Sravanabelagola is just a day trip (about 100 km) from Mysore in the South Indian state of Karnataka. In fact, it’s often bundled together by Mysore tour bus operators with stops at two ruin cities of the Hoysala kingdom, Haledid and Belur - splendid temples at both locations.
Shortly after we arrived as exchange students at Mysore University back in ‘74, our chaperone arranged for the twelve of us to take this very tour. We were eager to get out and see something of the countryside with our cameras at the ready. Our sprawling campus had already become somewhat too claustrophobic for our tastes.
Of the three sites, Sravanabelagola was by far the most dramatic. This was said to be one of the most popular Jain pilgrimage centers in South India, and is known for its colossal monolithic statue of Gomateswara at the top of a hill. (All Jain pilgrimage sites are atop of hills.) We climbed the time-worn steps that went up the mountain. And that’s exactly how it was. Not only was there a giant statue, but Jain priests were busy conducting a ceremony, pouring milk, curds, ghee and saffron over the naked stone idol. I stood there and watched in wonder and took a picture.
Thirty years later would find me in Mysore once again. My wife and I signed up for the three-site tour. Sravanabelagola was our first stop. I was eager to see it again. Nothing much looked familiar, but that was to be expected after so many years. There was a brand-new entrance gate at the bottom. We started our climb. Somebody said there are 500 steps to the top. Indeed, we could not see the top. We climbed higher and higher. Now and again, naked men passed us going the other way, their faces smeared with ash. We stopped frequently to catch our breath and look around. The higher we climbed, the stronger the breeze became. It felt good.
At last we reached the top. The sheer size of the statue took my breath away. It stood serenely atop of the mountain and had bamboo scaffolding all around it. My mind balked. I tried hard to reconcile what confronted me at that moment with my admittedly sketchy memory of same. For one thing, this statue was gleaming bright under the clear Karnataka skies. The one I remembered was black (which was entirely possible for, I was told, the ghee poured over the stone sometimes had the tendency to turn the stone dark). Yet, I grudgingly decided that this was not the same statue I had seen the first time around. If I had, I would have remembered it. It’s sheer size alone made it unforgettable.
And this remains a mystery. Where exactly was I when I thought I was there thirty years back? There was another hill in town. I thought maybe, back then, we had climbed the other one. I searched the internet, but found nothing even close to what I remembered at that location. I asked my professor who had been in charge of us back then. I asked my wife who had grown up in Mysore and made this pilgrimage any number of times. All came up empty.
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Today the mystery was solved. It seems that not 20 km from Mysore there’s
Gommatagiri. A 700-year-old statue of black granite stands atop a fifty meter tall hillock called 'Shravana Gudda'. This statue of Gomateshwara is said to be an early Vijayanagara creation . The center attracts many pilgrims during the annual ‘Maha masthakabhisekha', held in September. That would coincide with the time we were there.
The statue at Gommatagiri has a striking resemblance to its famous counterpart in Sravanabelagola except that it is dwarfed by comparison. Googling Gommatagiri and then clicking on images, I finally solved the puzzle that had haunted me for nearly half a lifetime.
Peter Koelliker; pkoelliker8@yahoo.com
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