Standing tall in Hemavathi's backwaters

HASSAN: It's a photographer's delight. When the waters of river Hemavathi rise, the Shettihalli Church drowns in it and when the waters recede, the church ruins strike a stark contrast to the vividly coloured landscape. This church 23 km from Hassan attracts tourists by the hordes in summer as well as the monsoon, when it is partially submerged. It is the oldest Rosary church, built by French missionaries in 1860 in the backwaters of Hemavathi reservoir. In 1976 the church was shifted to a new building. Even after 37 years, the edifice stands tall and has withstood the vagaries of nature. The church is built using mud bricks and plastering is a mix of sand, jaggary and lime stone. However, the walls of the church have been damaged by visitors.Parish priest, Rosary Church, Fr Andrew Saldanha, said: "In the early 1970's, the church had 900 families and later they were shifted to Joseph Nagar of Arakalagudu, Alphonse Nagar of CR Patna, Maria Nagar and Jyothi Nagar of Alur. These families lost their land in the Hemavathi reservoir project. Even the church was acquired for the project but it was not demolished. Now it has become a scenic place."Earlier for more than six months in a year, the church used to be submerged but since a few years it is submerged only for three months.This September, the water level had gone down drastically and we had lots of visitors, said Fr Andrew Saldanha.As it is a government property, one side of the church is used by farmers in November and December to cultivate short-term crops here as the soil is fertile. Locals rue that youngsters have defaced the walls with grafitti. "They have not only spoilt the walls of the church by sketching and writing on it, they use the premises for partying. Bonfires are lit and the place is a mess," said Nagesh, a local resident.