Shravenabelagola (53 kilometres from Hassan) is one of the most celebrated lain sites in southern India. It is not to see a particular monument that one comes here but for the location and the concept. From the early years of the Christian era lair missionaries moved to southern India in a steady stream spreading their philosophy of ahimsa or non-violence.
Their presence is marked in the Deccan and there are also Jain temples in Tamil Nadu, and in Karnataka at Karkal and Dharmasthal. At Shravenabelagola the site is reported to have been well-known from Mauryan times but in the ninth to tenth centuries a large Jain settlement was established. A general of the Ganga ruler Rachamalla, called Chamundaraya, commissioned this statue in AD 981. A hill (143 metres high) called Vindhyagiri stands beside a tank and, along with other hillocks like Chandragiri, all have interesting Jain monasteries and shrines. Dominating the view from the plains below is the colossal (i 7. 7 metres) monolithic Statue of Gommateshvara.
This statue, one of the largest in the world, represents Bahubali. Son of the first Tirthankara, Bahubali renounced his kingdom and sought enlightenment. Standing motionless for a year, the naked ascetic meditated on the meaning of life. Creepers and plants grew beside his gentle, calm presence. The idea of creating such a gigantic statue is unusual, but to place it upright on top of a hillock so that Bahubali`s naked frame is `draped by the sky` is an exceptional? also singular. His calm undisturbed expression is framed by elongated ears; his very long arms lie rigid beside him, while creepers have been carved climbing up his colossal legs.
Every twelve years (last in 1993) a special celebration takes place and the giant image is bathed (from enormous scaffolds and temporary platforms) with bucketfuls of milk and honey, and other.