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Date of journey: 12/09/2009

Starting from: Bangalore

Destination: Shravanabelagola

Crew: Maneesh and Ambrish.

Route: Bangalore-30->Nelamangala-45->Kunigal-17->Yediyur-39->Hirisave-17->Shravanabelagola (in km.)

Total distance of Shravanabelagola from Bangalore: 148 km.

Route details: Go to Yeshwanthpur and take Tumkur Road (NH 4) to reach Nelamangala. At Nelamangala, turn left and take NH 48. On NH 48 you will come across Kunigal, Yediyur and Hirisave. Turn left from Hirisave to go to Shravanabelagola.

I took my bike with Ambrish in the pillion. We started our journey on a rainy morning (well, it was not our plan to go on for a bike trip on a rainy morning) at 6 am from Bangalore. We went to Nelamangala and had tea over there. Near Nelamangala, we saw a huge statue of Lord Hanuman:

Then, we took NH 48. On the way we halted for breakfast. We had very tasty idli and dosa over there. There were some ducks roaming around and I offered them some dosa which they readily accepted. After they were comfortable with us, I took some shots:

After an hour drive we reached Kunigal. It was all good until here. Then, it started raining and we were stuck in the middle. It was a light drizzle, but in a bike even the drizzle was like bullets right at my face. We waited in shades then we drove and again we waited until we reached Yediyur. The rains were continuous at that time, but we thought of moving on as our plan was to drive back home on the same day. It was raining and I was driving like mad, though at very less speed around 30-40 km/hr. After a couple of hours drive we reached Hirisave. I was completely drenched and Ambrish was a little bit. Still, we moved on and reached Shravanabelagola at 12:30 am. Shravanabelagola is a city located in the Hassan district. It is one of the most important Jain pilgrim centers. It reached a peak in architectural and sculptural activity under the patronage of Gangas of Talakad. In Kannada language, “Bel” means white while “kola”, the pond, is an allusion to the beautiful pond in the middle of the town. The rains took a couple of hours extra. I was completely drenched. I was having a spare T-shirt, but my pants were gone. From a local shop I got a new trouser and I changed my T-shirt. We were again ready. There are two hills, Chandragiri (Chikkabetta) and Vindhyagiri. We thought of climbing Vindhyagiri first as there lies the great statue of Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali.

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