A pilgrimage site – in the river.
Sahastralinga, situated approximately 14 kilometers from Sirsi Taluk in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India, is a revered pilgrimage site. Nestled along the Shalmala River, it is renowned for the presence of a thousand Shivalingas (abstract aniconic representations of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism) intricately carved on rocks along the river and its banks (Sahastra means 1000 in Sanskrit).
Along the river means, in this case, in the river. Just look at this.
Along with the more than one thousand ancient Shivalingas seen on the banks of the river, you can see Nandi bulls (Lord Shiva’s ride) carved on the stones. The Shivalingas and statues are believed to have been built on the banks of the river by King Sadashivarai Varma of Vijayanagara Empire between the years 1678 to 1718. But no one actually knows for sure.
The best time to view the Shivalingas and statutes is from October to March, during which the river experiences lower water levels. In the monsoon season, most of the lingas become submerged.
Interestingly, a similar site exists in Cambodia which is called Kbal Spean. It also has plenty of carved lingas in the middle of the river, but the place is reportedly not sacred and is only visited by tourists.
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Seems the people must have gotten tired of whatever Grand Pubah erected those carvings and lived in the “palace” while they suffered through fraud. Hmm. Might happen again. History repeats.