After returning from Jordan the last 15days had been back breaking work, plus Toshu's results had just come out and he will start school again in 3 days time, so we decided to complete a long pending wish to go to Shravanbelagola and off we went on Saturday. We left home at 6.15am, mainly so that it is light and we can see the baricades and construction equipment which litters the road till Nelamangala. Comparatively speaking the traffic was light, still it took over an hour to reach Nelamangala and turn left on Hassan Road. The road is alright but with construction and road widening going on after every few kilometers the feeling of driving on a highway is missing, and you just resign yourself to a sedate max of about 60km speed on average.
The route is Nelamangala - Kunigal - Yediyur - Hirisave - Shravanabelagola, a total of 145kms from home. Basically you need to take only 2 left turns, one at Nelamangala on to Hassan road and one at Hirisave towards Shravanbelagola. Thanks to roadwork going on, there are absolutely no signages except at the very end at Hirisave when you are 18kms from Shravanbelagola. The heat had been simmering since morning and even the brief stop at Kunigal for some terrible breakfast (how can someone go so horribly wrong with idlis? - we stopped at this hole in the wall place because there were a lot of cars with Bangalore number plates parked there and mistakenly assumed it will be good), made us wish for the car AC longingly!
You spot Bahubali's head quite clearly atop Vindhyagiri hill a few kms before you actually touch the hill. I had of course thanks to my bad leg resigned myself to the fact that my sighting of Gomatehwara will only be through pictures taken by Ranga and Paritosh, so both the men in my life valiantly set out, refusing the socks being sold as you need to leave your footwear and climb the 650steps barefoot to the hilltop. My suggestions of course were just ignored and armed with camera and water the duo set off. Now I am documenting their narration - on the way to the top around 10am, the climb was not too bad and do-able, and they enjoyed watching the scene unfolding below, the view of the other hill Chandragiri and the tank (bala gola literally meaning 
Silver tank, I guess they meant the water shimmering like white silver in the tank), the various Jain basadis, the statues of the various Jain Tirthankaras, the inscriptions on the hill which have been protected with glass covering by ASI and the statues and 
carvings on the rockface itself. The Basadis (shrines) and the well-preserved inscriptions on the Vindhyagiri date back to a period starting from 600 to 1830 AD, with the inscriptions providing insights into the life of ascetics of that era. I 
believe just before you enter the doorway to see the Gomateshwara, if you look up -the doorway and Bahubali's head are in a single alignment hence Ranga took this pic on the left. Amazing shot huh?? Soon after entering the doorway you are struck by the sheer size of the statue of Gomateshwara, with its serene face looking on benevolently at the people who barely are even see I'm sure from that height! Shravanabelagola, a major Jain pilgrim center, is a sleepy town settled around the two hills, Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri, with the stepped well Kalyani nestled between them. The 57-foot tall statue of Bhagwan (Lord) Bahubali Gomateshwara, the largest monolith in the world, at the top of Vindhyagri Hill, is the city’s claim to fame. This sleepy little town comes to life once every 12 years when the Mahamastabhisheka is performed.
The Bahubali statue itself dates back to 10th century. The 
statue is minimalistic advocating the philosophy of Jainism. It is marvellous - the colossal effort that would have gone into sculpting a statue of such immense proportions is awe inspiring. The face of Lord Bahubali with curled locks exudes nothing but tranquility; creepers entwine his whole body to depict the time he spent meditating in the erect posture before attaining Nirvana / Self Enlightenment. Bahubali, who renounced his kingdom rather than fight his brother, is considered to be the ideal man who conquers selfishness, jealousy, pride and anger, the very basis of Jainism. After spending some time on the top they started their descent, the sun was beating down with full force now and the stone steps had become like hot cinders, with feet getting burnt at every step, the descent was an ode in agony (I'm sure the offer of socks then would have been grabbed with both hands, but alas, no such luck, no sellers allowed on the steps!) - they even played good Samaritans and tried to warn another lot just setting out for the climb to wear socks but it turned out to be deja vu!
statue is minimalistic advocating the philosophy of Jainism. It is marvellous - the colossal effort that would have gone into sculpting a statue of such immense proportions is awe inspiring. The face of Lord Bahubali with curled locks exudes nothing but tranquility; creepers entwine his whole body to depict the time he spent meditating in the erect posture before attaining Nirvana / Self Enlightenment. Bahubali, who renounced his kingdom rather than fight his brother, is considered to be the ideal man who conquers selfishness, jealousy, pride and anger, the very basis of Jainism. After spending some time on the top they started their descent, the sun was beating down with full force now and the stone steps had become like hot cinders, with feet getting burnt at every step, the descent was an ode in agony (I'm sure the offer of socks then would have been grabbed with both hands, but alas, no such luck, no sellers allowed on the steps!) - they even played good Samaritans and tried to warn another lot just setting out for the climb to wear socks but it turned out to be deja vu! Having hobbled down and parked their feet firmly into socks and shoes and downing nearly a gallon of water, some raw mangoes and wiping away the sweat furiously with wet cleansing tissues, nobody was in any mood to talk let alone eat, although simple Jain food is served in small houses or there is the ubiquitous Hotel Raghu! Anyways, it was barely after 11.30am, so we decided to hit back to Bangalore. Just before Kunigal is a Coffee Cafe Day, where we stopped for some sandwiches and the best part of the meal - a long cold glass of coffee. This was lunch. Then it was a drive back weaving through diversions interspersed with short stretches of good road and reached home in the afternoon to dry taps as some pipe had broken on the main road and BWSSB had turned the water supply off for repairs. Once the water supply resumed after 8pm and we could all wash our sweaty faces and the duo had massaged their feet and slathered it with calamine, we sat down to go back over the day and looking at all the lovely photos and thinking of the the beauty of living in a civilisation which has its roots so back in time and yet the customs and rituals are the same even today... Whenever I visit a place seeped in history these days, I always wonder what would be the ruins of our civilization, would they all be digital?
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