SHRAVANABELAGOLA: The Department of Tourism and Hassan Zilla Panchayat have taken up work to beautify the Kalyani (tank) adjoining Vindyagiri.

The department has also taken up work to lay pavements and the panchayat will clean the Kalyani and rejuvenate the fountain inside the tank in view of the Mahamastakabhisheka next month.

The tank will become an added attraction for tourists and pilgrims visiting Shravanabealgola because of its historical significance.

Nestling between Chandragiri and Vindyagiri, Shravanabelagola owes its name to the two distinctive features associated with Vindyagiri; the statue of Gommateshwara at the summit and the Kalyani at its base.

The name Shravanabelagola is made of two words; it translates as the Gommata statue and the white pond.

According to a 16th Century inscription at Shravanabelagola, when a pilgrim visited the place he was wonderstruck and enchanted with the beauty of the spot.

He exclaimed, "Oh, is it a pond of milk or panacea? Or is one of the rivers, whether the Ganga, the Tungabhadra or the Mangalagouri? Or is it Vrindavana or Viharapavana? Oh, look how wonderful is this tirtha?"

Now a beautiful tank with a wall and ornamental gateways, this pond must have once been a shimmering sheet of water between the two hills set amid lush green countryside with its paddy fields and groves of coconut and areca palms.

However, according to S. Shettar, an authority on Digambara sect of Jainism and Karnataka art and history, some believe that the Kalyani was the original "bili-gola".

Whether a natural pond existed there or not, the Kalyani does not date back to earlier than the 18th century.

Completed in 1723 AD, it was named after Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar who died during the course of its excavation. The Kalyani was beautified during the Mahamastakabhisheka held in 1979-80.

According to Suresh Kumar Jain of the Mahamastakabhisheka Committee, the department and the panchayat have taken up the entire work at a cost of Rs. 2 crores.

The tank was dewatered and rejuvenated nearly 25 years ago.

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