Trip to SharavanBelagola and Rosary Church

During the beginning of the month of February we planned a small one day trip to Shravan Belagola, Halebeid, Belur, etc. We were pretty excited. Even though my husband had already visited these places, he was also excited as he was taking us. My parent’s-in-law also accompanied us. We started at about 10.30 in the morning and reached Shravan Belagola at about 12.30 in the afternoon. As it was lunch time we had a nice mouthwatering Jain food. It was like a small house where they served on plates with steaming hot rotis, dhal, rice, subji and curd. They served us how much ever we want. But our Indian tradition was followed there which attracted all of us. They had put mats on the floor and served on plates. Its our Indian culture that we sit on mats on the floor and eat our food as it is a very good exercise to sit on the floor and eat.
Then we proceeded to climb the steps. It was very hot and the hilly spot was rocks all over. So we bought socks for all of us except my husband as he had already one and wore so that the hot sun didn’t affect our soul in the legs. We had to climb more than 1000 steps. It was so nice even though it was exciting. We reached within half-an-hour. The place was full of silence. I would like to share a few information of the place which I read and have heard about it.

The History of the Place:

This place is situated at about 10kms away from the place called Hassan. It is said that the Jain Guru resides in a mutt here and they teach the Sanskrit language which is the very oldest language of India and the Shastra and puranas here.
There are two hills here the Vindyagiri and the Chandragiri which is said that the last two important followers of the Jain religion the Bhadrabahu Swami and the famous emperor Chandragupta Maurya who transformed himself as a saint , did penance in this hill. So on the Chandragiri is the temple dedicated Chandragupta Basadi, who was chandragupta Maurya earlier , was built by the famous king Ashok. The temple in the Vindyagiri is dedicated to Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali was built by General Chamundaraya to fulfill his mother’s wish. The statue of Gomateshwara is 17.38 meters high which is made of a monolythic stone. Here a pooja called Mahamastakabhisheka takes place and thousands devotees gather here to perform the pooja. They do Abhisheka for Gomateshwara with milk, curd, ghee, etc. This place is also famous for the inscriptions here in Kannada, Tamil and Kannada.

We will now proceed on our further journey. We again climbed down after our dharshan and prayers. We were filled with peace of mind and full of spiritual thoughts. We reached down at about 3.45. We did a little shopping for the soft toys available there and started our journey towards Hassan. As we reached Hassan it was about 5 in the evening. My husband suggested a place called Rosary Church which is on the banks of the Hemavathy river. He wanted us to take there as the waters of the river cover the church till the terrace during almost all the months of the year. So we proceeded our journey towards it to have a glimpse and blessings of the God. Whatever the religion be? I believe that there is always some supreme power beyond all of us who keep guarding us all day and night. We had to travel to the place through small villages and then finally through a mud road, fully covered with thorny bushes. Finally when we reached the place even my husband was shocked seeing it as the water had gone behind and we could go near the church to have a full view of it. We were feeling very happy as we could go inside the church and get the grace of the God. It was an old dilapidated one and there are no sermons going on no-a-days as the people don’t know when the dam built across the river Hemavathy would overflow. The scenic beauty also was beautiful and we could see fishermen fishing with their small boats.
We left the place at about 6.15 as it was getting too dark and it would not be very safe to stay there. We started to Halebeid and reached there at about 7.30. But we were very unlucky and the temple was closed as there was no light. We heard from the people there that the temple closes maximum by 7’O clock in the evening. So with a heavy heart we started with a little shopping done for the famous stone statues. On the way back we had our dinner in Hassan again and the food was very good, but little spicy. But it was nice as we all were feeling very hungry after the travel. We reached back Bangalore at about 2’O clock in the night with a little disappointment that we could'nt see Haliebed and Belur. It was a tedious trip but was full of enjoyment. Hope this description given by me will take you around these places with the help of your imagination. Try going to these places. Great! Great Experience!

Description Of the Pictures:

The first three pictures are of Lord Gomateshwara in Shravan Belagola

The last two are at the Rosary church front view and me along with my son near the bank of the river Hemavathy.