I spend most of my time in India in the South, and one place I always try to visit is located amid the hills that spring out of the Deccan plateau west of Bangalore and north of Mysore. Many of the hills have temples atop them, but the two flanking Sravanabelagola stand out as major centres of the Jain faith going back to the time of Chandragupta Maurya, who retired to the top of one hill to live the life of an ascetic many centuries ago. Long after he was gone, the hill across from where he resided acquired the world/s largest free-standing monolithic statue (mercifully far from the clutches of the Taleban), dedicated to the tirthankar Gomateshvara (or Bahubali in the local tongue). Like many Indian places of pilgrimage, it takes quite a climb to get up to the shrine (best done in the morning before the rocks get too hot for unshod feet), but few experiences can match the serene beauty of morning puja at the rooted feet of the stone saint.

See more pictures at http://justlikebeingthere.com/with/abracax