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SEEING HOLY LIFE IN PRACTICE
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tortured by Hindus, and who danced on the corpses of the monks (photo 6). In view of their non-violent attitude it was easier for the Jains to leave their present body than to defend themselves with weapons.
Our next destination was Śravana Belagola (or Sravanbelgol), the famous place of pilgrimage deep within Karnataka - not unknown by the more adventurous type of tourist – where on top of the highest hill, the Vindhyagiri, stands a 27 meter high and still totally undamaged and unweathered granite Bāhubali more then a thousand years old - it was inaugurated on March 13, 981 to be precise. The statue is also known as Sri Gomateśvar. This monolith has not been placed there, but the people living there a thousand years ago hacked away the granite mountain top until the image remained.
Scattered over the mountain there are engravings depicting two feet. These were made through the millennia, each time a monk took sallekhana - voluntary fasting until peaceful death.
The other mountain is known as the Chandra Hill, because the famous Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya, grandfather of the equally famous Asoka, lived and died there hundreds of years before Christ. One temple at least existed before Chandragupta arrived. His life has been depicted in 90 panels in two screens in the temple where the icons worshiped by the emperor himself still stand. Chandragupta was a great and powerful sovereign (see chapter 10). But one day he gave up all his wealth and earthly ties. He removed his jewelry and his clothes. The rest of his life he spent as a naked Jain monk. But even more interesting for us were the inscriptions on the rocks. These will be discussed in Chapter 10. Many thousands of years ago Jains must already have lived there, long before Tīrthamkara Mahāvīra, who lived 2500 years ago in North India. They lived in the same way as the monks in the monasteries today, and they died in the same way. What became of their souls after they had left their bodies behind on these rocks? What will become of the souls of those who do
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