Musafir

This trip to the district of Hassan, Karnataka is the most satisfying trip of mine and i have enjoyed writing about it as much as i did when visiting. Even though Hampi Trip will be my best ever (i understood the greatness of Indian Temple Architecture for the first time), the trip to the Hoysala world will always be memorable.

When i started planning, i never thought of most of the places i visited. Only just before the start of my first day, i browsed a little and got the names. I wanted to explore something different and away from normal tourist location. Going to places where few people visit and writing about them is the most satisfying experience and i feel i did enough justice to them. Here i should thank my cab driver who patiently bore my whims and fancies and took me where ever i asked for. He came inside and visited most of the temples with me as he was also seeing them for the first time. It is never surprising that people tend to ignore or forget their own place.

Transport: My first advise to tourists is to take an own/hired vehicle always instead of using public transport. Most of the places are remote and it is not a good ideal to depend on them. Of course, this is applicable only if you want to visit all the places i mentioned. However, good public transport is available for the main attractions Belur, Halebidu and Sravanabelagola. And i hope to have given sufficient information to locate the  place.

Stay: Always stay in Hassan town if you are planning to have more than a day and travel to other places. There are accommodations in Belur and Halebidu as well but they are an option if more than a day is planned for any of these places. For a normal tourist, a day is sufficient for both of them. We can even complete all the three mentioned spots in a day if we take our own vehicle.

Study and Research: I feel this is important before see these temples. At least, if one has knowledge of Hindu iconography, can enjoy the sculptures. I say this as most of the sculptures are event and story based. The way the sculptures are designed exemplify the story itself.

Other places: I could not visit some of the places because of time. There are wonderful temples in places like Javagallu, Hosaholalu, Nuggehalli among others.

Don’t Do: Avoid visiting the small fortified palace that i mentioned. It is a complete waste of time. I travelled almost 100 additional kilometres just for this which could have been used for covering other places. Even though i am happy that i could see some explored area, this can be skipped. From Manjarabad Fort, come back to Hassan and the Iswara Temple in Arsikere can be reached from here.

Food: Food in Hassan is good with a mixture of South and North Indian flavour. There are good quality restaurants near the bus station.

The events under which i had this trip are also funny. As i mentioned in my first post, there was a government backed strike during the time and i had a real hard time travelling from Hassan to Sravanabelagola. My cab driver woke up at 5 AM waiting to get my call, if he had to take me to my destination. Luckily, i managed to get a fully crowded government bus. Even during the return journey, i had to wait for hours to get a bus to Bangalore. This strike was a welcome break to the Government Employees with all their chatting sitting leisurely.

As i plan my next series of posts, i am very happy that i had provided good information on the Hassan District, which i feel has not been documented well.

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.

Before we talk about the architecture, we will talk a little bit about the dynasty. The Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu. By the 13th century, they governed most of present-day Karnataka, minor parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra Pradesh in Deccan India. The most notable rulers of the dynasty were Vishnuvardhana (1108-1152) and Veera Ballala II (1173 - 1220) in whose rule the kingdom flourished greatly in terms of art. The are became part of the Vijayanagara empire after the death of the last king, Veera Ballala III (1292-1343). We know about the dynasty and the administration from many inscriptions that are there in the temples in this part of Karnataka.

The Hoysala era was an important period in the development of art, architecture, and religion in South India. The empire is remembered today primarily for its temple architecture. Over a hundred surviving temples are scattered across Karnataka, including the well known Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. The Hoysala rulers also patronised the fine arts, encouraging literature to flourish in Kannada and Sanskrit.

Kannada folklore tells of a young man Sala, who saved his Jain guru Sudatta by striking dead a tiger he encountered near the temple of the Goddess Vasantika at Sosevur. The word "strike" literally translates to "hoy" in Hale Kannada (Old Kannada), hence the name "Hoy-sala". This killing of the tiger by Sala has become the royal emblem of the kingdom as you see in this picture. This legend first appeared in the Belur inscription of Vishnuvardhana (1117), but owing to several inconsistencies in the Sala story it remains in the realm of folklore. Now we will talk about the architecture in general.

The area in and around the districts of Hassan and Mandya are the only places where you can find this style of temple construction in the state of Karnataka. Study of the Hoysala architectural style has revealed a negligible Indo-Aryan influence while the impact of Southern Indian style is more distinct. The vigorous temple building activity of the Hoysala Empire was due to the social, cultural and political events of the period. The growing military prowess of the Hoysala kings desired to surpass their Western Chalukya overlords in artistic achievement. Temples built prior to Hoysala independence in the mid-12th century reflect significant Western Chalukya influences, while later temples retain some salient features but have additional inventive decoration and ornamentation, features unique to Hoysala artisans.

The Hoysalas usually dedicated their temples to Lord Shiva or to Lord Vishnu (two of the major Hindu gods), but they occasionally chose a different deity. While King Vishnuvardhana and his descendants were Vaishnava by faith,  records show that the Hoysalas maintained religious harmony by building as many temples dedicated to Shiva as they did to Vishnu. Most of these temples have secular features with broad themes depicted in their sculptures. The Kesava temple at Somanathapura is different in that its ornamentation is strictly Vaishnava.

A Hindu temple is a place of contact between the gods or deities and man. The focus of a temple is the centre or sanctum sanctorum (garbhagriha) where the image of the deity resides, so temple architecture is designed to move the devotee from outside to the garbhagriha through ambulatory passageways for circumambulation and halls or chambers (mantapas) that become increasingly sacred as the deity is approached. Most Hoysala temples have a plain covered entrance porch supported by lathe turned (circular or bell-shaped) pillars which were sometimes further carved with deep fluting and moulded with decorative motifs. The temples may be built upon a platform raised by about a metre called a "jagati". Such temples will have an additional set of steps leading to an open mantapa (open hall) with parapet walls. A good example of this style is the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. The jagati which is in unity with the rest of the temple follows a star-shaped design and the walls of the temple follow a zig-zag pattern, a Hoysala innovation.

The mantapa is the hall where groups of people gather during prayers. The entrance to the mantapa normally has a highly ornate overhead lintel called a makaratorana (makara is an imaginary beast and torana is an overhead decoration) as you see in this picture. The open mantapa which serves the purpose of an outer hall (outer mantapa) is a regular feature in larger Hoysala temples leading to an inner small closed mantapa and the shrine(s).

The vimana, also called the cella, contains the garbhagriha (Sanctum Santorum) wherein resides the image of the presiding deity. The vimana is often topped by a tower which is quite different on the outside than on the inside. Inside, the vimana is plain and square, whereas outside it is profusely decorated and can be either stellate ("star-shaped") or shaped as a staggered square, or feature a combination of these designs, giving it many projections and recesses that seem to multiply as the light falls on it.

Hoysala artists are famous for their sculptural detail, be it in the depiction of the Hindu epics, yallis , deities, kirthimukha (gargoyles), eroticism or aspects of daily life. Their workmanship shows an attention paid to precise detail. Every aspect down to a fingernail or toenail is perfected. Salabhanjika, a common form of Hoysala sculpture, is an old Indian tradition going back to Buddhist sculpture. Sala is the sala tree and bhanjika is the chaste maiden. In the Hoysala idiom, madanika figures are decorative objects put at an angle on the outer walls of the temple near the roof so that worshipers circumambulating the temple can view them. They served the function of bracket figures to pillars inside the mantapa. These madanika were sculpted as seemingly engaged in artistic activities such as music (holding musical instruments) and dance.Kirthimukhas (demon faces) adorn the towers of vimanas in some temples. Sometimes the artists left behind their signatures on the sculptures they created.

The sthamba buttalikas are pillar images that show traces of Chola art in the Chalukyan touches. Some of the artists working for the Hoysalas may have been from Chola country, a result of the expansion of the empire into Tamil-speaking regions of Southern India. The image you see here is of mohini on one of the pillars in the mantapa (closed hall) of the Chennakeshava temple and is a fine example of Chola art.

We had a nice glimpse of the Hoysala art and architecture and this will take the further posts forward in our understanding. As for the blog, i will continue with exploring the Hassan District in further posts.