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Sravanabelagola
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29th or 30th January 2005.
Sravanabelagola means the monk of the White Pond. It is one of the oldest and most important Jain centres in India. We came here as a day trip, on a bumpy bus from Hassan, to see the Giant Gomateshvara (Bahubali - a Jain deity).
Sravanabelagola is a lovely town surrounded by serene country side.
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A very colourful vegetable stall, where locals go about their day at the foot of the hill of the Gomateshvara Statue.
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Jason looks nervous as another tourist gets their hands on his camera......
He is quite chuffed the photo is so bad as he can use this as an excuse not to have a cheesy photo again.
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The Gomateshvara Statue. This huge 17 metre statue is apparently the worlds largest monolithic statue (although we aren't so sure). The Ganga king, Rachamalla commissioned this in AD 981.
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The feet are cool, and the mini gold version of the statue.
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The statue is carved out of a single block granite, and has that most endearing of Jain traits in full view.
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The holy man performs ceremonies for all - at a little cost.
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We walked barefoot up the 614 rock carved steps to the statue, and we saw many people being carried up the steps in a wicker basket bamboo pole thing.
These kids seemed to be having the most fun, sliding down the polished surface between the steps on their belly.
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Jason poses next to the elephant fresco dyed with vegetable colouring.
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More smut. Lions shagging.
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Nearby, were other Jain temples; this one was believed to have been built by Emperor Ashoka. For some reason the statue is protected by barbed wire.
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The school kids were all in their uniforms and very excited about our camera.
You couldn't help but have a lump in your throat as you looked closely and could see the half hanging together shoes, and massive holes in their socks. They were very happy and good fun to hang out. They don't have much, but they seem to enjoy every moment.
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The locals dry and do something with coconut shells to make coir. Coir is used to make bags, carpets, door mats, brooms and other cheap, fibrous stuff. Jason is obsessed with coir, and can often be seen on the back of a tuk tuk, or wandering down a street pointing out 'coir' to Claire. He has no idea how much he does this, or how much this doesn't interest Claire.
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We got back on our bumpy local bus to Hassan. We had had a great day, and were looking forward to bed after a very early train and several buses in one day.
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