Jain Temple, Sugar Cane Processing, Mysore

Lord Bahubali statue

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We left Hassan and drove to Indragiri Hill to see the famous Jain temple. This was another tourist area with pushy sellers and tourist shops. We took off our shoes and started the long climb of about 660 steps carved right in the rock. The Jain religion was modified from Hinduism and there were some small sculptures similar to things from other Hindu temples.  

When we made it all the way to the top, we saw the giant (58 ft high) statue of Lord Gommateshwara, also referred to as Bahubali. All of the temples and carvings must have taken a lot of work to finish. There was a priest who was blessing anybody that walked up. Walking back down was harder than going up. We finally made it down and went to lunch…and saw an emu! It looked similar to an ostrich.

We kept driving and randomly stopped at a sugar cane processing place. There were about 15 people there that process the sugar cane stalk in a machine to expel the liquid. The liquid is heated and stirred and it looks yellowish as it hardens. It is kind of like clay since you can mold it while it is warm. The clay consistency is split into smaller balls that will be sold in the market. It tasted like sugar with a hint of molasses.

We drove into Mysore and checked into our hotel. It seemed cleaner and less hectic than Bangalore. There were trees lining the street, but still a lot of traffic.

Sugar cane processing

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