I had gone to Sravanabelagola
( got to put a pebble in your mouth to pronounce it ),
not far from Chanarayapatna, in Karnataka,India.
This is a place to go, if you 're somewhere near Bangalore,
I climbed up before the sunrise ,the two rocky hills;
Chandragiri with 14 Jain temples, while Vindhyagiri with its magical silence.
The naked statue of "the white monk "as he has been called . Bahubali, Gometeshwar......are all his names !!
As you arrived in the little village,
You could see the head of the statue propping out in the horizon as though to welcome you, It 's supposed to have been carved almost a thousand years ago after a very moving story of a king who became a monk.
It is said that he stood so still that, he lost the notion of time; large creepers grew arround covered his body ,and snakes made their homes .
(You can see that carved at the foot of the statue)
Well,
Those were the architect of God, "Spiritual sculpteurs" i'd say
atleast, that's the impression you'd get after having experienced the perfect stillness in a stone,
a rock full of peace;
As i looked at him i' d say that the sky was born out of its mind...... A rock in meditation!
A rock teaching you how to be still, how to drop the mind.
Later;
When i got down i went to visit the neighbourhood Nagguhalli temple, a beauty of its own;
daily religious ceremonies are stll maintained here ....
Then,
A temple priest asked me " you too have come to see the nudity ?" pointing to me with his chin and eyebrows in the directions of the graceful monolithe,
" Bahubali "the beautiful Jain edifice! stood 17 meters tall
I said "what nudity, i don't see any ??"
"Another crazy tourist," he said to himself...
"So you see no nudity??" he insisted,"you can see that he's got no clothes on??"
And i said " yes , ofcourse, he's got no clothes on....so what ,
if i could stand like him, just for a moment, denuded of all my conflicts.......that should be enough!"
After having climbed the steepy 664 rock carven steps, you're happy to catch your breath, under the peaceful gazing face of that" living stone."
Though i admit,as i passed under his huge stone penis, i hoped that the statue would'nt piddle on my head!!
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