karnataka triangular circuit B H S

Belur, Halebid and Sravanabelagola has long been on my list of 'must see' places. Exquisite carvings at Belur and Halebid have been folklore since school geography books extolled their architecture.Sravanabelagola is not in the same league but is near enough to these places and gets featured once in twelve years for a great festival of the jain saint Gomateshwar. The tallest monolithic structure in India is a definite yes for a visit.

We visited sravanabelgola first by road from Bangalore. Took just 3 hours on a pleasant winter morning.Did not spot a single hotel/dabba to have breakfast. Made do with some biscuits and bun butter jam from a bakery on the way. The place is full of sprawling and comfortable quarters for pilgrims. We started climbing the hillock straight away but not before arming us with a pair of socks each to save the feet from the scorching steps; my friend had frightened us that we will get back with blisters on our feet, recalling her earlier visit where they had to literally dance their way up and down due to the hot rock surface.We derisked ourselves and as it often happens we did not need to use our protection! It was a pleasant climb , the steps being carved out of the huge rock surface. Pilgrims/ kings had inscribed on the rock face and the authorities have preserved them by a unique system of covering the surface with a glass panelling! The gomateshwar statue was imposing and it had to be being 80 feet tall. The grandeaur of the structure would have been more if the buildings surrrounding the statue were not around. Devout jains were chanting prayers in the nearby halls. The USP of the statue apart from the imposing height was the well proportioned limbs it was said. It has some good restaurants and we had good appetite to do justice to lunch.

Our next halt was Halebid. The great structure was flat and laid out well and ASI is maintaining it well and a nearby lake did nothing to detract the beauty of the sculptures. Every available space on the walls, pillars and ceiling was intricately carved. The whole place just took my breadth away and i remarked that this is the most beautiful place i have ever seen. I kept comparing Dilwara temple at Mt Abu. There were intricate carvings there too but here they were more intricate and beautiful. The entire outer surface was also beautifully carved and we took our time looking over them and marvelling at the beauty. Lots of figurines were destroyed by winning armies I guess. We said no to help of a guide for the simple reason, we did not want him to give gory details of the past and spoil our mood. Two siva temples were inside the structure and two nandis were duly sitting in a nearby enclosure gazing fixedly at siva! We had the sweetest tender coconut juice that we have ever tasted for seven rupees each.

We headed straight to Belur and the terrain was interspersed with overflowing lakes much to our surprise when we were prepared for dry and arid region. Sunflower,cauliflower, tomatoes and jowar, arecanut and of course coconut plantations fringed the road. The roads were quite good and well maintained.

Belur is another beautiful place and a must see. Here the architect has paused and did beautiful figurines but did not have the feverishness of the Halebid one to fill up every available space. This place is also larger with a main structure and several smaller structures around it. The outer walls were again intricately carved and we kept looking and pointing out each and every beautiful piece. The more we saw the more our wonderment grew! They have no business to make such beautiful pieces we kept repeating non stop.