-| Hassan Tour | -
Situated 118 kilometers northwest from Mysore, Hassan is the most convenient
place to use as a base to visit Sravanbelgola, Belur and Halebid.
Halebid
32 kilometers from Hassan, It is a historic town which used to be the capital
of Hoysalas. At present, this town is famous for Hoysaleshwar Temple, dedicated
to Lord Shiva. The construction of this temple was started in 12th Century
and even after 87 years of construction, it was never completed. This temple
has got some of the most intricately carved sculptures in India. It is a star
- shaped temple with two identical buildings, out of these two, active worship
is being done in only one temple. There are also two Nandi bulls. One of them
is 16 ft. long and is 7th largest in India. The entire temple complex is a
masterpiece of art and carving. The most notable feature are the twelve hundred
elephants carved on the outer wall and none of these elephants are alike.
There are about 20,000 sculptures in this temple.
Belur
Belur is situated 37 kilometers northwest of Hassan and during 11th and 12th
Century, this town used to be Hoysala capital. This town is famous for its
Chennakeshva (Long Haired Lord Krishna) Temple the construction of which was
started by King Vishnuwardhana in 1116 AD and it took 103 years to complete.
Like Hoysaleshwar temple of Halebid, this temple is also star-shaped. This
temple is excellent example of Hoysala architecture. The temple has 6 feet
deity standing on a 3 ft. high pedestal. Built of grey - green Chlorite, this
temple is covered with intricate sculptures. Many of the sculptures depict
scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharat. The complete temple complex has got many
shrines dedicated to different deities surrounded by a huge outer walls that
443 ft. X 396 ft. in size. The complex also has a five storied Gopuram over
the main entrance. The temple courtyard has a tall stone pillar which is balanced
only on its center of gravity. This temple is highly impressive building where
the worshipping is still being done and is open to foreigners.
Sravanbelgola
It is the most important Jain shrine and is located 51 kilometers southeast
of Hassan. The major attraction of this place is 58 ft. high statue of Sage
Gomateshwara (Lord Bahubali), the largest monolithic statue in the world. This
statute is situated on the top of Vindhyagiri hill and can be seen from a distance
of 24 kilometers The statue was completed in 981 AD and was dedicated to Bahubali
- the son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhdev. To reach the statue, one has
to climb 600 steps, the most important time to visit is during the Maha Mastak
Abhisheka which comes after every 12 years. During this period the 1800 years
old statue of Gomateshwara is bathed with precious stones, milk, ghee, yogurt,
saffron and gold coins. During last festival, Gomateshwar was bathed with 1000
liters of milk, 1008 containers of water, 150 liters of sugarcane juice, saffron
and lots of sandalwood. The next Abhishek is slated for 2005 AD.
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