Year: 2023

Halebid The capital of the Hoysala kings who ruled for nearly three centuries, from 1047 to 1343, was, for most of the time, what today is the vilage of Halebid(u) - hale - old, bidu- capital. There is evidence to presume that the Hoysala dynasty came to power with the help of a Jaina ascetic...

Venur  Due to some rivalry between the northern and southern Bhattarakas of this area at the beginning of the seventeenth century, a third Bahubali of colossal size came to be erected at Venur, a then and still small village twenty-five kilometres east of Moodabidri. According to inscriptions, the ten and a half metre high statue...

Moodabiri Moodabidri's Thribhuvana Tilaka Chundamani Basadi, meaning 'The Crest Jewel of the Three Worlds', but better known as Hosa (new) Basadi. A temple which was built in stages between 1430 and 1516, being the last of the town's eighteen Jaina temples. The presiding Jina in the sanctum is a nine foot (2.74 m) high bronze...

Karkala Twelve and a half metre high statue of Bahubali. Erected in 1431-32 on a slope of naked rock at the southern outskirts of Karkala, a township famous for its stonemasons. The Chaturmukha ('four-faced') basti or basadi (both terms mean tem- ple), built in 1586-87, stands on the same slope. This architecturally important temple is...

VARANGA  Lake Temple at Varanga; a unique shrine in a picturesque surrounding The little known Jaina temples of Varanga are within easy reach if one asks the driver of the morning bus from Humcha to Karkala to drop one at the appropriate halt at the northern entrance of Varanga village. From the bus-stop, having left...

Humcha  Main Jaina temple at Humcha. On the left the residence of the Bhattaraka. Two further buildings on the left (not shown here) contain a library and rooms for pilgrims and visitors. The history of Humcha (also Hombuja), a quiet, unobtrusive township and seat of a Jaina Bhattaraka (see next page), began about 1300 years...

Hampi Hampi . Jaina temple popularly known as the Ganigitti (oil woman`s) Temple. Built in 1385. In the early nineteen-eighties. Hampi (alias Vijayanagar) was adopted by young travellers from abroad as an alternative hide-out next to Goa which at that time began to be overrun by tourists. It was a sensible choice to make. The...

Badami Cave The Badami Jaina cave, situated at the top-most end of four rock-cut shrines of which the first three are Hindu, is by its location, interior embellishment and layout a jewel of a sacred retreat. Noticeable at first sight, the warm, reddish-brown hue of the grained sandstone bestows upon the lovingly carved statues of...

Aihole Aihole, once a mercantile metropolis with a flourishing Jaina community, but today little more than a hamlet, is well worth a visit though it is not a Jaina tirtha (holy place of pilgrimage) in the true sense of the word. None of the about a dozen Jaina sacred buildings is in active worship. Some...

Karnataka Present-day Karnataka, that southern highland in which India's first free-standing monolithic statue of colossal size was envisaged and hewn out of an upright boulder of granite, is a pleasant state to travel in. The landscape is varied and seldom dreary, the climate healthy, the people one meets lovable and hospitable. We do not know...