I found out about the Holy
Rosary Church, in the Shettihalli village of Hassan District, in the Indian
state of Karnataka, from a photograph posted by my friend Ananya,on Facebook.
A rudimentary Google search revealed some surprising facts. Remarkably, the
Holy Rosary Church in Shettihalli is India’s only submerged church. Submerged by what, you may ask? By
the waters of a dam’s
reservoir, of course! An opportunity to visit the church finally emerged this
year. I was going to Mysore, and I decided to take a day out, and drive over to
Hassan.
It was the last weekend of May,
and roasting hot in Karnataka. The monsoons would arrive by the following week,
and common sense suggested that water in any river or reservoir would now be
at its lowest level. I set off with my friend Sreyashi in a rented car at 6 am.
The drive from Mysore to Shettihalli was about 130 km and took exactly 3 hours.
The roads were in good shape for the most part, and even when they got a little
patchy, they were far from the worst roads I have been on. Some distance inside
the village, the car turned off the metalled road into a dirt track, and after
clearing some bushes, I got my first sight of the Holy Rosary Church. To my
relief, my guess was completely correct. The reservoir was all but bone dry,
and the church was completely visible. Our car almost ran right into it!
