Gigantic Statue of Bahubali Gomateswar in Sravana Belagola- Part1

Sravana belagola is about 150 kms from Bangalore. It is a
prominent Jain piligrim center. It is famous for the 58 feet tall statue of
lord Bahubali. This huges statue is built from a single stone. It is said to be
the tallest statue of Asia.

There are two hills in Sravana belagola, one is big
(Doddabetta) called Bindhyagiri and another is small (Chikka betta) called
Chandragiri. The huge statue of Bahubali is there on Bindhyagiri hills. We
stayed in the Yatri Nivas, a guest house managed by the Temple trust. The accommodation
was resonable and was quite confortable.

After having our lunch we started climbing the Bindhyagiri
hill of Sravana belagola. Mom (87 years) was with us. It was her third visit to
Sravana belagola. She was slow in climbing but was quite confortable. She
counted the steps to be 576 in the long stretch. Mom was the only person of her
age. All other visitors were surprising to see such an old lady climbing the
hill.

After that there are about 100 steps at the top to reach the
Gomateswar statue.

While climbing Bindhyagiri, we could see the views of
Sravana belagola township, temple tank Kalyani, Chandragiri betta etc. which
were all very beautiful.

Before reaching the Bahubali statue at the top, we saw
Trikuta Jaina Chaityalaya on the way. This is a temple of three famous
teerthankaras, named, Adinath, Shantinath and Neminath. Besides we also saw
many other small shrines on both the sides while climbing on the hill. Finally
we reached the top of the hill and saw the Gigantic Bahubali statue.  This monolythic statue is unique of its kind.
We felt so lucky to visit this temple again.