Madhugiri

Karnataka is the 7th-largest state in India in area and 8th-largest by population. Karnataka is bordered by Maharashtra in the north, Goa in the northwest, Tamil Nadu in the southeast, Kerala (Keralam) in the southwest, Andhra Pradesh in the east and Telangana in the northeast. In the 3rd century BCE, the region we now know as Karnataka came under the Maurya emperors of Magadha. Chandragupta, the founder, is said to have spent his retirement in Shravanabelagola as a Jain ascetic. Jainism, introduced by the Mauryas, survives and flourishes to this day in Karnataka, and has given it some of its finest and oldest attractions including the Gomateswara statues that stand tall in their majestic nakedness in multiple places in the state. The Mauryas were followed by the Satavahanas who ruled from Pratishtana in Maharashtra and Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh.