Karnataka Elections: Shravanabelagola Assembly Constituency

Shravanabelagola is a town located near Channarayapatna of Hassan district. Shravanabelagola is located 158 km from state capital Bengaluru and 51 km from Hassan.

The Gommateshwara statue at Shravanabelagola is one of the most important tirthas (pilgrimage destinations) in Jainism, one that reached a peak in architectural and sculptural activity under the patronage of Western Ganga dynasty of Talakad.

Shravanabelagola has two hills, Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri. Acharya Bhadrabahu and his pupil Chandragupta Maurya are believed to have meditated there.

The 58-feet tall monolithic statue of Gommateshwara is located on Vindyagiri Hill. It is considered to be the world's largest monolithic statue. The statue Gommateshwara is dedicated to the Jain god Bahubali. It was built in around 983 A.D.

More than 800 inscriptions have been found at Shravanabelagola, dating to various times from 600 AD to 1830 AD. A large number of these are found in the Chandragiri and the rest can be seen in the Vindhyagiri Hill and the town.

Shravanabelagola is the seat of the ancient Bhattaraka Matha, belonging to the Desiya Gana lineage of Mula Sangh, from the Digambara monastic tradition. The Bhattarakas are all named Charukeerti. Bahubali College of Engineering is an educational institute here.

C.N .Balakrishna of JDS is the current MLA and he defeated C.S.Puttegowda of Congress by 24,142 votes.

OneIndia News