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From another era

Photo: Lakshmi sharath

Ravaged by water The church at Shettihalli

Serendipity is a great thing, especially if you get to discover a lost piece of history. We were cruising from Bangalore towards Hassan when we saw a board with a little arrow mark that said Shettihalli. My uncle had heard from the locals about a chu rch that was in ruins and we decided to explore. We took a detour and drove till we saw the harvested sunflower fields. And, there we saw it.

A vast expanse of water surrounded the fields and standing tall on the fringes of the fields, submerged in water was the ruins of an ancient Gothic church, home to a few birds.

There was not a soul in sight and there were no roads leading to the church. We took another detour from the road and parked the car and started walking , across what looked like a dry field filled with thorny bushes and a few trees. The birds shrieked, amused at our arrival to this lost spot.

It was the backwaters of the Hemavathy Reservoir and the monument was the Holy Rosary Church built by French Missionaries way back in the 18th Century.

We met a few villagers on our return who told us that this village was once a lush hamlet where the River Hemavathy flowed, watering fields of sunflower. The denizens of this village had moved bag and baggage about 40 years ago when the entire area got submerged following the construction of the Gorur Dam.

It was virtually now a ghost town as this idyllic village was lost to development when the reservoir was built at Gorur to develop agriculture around the neighbouring towns.

The church was reportedly built with mortar and bricks and a mixture of jaggery and eggs.

During monsoons, the water level used to rise, submerging the entire church, and apparently only the spire used to be seen. Now, the entire roof has caved in. Part of the altar and the central nave still stand, but there are no stained glass windows, pews or windows left.

We returned to the city and tried to get information on this church. Finally, the Dioceses at Bangalore and Chikmagalur provided some information, along with a book on the history of Chikmagalur Diocese. I learnt that the church was attributed to Fr. Dubois, commonly referred to as Abbe Dubois. He had built the church and a presbytery there, possibly in 1810. However, there seemed to have been a church even prior to that, but it is believed to have been destroyed.

Shettihalli was first mentioned in the Jesuit records by the missionary Fr. Manuel De Almeyda in 1727, but it became a separate mission station only in 1740.

The Church was renovated around 1860. However, the roof of the abandoned church was finally removed in 1982, and today it stands as a derelict monument that is reminiscent of the colonial days. Much water has indeed flowed under the bridge since then.

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