Manasthamba Kotikere Basadi, Mulki

Jainsism took its wings under the patronage of Chandragupta Maurya in S. India.   Remember he gave up his throne in favour of his son Bindusara and migrated to Sharvanabelagola under the tutlege of his guru Bhadrabahu, who had predicted a great famine in North India.   Chandragupta Maurya took up the missionary step to spread Jainism in South India.  

The Gangas of  Talakad who patronised Jainism helped it to spread its wing to various parts of  Karnataka and Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu too.   Their biggest source of income was from the Gold Mining at Kolar, later they lost out in the race to Pallavas the territory of Gold mining ( Kolar Belt )  They shifted their HQ to Talakad which is on the banks of Cauvery river.

After the Gangas the Hoysala emperors did patronise Jainism, and it spread from the plains of Karnataka to the coastal belt of Karnataka.   This Kotikere basti was probably established during the Hoysala reign under the Queen Shantala's ( King Vishnuvardhana 1108- 1152 )  patronage.   The symbol of dancing lady on the Manasthamba gives a scuttle clue in this direction.  

To capture the picture of Manasthamba requires a good camera and nature's aid in terms of natural lighting.  The monument is surrounded by trees all round it, adding to it the entire structure is shades of black and white due to aging and algea formation on it.

I managed to get a good click of the structure with the help of sunshine and Nikon camera flash light aiding to spruce up the shadow, but i missed the khalasa on top in a hurry to capture the best lighting position, so i shot the khalasa seperately to give an idea of the wonderful achitecture.

The Manasthamba as i have mentioned is filled with scultpure, with Thirthankaras in meditation postures.   There is no description which thirthankaras are depicted on the structure.

I managed to click on picture of the Khalasa finally with a little bit of patience, ultimately they say photography is all about patience and good admixture of nature and technique.

Vijaya College premises is just below this monument towards West.

The temple structure seems to have been rebuilt with various with modern paint.

Inner sanctum shows Lord Mahaveer in bronze and White Marble.   The shelf contains various khalasa donated by the piligrims.

A close up of Mahaveer in white Marble.

The three storied super stucture of temple to prevent water seepage in the coastal area and to provide relief from extreme heat.   The priest was suggesting that the surrounding trees should be cut inorder to ensure better photography but it would spoil the beauty of surroundings.   As it is the clearance of  trees has spoilt the natural beauty and antiquity of the Basadi.   The high compound wall built around the structure is a spoiler.

In earlier times i am sure the Baniyan trees were providing plenty of shade to the pilgrims and monk alike, we can still see the remanents of the baniyan tree towards the north portion of the structure.

The local arasu from Padupanambur were holding suzereignty under the patronage of the Vijaynagar empire.

Another basadi seems to be converted into a Hanuman temple.

Finally if one takes a walk down the hillock of this structure, it leads to the back waters of Shambavi river.

Location :  One can reach this historic place via Mangalore Mulki highway take a right deviation from Bappanadu junction towards Venkatramana temple from Bappanadu temple road, after a furlong take a right turn towards Mulki post office road, than again take a left turn and reach Mulki post office and than take a left turn and follow the newly laid interlocking tile road towards dead end which is having the ASI signboard.