Shravana Belagola is a holy place for people following Jain religion. One of our college friends is a regular visitor to this place. He asked us if we would be interested to join him. I along with my roommate confirmed for the coming weekend. Our friend was nice enough to alter his plan to accommodate our convenience.
We planned for a night stay at the holy place as we were not sure how much time it would take for the whole trip. It was not a tourist season so we managed to get a good place to stay at big discounted rates. This trip was made in March 2006, long time back.
We started our journey on Saturday reaching there by late evening. The bus journey took about 3 hours which included one halt for some snacks.
The actual place of worship is on a hill top which has to be climbed bare foot. The hill is built up of solid rock and gets heated up quickly after sun rise. We planned to start the climb before sun rise making the climb comfortable. To get up early we had an early dinner and slipped in beds.
We got up at 4 am lazily completing the morning chores to get ready by 5:30 am. That was quite early for me. On the hill top is the statue of a Jain saint. People willing to climb on top of the statue to perform a sacred ritual have to buy a specific color of cloth to be worn during the ritual. Our friend also bought that set of clothes which have to be bought at the base of hill.
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