Lonely Planet India:
A steep climb up 614 steps (once at the top we were sure it was double the amount of steps) takes you to the top of Vindhyagiri Hill, the summit of which is lorded over by the towering naked statue of Gomateshvara. ....carved out of a single piece of granite...in AD981.
We were greeted by several men who wanted to sell postcards and little trinkets. They showed us their merchandise and said "Maybe later?" instead of "Would you like to buy xyz". We had to laugh, but they didn't understand why it was funny.
At the bottom of the hill/rock we had to take off our shoes, but we were allowed to wear socks to protect our feet from the boiling hot stone.
The climb to the entrance of the temple was long and steep so we had to pause several times on the way up, to catch our breath. Inside the temple walls, we had to climb up even further to get to the statue, but it was worth it.
View from halfway up
Almost 18m high, made out of 1 single block of granite!
We were blessed
Close look at the statue from the roof of the temple
This is what you missed, Monica ;-)
Because we took a long time getting to Sravanabelagola and a long time to climb up to the temple and look around, there was no time left to go to the other places we had planned to go to, but on the way back we got held up by a Ganesha procession. Another great photo opportunity!
Typical Karnataka dancers outfit
Ganesha on tour
All accompanied by this Indian Ghetto Blaster, if it is not loud it is not Indian
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