This is undoubtedly the best of the Ganga workmanship 

Akhanda Bagilu

The "Mahamasthakabhisheka", the head anointing ceremony will be held once in twelve years in Jain Dharmic cycle. The ceremony of 2006 is 87 of the series commenced in 981 A.D. Thousands of devotees from across the world participates in the ceremony being held for span of twelve days. 

Bahubali

The white idol of "Bahubali" at the top of the hill is about 57 feet tall is magnificent in form and courage. This place is a home for 2300 year Jain Heritage. Bahubali is the son of the first of the twenty four Jain serene is a symbol of courage, gorgeous external appearance, renunciation etc. The statue is called "Statue of Gomateshwara" by Kannada people and "Bahubali" by Jains.

On the three sides of the Bahubali statue, there are idols of many Theerthankaras carved out of different types of stones.

It is in fact a great pleasure to take photo with Bahubali which will be definitely a lifetime memory.

Outside the main temple, there is a small temple dedicated to Lord Ganapathi and below which there is a black colored pillar with a goddess carved on it.

On the way back to the bottom, there is a direction showing directions to a small temple called Channanna Basti. However, the temple was closed when we went. 

Chennanna Basti

With this experience, we came down and went to the other side of the pond to climb the smaller hill, Chandragiri (Chikkabetta).

2. Chandragiri

The small hill opposite to Vindhyagiri derives its name Chandra from the fact that the king Chandraguptha was the first who lived here and did penance. As we were not allowed to wear shoes while climbing the hill, our feet burnt on the heated rocky surface due to hot Sun.

Far View of Vindhyagiri 

We were exhausted due to the journey, climbing the hill, hot Sun and took some rest under some rocks before completing the trekking. The temperature below the rocks was so low that we felt we were sitting in a fridge. 

There is huge temple complex on the top of the hill with many Theerthankars at one place. A board at the entrance of the temple displays the names of Theerthankaras installed there.

Though this place is beautiful and lonely, the statues were in damaged condition. Proper care needs to be taken to protect this ancient treasure.

Bharatha - Bahubali elder brother

The ancient inscriptions are protected in glass box from getting destroyed. The same care is even required for the marvelous statues.

Chavundaraya Statue

This hill has the tomb of Bhadrabahu Muni and many other great Jain devotees at a height of 3052 Feet from sea level. There is a cave of Bhadrabahu with his foot prints.  After enjoying the Jain heritage to the core, we had food late in the afternoon and started back to our home.