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| The Statue of Gomateshwar |
Shravanabelagola in Hassan District, 157 km. away from Bangalore is an important Jaina centre. There is a pond and two stony hills, called Chandragiri and Indragiri. Chandragiri has the Chandragupta basadi of the Gangas and the Parshwanatha basadi here is the biggest. The town below the hill has the Jaina matha whose walls have very old paintings. Indragiri has the Gommata monolith, 58' tall, installed by a Ganga general and scholar Chavundaraya, in 982 A.D. There is also Siddhara basadi, Odegal basadi, Chennanna basadi, Chauwisa Tirthankara basadi besides the finely engraved Tyagada Brahmadeva pillar with excellent floral designs. To the north of the town is Jinanathapura which has Aregal basadi and the Shantinatha basadi of Hoysala times. Shravanabelagola has over 500 inscriptions, and some of them record the death of Jaina ascetics and laymen by observing starvation ('sallekhana']. Gommata here is an image of unrivalled beauty. Head Anoiting (Maha Masthakabhisheka) festival is held once in 12 years.
Evolution of Sravanabelagol:
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| Wall Relief |
The Vindhyagiri hill is home to a thousand-year-old 17.38 meter monolithic stone statue of the Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali, considered to be the world's largest monolithic stone statue, built by Chamundaraya, a general of King Gangaraya. The base of the statue has inscriptions in Kannada (dated 981 CE) and Tamil, as well as the oldest evidence of written Marathi, from 981 AD. These inscriptions on the base of this thousand-year old statue is a tribute to the King from his general, Chamundaraya, who had funded the construction of the statue. The inscription concerns the Ganga king who funded the effort, and his general Chamundaraya, who erected the statue for his mother. Every 12 years, thousands of devotees congregate here to perform the Mahamastakabhisheka, a spectacular ceremony in which the thousand-year-old statue is anointed with milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins. The next Mahamastakabhisheka will be held in 2018 A.D.
Inscriptions of Sravanabelagol :
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| Inscriptions in Samskrith at the base of Gomateshwar |
More than 800 inscriptions are found at Shravanabelagola, dating from various points during the period from 600 to 1830 CE. A large number of these are found in the Chandragiri, and the rest can be seen in the Indragiri and the town. Most of the inscriptions at the Chandragiri date to before the 10th century. The inscriptions include text in the Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil, Marathi, Marwari and Mahajani languages. The second volume of Epigraphia Carnatica, written by Benjamin L. Rice is dedicated to the inscriptions found here. Shravanabelagola abounds in inscriptions that are in various Halagannada (Old Kannada) and Purvahalagannada (Pre-Old Kannada) characters. Some of these inscriptions mention the rise and growth in power of Gangas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar empire and Mysore Wodeyars. These inscriptions have helped modern scholars in understanding the nature, growth and development of the Kannada language and its literature.
Shravanabelagola is the seat of the ancient Bhattaraka Math, belonging to the Desiya Gana lineage of Mula Sangh, from the Digambar monstic tradition. The Bhattarakas are all named Charukirti.
To find it, take the road to Nelamangala (27 km), and turn left onto NH-48. Divert from Hirisave to Sravanabelagola, and cover 18 km to reach the place. |
