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.