For my second weekend day trip, we drove west from Bangalore about half way to the coast, stopping off to see the world’s largest free standing monolith at Sravanabelagola, and the ancient temples at Belur and Halebid. The monolith is a major Jain pilgramage site, and is situated on top of a mountain with some 700 steps carved into its side to huff up. The temples were constructed a few miles apart over a number of generations in the 11th and 12th centuries. I can’t do justice to the history or significance of these sites, so what follows is a pure photo essay of what I saw.
