Musafir

This is the last place of visit on my second day. Even though i was not exhausted, i was a little bored with the monotonous visits to temples. I feel that when we plan a trip, it must contain a mix of different types of places, and this i realized after making a couple of trips like this :) . It was almost 4 when i visited this temple. It is again situated in a nice picturesque location and beautiful with all the coconut trees. A nice lawn has been established near the temple premises which creates a good ambience and pleasant atmosphere in the evenings.

Koravangala is a small town 12 kilometres from Hassan on the Hassan -> Arsikere road. Inscriptions around the temple site give us an idea of the temple's construction and the various grants it received. One of them specifies the name of Bhutanatha Raja or Buchi Raja, a Brahmin officer from the family that serves Hoysala king Narasimha I, as the man who constructed it. The inscription also states consecration of the temple coincided with the coronation of King Ballala in 1173. Though originally built over a large platform, today it stands almost equal to the ground.

I enter the temple complex from the rear end. The entrance is very small and guarded by elephants. There are beautifully carved dwarapalaka statues on either side. This entrance leads to a  mukhamantapa which is supported by 32 pillars. The ceiling is partitioned into 13 parts and each is carved beautifully with lotus flowers. Once you cross the mukhamantapa you enter the navaranga which has neatly carved ceilings. The northern part of it has an enticing image of Krishna. On the lintel, above the entrance, a fine image of Gaja Lakshmi is also found. Idols of Ganapathi, Saraswathi and Saptha Matrikas adorn the corners of the. On the right side is a figure of Dakshina Murthy. The antarala is supported by 8 pillars, four of which are star shaped.

The sanctum sanctorum has a huge Sivalinga made of Blackstone. As usual, there is a Nandi statue in front. There is a small shrine on the left of the sanctum dedicated to Ganesha. The Vimana above the Garbhagriha is made of soapstone. It consists of turrets in four tears with numerous sculptures. An exquisite Hoysala crest adorns the Vimana's facade.  Every section of the temple has wonderful sculptures that mark this temple out from many others.
A row of large idols carved in single and double pilasters with turrets above them adorn the outer walls. Figures of Vishnu, Narasimha, Varaha, Venugopala, Natya Saraswathi, Kaliyamardana Krishna, etc. can be found there. On the wall panel the carving of the Gajendramoksha sequence is absolute marvel.

Apart from the Bucheswara Temple, there are two other temples in the vicinity but they are in a very bad shape. They have been completely ignored and the place is filled with vegetation and stench. The structure of the temples is good in some sections. The pillars are damaged in one of the sides which may weaken the entire structure. Most of the pillars in the mukhamantapa inside are still good and they  lead to a small sanctum which has a pedestal for the Sivalinga. There is an inscription on a stone slab written in Kannada.The outer sides of the temples are designed with turrets as the Bucheswara Temple and extremely beautiful.

As this was the last stop for the day, i leisurely roamed around and was there for half an hour. I then went back to my stay in Hassan town. I was looking forward to my next day’s trip. I had a good time off before the tiring and fun experience in Sravanabelagola.

Haranahalli is a small village near Arsikere and 35 kilometres from Hassan town. There are two temples in this small place which are rich in their architecture but they are totally ignored by the government and ASI due to which they are becoming endangered. When i went over, they were locked and i had to get them opened. There is no proper maintenance inside the complex.

The inside of the temple is good though. We enter to a four pillared mukhamantapa from which three shrines are connected. The pillars are again typical Hoysala types with rounded structure and 5 different parts to the ceiling. The ceiling is 5 stepped inside and has amazing design. Each step is connected with the other as a interlocked piece even though it is completely monolithic.

The remaining sections of the mantapa are carved with turrets and pillars protruding outside. There are two start shaped pillars which again is typical Hoysala signature. There are images of Lakshmi Narasimha, Chennakesava and Venugopala inside the shrines. There was not much to look inside lets talk a little bit about outside.

This temple is a simple trikuta construction with three shrines situated around a common hall with a strong emphasis on the central shrine. In plan and execution, this temple is similar to the ones that are found in places like Hosaholalu, Javagallu and Nuggehalli, but only here no later structures have been added to the main temple. The central vimana has a star-like plan and a complete tower and its nose is also complete with an intricate design. Due to the design, this temple looks much like an ekakuta when seen from the outside.

The outside wall is carved similar to the Hoysaleswara and Kedareswara Temples where there are friezes at the bottom followed by sculptures and pillar like structure on the top. Part of the friezes were left un-sculpted plain. I assume that the part of the stone was unsuitable for any carving because of its composition (either too hard or too soft). I say this as there is no sign of human inflicted damage to the sculpture as we see in the Chennakesava Temple, Belur or The Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu. There is an inscription on a stone slab but its unreadable now because of the exposure to weather.

The caretaker will have a guest book over there for the tourists to write comments. When i asked about the ill-maintenance, he simply said that the local MLA visited the temple recently and assured a grant. I doubt it though as this was the same answer that one of my friends got when he visited the temple after a couple of months. I was there for about 15 minutes in this complex and moved ahead to my last pit-stop for the day, The Bucheswara Temple in Koravangala.

References: A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples by Gerard Foekema

This is one of the very different temples that we come across in the Hassan District. Even though this was constructed during the Hoysala rule, it does not follow the normal Hoysala standards of architecture.

Arsikere, a prosperous commercial hub of Karnataka on Bangalore-Shimoga road has its own place in history from time immemorial. It derives its name from a large water tank built in 11 century AD by Mahadevi, queen of Hoysala King Ereyanga. It was also the birthplace of Umadevi, queen of Ballala II. Several inscriptions recognize the place as Sarvagnapuri, Jayagonda Ballalapura, and Vira Vijaya Ballalapura etc.

I visited this temple at noon time and there were not many visitors fearing the hot sun. This is a simple Ekakuta temple with a round rangamantapa at one end. The rangamantapa is extremely beautiful and supported with 8 pillars and its 16-point star structure. The pillars are sculpted with intricate decorations and the as you see, there are 24 elephant figures under the porch which is kind of a unique Hoysala architecture which is not found in other temples.

The ceiling of the rangamantapa is designed as a three step towards the inside with spikes at regular intervals and turret forms at around below it. The rangamantapa is connected to a pillared mantapa with two entrances guarded by elephants and there are two shrines inside in front of each entrance. Both the shrines contain Siva Lingas and Nandi in front. There is an inscription in Kannada language on one of the panels between the two shrines. The ceiling of this mantapa is almost plan except for a lotus design in the middle.  Now lets talk a little bit about the external structure.

The vimana is of a five step structure with a kalasa on top. The lower part of the temple is symmetrically decorated with various godly idols and animal forms. Most of the idols have lost their charm due to the exposure to nature all these centuries. The faces are not at all clear, and can be recognized by the postures and weapons. There are a couple of other Kannada inscriptions and one of them is still in excellent condition. Interestingly one of the inscriptions has a Jaina Tirthankara on its slab, which is a result of increasing patronage of Hoysala rulers towards Jainism. This temple, apart from the unique rangamantapa, is kind of a plain structure and completed quickly.

I had nice lunch in Arsikere and moved on to the Kesava Temple in Haranahalli.

My next destination was again to a temple which is in a remote village, which is approachable by a muddy uneven road and there is no proper public transport. So it is advisable to rent a vehicle. I travelled almost 5 kilometres from the main road to reach this small village.

At the end of the village, there is a small structure. Looks like the age old construction was totally gone and remaining is the sanctum. A new structure was being constructed enclosing the sanctum.

Chennakesava (Allalanatha) is the presiding deity in this very ordinary temple. The image is about 18ft tall, made out of black stone, bearing a conch (Sankha), wheel (Chakra) and mace. The uniquely exquisite facial expression of the idol captivates the mind and heart of the spectator.

A different thing that is seen here is the unrestricted access to devotees inside the sanctum. There is a loft that one can climb to perform the Abhisheka from the top. There is a large lake nearby this temple which serves as a nice boating experience. Apart from this, there is nothing more to see in this area. I was there just for 10 minutes and moved ahead to my next destination, the Iswara Temple in Arsikere. On the way, i passed an another temple (the picture on the right) but am unable to identify the place. If anyone can, please let me know.

There are fortified walls in the village of Haranahalli, 8 kms from Arsikere. This fort is said to have been erected in the year 1070 A.D by a chief named Someswara Nayak. Now, it is in a pitiable condition. Some parts of the walls have collapsed and the stones can be found as the construction material for houses nearby.  The inside of this structure is filled with bushes and human secretion. Obviously, it is being used as a public toilet and a dumping ground by the locals. Somehow i went inside bearing all the stench. There is a small plain mantapa in one corner inside the fort. The government has to do something about this and clear the area so that excavations can happen to see if something can be found. Finding no more in this area, i moved ahead..

It took a lot of time for me to start writing this post as i was not very sure which is the temple i was looking at in my pictures. After lot of browsing and comparing photographs, i figured out that this is in fact the Veera Narayana Temple in Belavadi. Nice lesson learnt. Finish writing about the places as soon as possible. After all, i am writing about this almost 1.5 years after my travel.

This was one of the last destinations on my first day of the Hassan District Tour. I was very tired and my feet were paining with all the barefoot strolls in the Belur and Halebidu Temples spanning hours and i had very little time. Belavadi is a small village situated 29 kilometres south east of Chikmagalur on Chikmagalur — Javagal Highway and 10 kilometres North West of Halebidu. It was a pleasant site with lawns when i went over to the temple. You see first see a gopura kind of a construction (very wide though) with two elephant sculptures at either side of the entrance.

Once you cross this hall, you will come across one more small pillared mantapa again with elephants on either side. The pillars are round with nice cuts. It is evident that these two halls are not maintained by either the government or the locals. As you pass the mantapa, you will enter the main temple complex with the dhwajasthambha and the temple.

This ornate trikuta (three towers) temple was built in 1200 CE by Hoysala Veera Ballala II and Chloritic schist (Soap Stone) was used to build it. There are three shrines inside dedicated to Veeranarayana, Venugopala and Yoga- Narasimha. The plan of this temple is unique in that two of the shrines (Venugopala and Yoga Narasimha) face each other on either side of a wide and spacious open mantapa (hall) containing 37  bays. There is a small entrance in the middle of the hall through which i entered the temple. The mantapa looks very beautiful with the two rows of pillars. An important feature of the temple is the stone bench which runs all round the edge of the mukhamantapa. It is ornamented with rosettes and plasters. The shrines were locked. However, there were some locals sitting outside the temple and they informed the caretaker at once and they were opened while i was busy taking pictures :).

22 pillars, 20 of which are round bell-shaped ones, support the Mukhamantapa of the Veera Narayana shrine and the other two are star-shaped.  It has an 8 ft. (2.4 m) tall image of Veera Narayana with four hands, well elaborated with ornamentation and standing on a padmasana (lotus seat),  which is considered one of the best examples of Hoysala art. The inner walls of this shrine are plain but its roof is well decorated. The tower of the shrine consists of three tiers of decorated miniature roofs.

The other two symmetrical shrines have different plans. One shrine is square while the other is star shaped.  In all other aspects the two shrines are identical. All shrines have well sculptured decoration on the towers and the sculptures on the walls are bold and look good from a distance.   The southern shrine has an 8 ft. (2.4 m) tall image of Venugopala including a garuda pedestal (Krishna with flute) standing cross-legged and his fingers are lifted as if playing the flute. The northern shrine has a 7 ft. (2.1 m) tall image of Yoga Narasimha with protruding eyes, sitting in a yoga posture. The image has a band carved around it to help keep the legs in position.

The outer wall of the temple shows the older Hoysala style where there is one eave running around the temple where the superstructure meets the wall of the shrine and below this are decorative towers on pilasters.

This was the end of my very tiring first day. I sat happily in my cab to take me back to my hotel in Hassan. A hot water bath erased all my pain. After having a nice dinner with a beer, i looked at all my photographs for the day and slept thinking of my journey on the second day starting with the Manjarabad Fort, Sakleshpur.

The Kedareshwara Temple looks similar to the Hoysaleswara Temple in its architecture and design but very small compared to the latter. Also the temple is more or less in ruins without proper maintenance. In fact, you will not find much visitors even during day time. People simply choose to ignore this for the bigger and more famous temple nearby. The current entrance to the temple complex is from its side as the main path is filled with bushes.

Veera Ballala II and his younger Queen Abhinva Ketala Devi built the temple of Kedareshwara in 1319 A.D. This temple was praised by Ferguson two centuries ago as "Gem of Indian Architecture". He expressed that if this temple had been illustrated in any thing like completeness there was probably nothing in India which would have conveyed a better idea of what its architecture was capable of doing. Unfortunately portions of the temple collapsed more than 70 years ago and it was not possible to bring it to its original shape.

As any typical Hoysala temple construction, you can find the the temple is on an elevated octagonal jagati. Similar to the Hoysaleswara Temple, this temple has 9 levels of friezes from the basement and you can refer to the description about the friezes here. Like the Hoysaleswara Temple, there is meshed window made of stone in some parts of the temple especially near the entrances and small pillars on the other parts.

Above the friezes you will find the statues of the various godly forms and mythological stories. In all, there are about 200 different sculptures above the friezes. I will not talk about them much as they are similar to the ones we have seen in the Hoysaleswara Temple Eg. Mahishasura Mardhini, Lord Krishna lifting the Govardhana Mountain, Varaha form of Lord Vishnu etc. Lets go inside the temple.

As you enter the temple, you will enter a pillared mukhamantapa with shrines in front and either sides. The architecture of the pillars is also a typical Hoysala style with 5 sections. As you see in this picture, the front two pillars are of a different style again a Hoysala mark. There are no idols in two of the shrines but you will find a small Linga on a pedestal in the shrine right in front. The inside of the sanctums are pretty simple with no craftwork. But one thing is evident that the shrines on either side held sculptures and not Linga. We can recognize this by the small square holes on the pedestal. A Linga is normally carved out of a single stone including the pedestal. Some locals worship the temple even if there is no priest appointed. Inside the most beautiful parts is the ceiling and the spiked pillars, which are amazing to touch and feel.

Even though this temple is much smaller than the Hoysaleswara Temple, it has all the aspects and features that the latter has. The ASI has to renovate the external sculpture so that people take interest to visit it. There was one more temple on my itinerary for the day, so had to move quickly out to my final destination, one more rarely visited place.

Before we continue our journey, we will talk about the Jain Religion in general and the iconography and monument architecture in particular. As we will talk about Jain monuments and sculptures in the further posts so i am hopeful this introduction will give a good background.

 Wikipedia states Jainism as an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings and its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation.

Brief History: Historians date the foundation of organized form of Jainism to sometime between 9th and 6th Century Before Christ. It is believed that Jainism(in its present form) had it roots in the Indus Valley Civilization. Chandragupta Mourya embraced Jainism in his old age and joined a wandering group of Jain monks. Samprati, the grandson of Ashoka also embraced Jainism. and said to have constructed 1,25,000 Jain Temples across India. It is generally accepted that Jainism started spreading in South Indian only in the 3rd century. There are good records dated 1st Century BC, where Emperor Kharavela captured Magadha and installed a statue of Rishabanatha in Udayagiri, Orissa. The Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves are the only surviving stone Jain monuments in the state of Orissa. Archaeologists have encountered Jain remains and artefacts at Maurya, Sunga, Kishan, Gupta, Kalachuries, Rashtrakut, Chalukya, Chandel and Rajput as well as later sites.

Tirthankaras: In Jainism, Tirthankara is a human who attains liberation or enlightenment and then becomes a role model and teacher for those seeking spiritual guidance. Jains believe that exactly 24 Tirthankaras lived in our part of the Universe till date and the next is expected to be born 81,500 years from now. The first Tirthankara Rishabanatha is mentioned in the Vishnu and Bhagavata Puranas as belonging to a very remote past. The earliest Brahmanic literature makes reference to a sect which defies the Vedas and opposed animal sacrifices. The Yajurveda refers the names of three Tirthankaras Rishabha, Ajitha and Aristhanemi. The Jains claim that Neminatha, their 22nd Tirthankara was a contemporary of Lord Krishna and belonged to the Yadava family. Parasvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankar is the earliest Jain leader who can be reliably dated as born in 877 BC and lived for a 100 years. The last Tirthankara, Mahavira was born in 599 B.C and lived for 72 years. I found an interesting sequence in the the number of years that each Tirthankara is believed to have lived. Rishabanatha is believed to have lived 592.704 x 10¹⁸ years. The number of years that subsequent Tirthankaras lived diminished and finally we have Mahavira who lived for 72 years.

Sects in Jainism: There are two major sects in Jainism, the Svetambars and Digambars. The difference is beliefs of the two sects are minor and relatively obscure. Digambars do not wear any clothes. Svetambars believe women may attain liberation and that Mallinatha was indeed a female, however, Digambars believe to be a male as women are not allowed to be naked in Jain religion.

Iconography: The icons in a Jain temple are arranged in a hierarchical order. The chief among them is the mula-nayaka like Rishabhanatha or Parsvanatha, who is surrounded by other Jains. Two types of images are generally found;one, a relief containing 1, 3 or 24 Tirthankaras; second, images of Tirthankaras in round. A combination of three Tirthankaras with the mula-nayaka in the centre is called Tri-Tirthanka. The portrayal of 24 Tirthankaras is called Chaturvimsati. To a superficial observer, the image of a Jina and Buddha look alike. But there are important differences. The Tirthankaras generally have a triangular mole symbol on their chest, a triple umbrella above their heads and a lanchana or symbol on the parasol. Jain Yakshas are also called Sasana-devatas or demigods who are devotees of Tirthankaras. According to Jain belief, Indra appoints one Yaksha and one Yakshini to serve as attendants for each Tirthankara.

Monument Architecture: The earliest form of Jaina temples or Basadi, as they are called are simple, plain with pillars inside and a sanctum with one of the Tirthankaras inside. There used to be platforms on either side in the mukha mantapa outside the sanctum where the statues of other Tirthankaras were placed. The reason for this was mainly because Jains were moving from place to place and they did not spend much time on making the temple beautiful as they just needed a place to worship. As time went by, they settled in locations and then you can find like the ones in Ellora where each Jain Cave is rich in art. Jains soon started entering into the local businesses and now there are one if the richest. So eventually, the recent constructions reflected richness and is evident like the one in Kolanupaka (Andhra Pradesh) or the Dilwara Temple; they are extremely big and beautiful with intricate architecture.

We will individually talk about the monument structures when we discuss the Basadis.

References:

1. Iconography of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains by R.S. Gupte

2. Jaina Monuments and Places of First Class Importance by T.N. Ramachandran

3. Jainism in South India and some Jain Epigraphs by P.B Desai

The detail in which the sculptures of those days are carved is no longer found today. Sculptures that we see in temples like Swamynarayan may be beautiful in their designs; However, they are created with machines and cannot even be compared with the great detail of thought and effort that was put in those days. One small example is the Mahishasura Mardhini sculpture which shows Lord Parvathi in the form of Durga slaying the demon Mahishasura (in the form of a wild Buffalo). If you keenly observe, you can see that the tongue of the buffalo is sticking out and the expression on its face clearly shows that its dead. You can identify it with the bent head and the position of Goddess Durga’s leg. One more minute detail which is an example work of the great artisans are the skin folds on the buffalo’s neck. These details actually make these sculptures immortal. You can find many examples like this in the Hoysaleswara Temple. There is a statue called Nada Bramha which is a statue of a musician playing a drum. He wears a crown. Needless to say, the sculpture is monolithic. It is so delicately carved that you can see the small gaps in the crown as a design. Even a small ounce of carelessness would have totally ruined the sculpture and this their commitment to this level of detail has to be saluted.

Now lets see the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Vamana. Two different statues tell this story. The first is the dwarf man vamana asking for alms and the demon king Bali offering. Even though in original mythology, this whole thing was a dialogue, it is shown here that the King Bali offers water as a symbolic gesture for alms. The second statue shows the vamana taking the form of Trivikrama. The image on the right shows Trivikrama, with one step covering entire earth and covers the entire sky with his second leg. When he looks for a third step, the demon King Bali offers his head and Vishnu presses him down to the Patala. One the top left of the image, Bramha is shown washing the feet of Trivikrama and the water flowing over to the earth as the river Ganga. See the imagination of the artist. Fishes and tortoises are carved on the flowing pattern to depict it as a river. Vishnu’s carrier Garuda is shown with folded hands in front.

There is the statue of the Sun God with his two wives Sandhya (Sunset) and Chaya (Shadow). The statue of Chennakesava the main deity of the temple at Belur is carved at multiple places here even though this temple is primarily a Saiva one. It is said that these small statues looks exactly like the 9 feet one in Belur. In fact many of the statues like incarnations of Lord Vishnu and the various forms of Durga are repeated here with the immense size of the temple. There is also this large panel depicting the story Parijatapaharanam.. The background of the story is Krishna saving the Indraloka from a disaster and asking for the Parijatha (Lotus) Tree  in favour, Indra not conceding to the request and this angering Krishna and taking away the tree by force which ends in a fight between them. The artist’s imagination puts Krishna in the form of Lord Vishnu on his carrier Garuda along with Satyabhama, his wife. Indra comes on his carrier, the Iravatha (Elephant) with his wife Sachi Devi. Indra is shown holding his weapon the Vajrayudha and the elephant in a battle position ready to pounce. Many stories like this are depicted in the numerous panels and in the friezes of this temple.

Apart from the mythological forms, images of people and their various professions where also carved. In a particular one, you can find the sculpture of a person with a trouser like clothing and a wig. That was the clothing that was worn by the Dharmadhikari (the designation of the person who took care of the law and order during the Hoysala rule). These kind of sculptures found in many other temples across South India and they give a nice idea of the rule and the government structure. The amazing thing of those sculptures are that they depict the usage of some items which the modern man is said to have invented hundreds of years later., For example, two people are shown drinking coconut water through a straw pipe. People are shown using instruments like binoculars and telescope (Durbhin) and war artillery throwing missile like armoury. It is just the greatness of Indian culture that, we have known and used things long before the Western World even thought on similar lines.

Another detailed sculpture is the demon king Ravana lifting the moutain Kailasa which is abode of Lord Siva. Ravana is a great devotee of Lord Siva and is shown with 10 heads and 20 hands. The different kind of people and animals found on a typical mountain are shown in this sculpture and on the top are Lord Siva and Parvathi. This depiction is found in many other temples across India and the most famous of them is in the Cave 16 of the Ellora Caves. There is a small museum in the temple complex and that was closed at the time i had been there. There is a statue of Gomateswara in the complex. As we come to the end of our tour of this amazing structure, i would like people to note that i had just discussed only some of the most important aspects of the temple. This temple is extensive and will require considerable time to explore the length and breadth of it.

As for the blog, we will continue exploring the Hassan District and the next destination is Basadihalli, a small hamlet near Halebidu.

The Royal entrance of the Hoysaleswara Temple (shown in the picture below) faces South with stone pathway in front of it. In The entrance is guarded by Nandi and Bhrungi and each stand 9 feet in height. The Indian Tourism Department acclaim the Hoysaleswara Temple as the Jewellery Box of South India. Each statue is so extensively carved with beautiful jewellery designs with 300 individual pieces on each statue. Hindu rituals and customs, Lord Ganesha is worshipped before all others. Even here you will find a beautifully carved sculpture on one side of the stone pathway. The Royal emblem of the Hoysalas stand on the other side facing the Ganesha idol.

Near the Ganesha statue, there is one interesting object. This is the rare Garuda Sthamba (Garuda pillar). These are different from hero stones. Garudas were elite bodyguards of the kings and queens. They moved and lived with the royal family and their only purpose was to protect their master. Upon the death of their master, they committed suicide. The rare pillar on the south side depicts heroes brandishing knives and cutting their own heads. The inscription honours Kuruva Lakshma, a bodyguard of Veera Ballala II. A devoted officer, he took his life and that of his wife and other bodyguards after the death of his master. This event is narrated in an old Kannada inscription on the pillar.

Before we talk about various sculptures, lets see the temple as a whole. In this temple, the Hoysala architects have broken from the tradition of using five friezes as the base of the temple, below the large wall sculptures and the window screens. The outer walls have two eaves that run around the temple. The top eaves is at the roof of the temple and the second about a meter below. In between there are decorated miniature pillars. Below the lower eaves are the wall sculptures and eight friezes. This type of relief work is called horizontal treatment. Each of the eight friezes carries an array of decoration.

Going from the bottom where the temple wall meets the platform, the lowest frieze depicts charging elephants which symbolise strength and stability, above which, in order, are friezes with lions which symbolise courage, floral scrolls as decoration, horses for speed, another band of floral scrolls, depiction of Hindu epics, makara (imaginary animal) and finally a frieze with hansas (swans). No two animals are alike in a total frieze span of over 200 m. It is interesting to know that there are 1248 statues of elephants in the lower frieze and not two are alike. In the epic frieze, the epics are not continuous as they are mixed with other depictions. Above the swans there are miniature sculptures in various dance forms. Above it, is a continuous frieze of the Kshetra Palaka (Guardians of the Temple). The final is a row of amorous couples depicting the various aspects of the Kamasutra. After the construction of this temple, Hoysala architects used this new kind of horizontal treatment only 50 years later, making it a standard style, but with six friezes.

We also need to talk about the Nandi sculptures here as we move on. Nandi, as we know is the carrier of Lord Siva and always positioned in front of any Siva Shrine. Here is no exception. These two monolithic Nandi statues are recognized as among the 7 largest in India. The others in order of their size are Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh, Brihadishwara Temple in Tanjore, on The Chamundi Hill in Mysore, Basavannagudi (Bull Temple) in Bangalore and in Rameshwaram where the one at Lepakshi is the largest. The statues here are very life like and exceptionally carved with decorative items. In fact, when you consider the decorative carvings, these two statues occupy the first position.

Believe it or not, this temple has over 20,000 sculptures, small or big. Now we will talk about some interesting sculptures. There is the Lord Ganesha in a dancing posture (Natya Ganesha) on his carrier, the Rat. The artist’s imagination has no bounds here. Unable to bear the weight of Ganesha on it, the rat’s mouth is option with exhaustion.

One interesting and a nice artist imagination is the sculpture of the story Gajasura Mardhana (Siva slaying the demon king Gajasura). Here Lord Siva is shown dancing within the elephant’s stomach. The artist depicted the legs of the elephant on the top and the head in the bottom and Lord Siva between. Even though this is in line with mythological accounts, this imaginative carving is very rare and unique to the Hoysala architecture.

There is one detailed sculpture showing Lord Krishna lifting the Govardhana mountain and the villagers and a cow herd taking shelter under it. If you observe carefully, there is a banana tree to the top right with a bunch of bananas. There is another tree to the right where a monkey is shown climbing. There are peacocks, lizards and snakes shown among the trees on the mountain. There is one piece of sculpture which is out of place on this. On the left, you will find three people sharing 4 legs. The artist has sculpted the men so symmetrically that even when you observe carefully, one cannot find any faults and the positions of the men are in perfect alignment of the legs.

The stories of the various incarnations of Vishnu are depicted in detail like Vishnu in the Varaha form killing the demon Hiranyaksha or the Narasimha form killing the demon Hiranyakasipa. It will take at least 3 days to fully look at each sculpture and relate them to Hindu mythology to admire the beauty. I anyway did not have the time to see all of them. However, we will see some more with detailed accounts in the next post.

I entered the temple from near one of the Nandi pavilions. Right in front, is the shrine of Linga and a long corridor in front. The two corridors connect the natya mantapas which are in front of each of the main shrines. There are 108 pillars inside and each is of a different design.  Each of them is more than 16 feet in height, some stellar in shape, most of them roundish with designs like bell or kalasa or flower vase combined perpendicularly to make a harmonious single attractive tall piece. Even though the pillars look monolithic, they are actually formed out of five pieces. The natya mantapa is rounded by four pillars with dancing figures carved on each of them. In all, 84 sculptures were carved inside the temple and 70 of them are currently missing (stolen by British) and can be found today in the Victoria Museum, London. It is said that in those days, Queen Shanthala used to dance in this natya mantapa as worship to Lord Siva.

The entire ceiling is divided into 22 square panels and each square is exquisitely carved with forms of Bramha, Vishnu and Siva. The various sculptures were carved separately and interlocked with the ceiling which gives a monolithic look. The pillars here also follow the same technique. Now lets talk about the sanctum portions. The inside of the sanctum is pretty dark and a little lit with artificial sources. There is the Prarthana Mantapa outside the sanctum and is again barred from entering. You will find the beautiful sculptures of the two guardians of Lord Siva, Nandi and Bhrungi outside the Mantapa. Each stands 5 feet tall and is exquisitely carved with 300 ornaments each. The carving is so detailed that you can notice even the smallest designs in greater detail.

As mentioned earlier, It took 190 years and seven generations to complete this awesome temple. There were many people that donated funds for the construction and we can find Sanskrit (Devanagari Script) and Kannada inscriptions mentioning the names of the donors and information about them. There are 42 miniature shrines inside and outside the temple structure. The once housed idols in some form, however are empty today as a result of the invasion by Malik Kafur. The Hoysaleswara section of the temple has a Linga and a small Nandi in front of the sanctum. Both the shrines have a well carved entrance with a makara torana

There is not much to see inside the temple structure apart from the monolithic dwarapalas of both the Hoysaleswara and Shantaleswara sanctums. This temple is known for its beauty of the external structure whereas the  Chennakesava Temple in Belur is known for its inner structure. I mentioned earlier that the temple has 4 entrances and we will talk about the external structure in detail in the coming post starting with the Royal Entrance.

If the experience in Belur was not enough for one day, i landed at this place. From a distance it looks like a simple plain(large though…) temple. But as i got nearer, i thought the architect of this temple must have been mad. How can you fill the entire outer wall with sculptures without leaving space? This is simply crazy but awesome. Now lets talk about Halebidu in general and this temple in particular.

Dwarasamudra was the capital of the Hoysalas during the 12th century. After being attacked by Allauddin Khilji and Malik Kafur in the 14th century, it fell into a state of disrepair and was called Halebidu (ruined city) by the locals. This town is well known for the two beautiful temples, the Kedareshwara temple (built in 1219 A.D. by Ketaladevi, a queen of Veera Ballala II) and the Hoysaleswara Temple. We will talk about the Kedareshwara Temple in a different Post.

The Hoysaleswara Temple was commissioned by Ketumalla, the commander of King Vishnuvardhana, according to an inscription dated 1121 A.D. It is a simple Dvikuta vimana (two shrined, one for Hoysaleswara and the other for Shantaleswara) and is built with chloritic chist (also known as Soap Stone). As a typical signature of Hoysala Temples, this one too stands on an octagonal elevated jagati. The two shrines are connected by a pavilion inside. The plan of the inside of the temple is simple but the exterior looks different because of the introduction of many projections and recesses in the walls.

The temple was built at a height that provided the architects sufficient horizontal and vertical space to depict large and small sculptures.

The overall effect of the vertical and horizontal lines, the play of the outline, the effect of light and shade and the plan of the projections and recesses all amounts to a marvellous exhibition of human artistic brain. This temple of Halebidu, has been described as an "outstanding example of Hindu architecture" and as the "supreme climax of Indian architecture".

The temple has four porches for entry and the one normally used by visitors as main entry today is actually a lateral entrance (north). There is one entry on the south side and two on the east side, facing two large detached open pavilions whose ceiling is supported by lathe turned pillars. In addition there is a sanctuary for the Sun God Surya, whose image stands 7 ft. (2.1 m) tall. The pavilions enshrine large images of Nandi, and share the same jagati as the main temple.

With this high level description of the temple, we can start to explore, starting with the inner structure.

Continued from the previous post…

There are several inscriptions here. Some date during the Hoysala reign and some others written during later rulers who developed the temple premises E.g., the gopura of the temple, constructed during the Vijayanagara period. There are 17th century inscriptions on the walls about the donors, written in Kannada. Lets go back to the sculptures.

There is this idol of of a lady dancing. You can see the musicians playing at her feet. It is said that this idol is in so amazing symmetry that if a water drops from the tip of the finger on top, it drops through tip of her left hand, tip of her left breast, tip of her left hand finger and then finally tip of her left toe before touching the ground.

I have written only about some of the sculptures but there are many others with a story and interpretation of its own. There are other things to know and see in this temple complex. The Kalyani tank is situated in the north east corner of the complex. It was earlier called as Vasudeva Tirtha according to an inscription during Veera Ballala - II dated 1175 A.D. There are two elephants at the entrance and pavilions to the north and south of it. It is 46 feet deep and has receding steps from all the four sides.

There is this victory pillar which is 35 feet in height that was placed in the 14th century. It is monolithic with a square shaped base. It somehow stands only on three corners and you can clearly see a gap from the base. While placing this pillar, they must have properly calculated the wind velocity and the angle in which it had to be placed so that the centre of gravity falls on the base. There is the Kappe Chennigaraya Temple which is closed. It contains a damaged statue of Chennakesava. I talked about the legend that Jakkana found a frog inside this statue and he cut his hand in the first post.

To the south west of the Kesava Temple, is the temple of Saumyanayaki. It has a garbhagriha surmounted by a tower. According to an inscription, the original tower which was damaged was got repaired in 1387 by Muddappa a minister in the court of the Vijayanagara King Harihara II and a metal kalasa was fixed on it. The front portion of this temple was a later addition by the Dalavayi family of Kalale.

The Veera Narayana Temple to the west of the Kesava Temple is a small and compact structure with the outer wall containing beautiful sculptures of Vaishnava and Saiva faith. It consists of a Garbhagriha, a Sukhanasi and a Navaranga. The 59 large images on the outer wall include Vishnu, Siva, Bramha, Parvati etc. This temple is raised on an elevated basement and is contemporary to the Chennakesava Temple.

The temple of the Goddess Andal situated to the north west of the Kesava Temple is also called as the Ranganayaki Temple. The basement has friezes of elephants, scroll work and puranic scenes. It has the appearance having built with the materials belonging to some ruined Hoysala Temple. It is known for the row of 31 sculpture on its outer wall. The canopies on these images which differ from one another show true workmanship. Two of the images on the south wall have the names of sculptures Bechama and Madhuvanna who carved them.

Whatever i wrote is just a glimpse of this marvellous piece or art. Visit this temple at least once in your lifetime. With that said, i continue on my journey to my next step a temple which is bigger than the Chennakesava Temple and more intricately carved, the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu.