Sravanabelagola is a small town between Bangalore and Hassan. It is a holy place for Jains and is world famous for the largest monolith statue of Lord Gometeshwara (a.k.a Bahubali). Legend has it that King Chandra Gupta Maurya spent his last few years here.

The town is split by two hills Indragiri and and Chandragiri. Indragiri is the larger of the two hills and it is on this hill that the Gomateshwara statue lies. There are more than 500 steps that lead to the temple up. You are not allowed to wear footwear. It is a pretty steep climb for the weak hearted and out of shape (yours truly) techie. One good thing is that the authorities have put up railings so that you do not slip.

The Chandragiri hill is opposite to the Indragiri hill, though much smaller. The steps that lead to the top are not so well done as Indragiri hill. I have never been up this hill (for the obivious reason - too exhausted after the climb to see Gomateshwara). However, i know there is a temple up there as well. I shall try and make another visit to see only Chandragiri.

Mid way up, there is temple. The foundation od the temple is giving way and protected by the ASI.

Next to the temple is this pillar which i think is called the Narasimha Pillar.

The magnificent 58 feet monolith statue of Gomateshwara. One rarely finds well maintained scultptures in India, However, this is an exception. The Jains have maintained extremely well and the scultpure is spotless. The same cannot however be told for anything else around the sculpture.

Though the temple is a Jain temple, the Hindu influence can be seen with this carving of Lord Vishnu at the entrance to the main temple.

This sculpture is done in the Gandarvha style rather than the Hoysala style which is prevailant in this region.

All over the hill and the walls you will find writings. These tell the stories of Chandra Gupta Maurya. Its written in the old devanagiri and kannada script.