ADHVAGATI

  There are things in life which seem part of  humdrum growing up years , but someday , suddenly, you come to realise what a wonder that thing is . And then , you  want to go grab it once again .   Its about Bahubali , the  colossal Gommateshwara of Sravanabelagola . Yes, been there , seen him. But in such a distant past that there is no sharp memory of anything , no recollection of the impressions he made on the mind . No photos . I cannot claim that my familiarity with this Icon comes from having met  and admired him in person , it is most certainly due to seeing pictures of him intermittently down the years  : in books , brochures, newspaper reports and later, on TV and The Net .  The personal connect , sorely missing .   One-day-excursions they were , in early 1960s . The excitement of seeing  the giant's torso bobbing into view even  from a good 7 kilometers away.....  the climb up the warm , shallow steps cut in...

In the year 1971 ,  Lalitha Kala Akademi  hand picked 11 well trained artists  and commissioned  them to replicate the dying murals of a Jain hermitage in Shravanabelagola .        Mathada Basadi  ,located in the middle of Shravanabelagola Town  is not visited by many people , as only the hillocks with their awesome shrines are better known . But it has  a hoary heritage value too . Aslo known as Charukeerthi Matha, it  was founded by Chavundaraya in the eleventh century. The present structure, though,  was built only in late 18th century. This mutt houses a good collection of sculptures of jain divinities  .  The walls are the most eyecatching . They are richly decorated with murals narrating the lives of Jinas and Jaina kings.  These are the murals that were sought to be preserved by Lalitha Kala Akademi . The murals were created on wet plaster with mineral and vegetable  pigments , th...