Shri Digamber Jain Atishaya Kshetra, Shravanabelgola, District-Hassan (Karnataka)

Shravanabelagola is a historical temple town and pilgrimage centre in Karnataka, located in South India. This small town boasts of the largest number of Digambara temples as well as the largest number of inscriptions in the country.The cynosure of the centuries, Gommateshwara towers in his 57 feet solitary serene splendour, over the surrounding countryside. This freestanding monolithic statue, which crowns the 438 feet high present- day Indragiri or Vindhyagiri, hewn out of granite is the largest of its kind in the world. Majority scholastic opinion dates its consecration by Chavundaraya, a general of the Ganga dynasty, to 981 A.D. He was inspired by his mother Kalala Devi. The statue was executed in 12 years by Mahashilpi Arishtanemi. Earlier Indragiri, with 647 steps, was called ‘Per-Kalbappu’ (Large-Kalbappu) or Dodda Betta. There are 7 types of monuments – eight small and large temples, four mantaps, two ponds, five gateways or fortresses, three pillars, two arches and 172 inscriptions. These, in Kannada, Sanskrti, Marvadi Mahajani, Tamil and Marathi, date from the late 10th to 19th cent A.D.