Hoysala Temples - Third Day

 

 

I was going to visit the famed Chennakesava Temple today in daylight. The temple was at a walkable distance from my hotel. I had already visited the place yesterday in the night during one of my walking strolls.

The day started late due to delay on the breakfast front.  The town of Belur is a quiet one and the place where I resided was near to a market place. In terms of exploring the town there was not much to do. I used to stroll the roads of this town and come back empty handed. It was like any other town in India which was finding its footing in the urban India.

As one reaches the steps of the temple, its lays protected behind the walls tall enough to make it disappear on the outside.  As one enters the temple complex they are greeted by the tall golden pillar that stands in front of the temple.

The Chennakesava Temple is a 12th century temple and was planned by King Vishnuvardhana and took over three generations or 103 years to complete. The temple was repeatedly plundered and damaged but repeatedly repaired and built over the years. One look at the temple complex and its indistinguishable that it was damaged.

Instead of entering the main temple, I decided to see the other places within the complex. On the left side one would find the deepa sthambha that stood tall. To the south is the Kappe Chennigaraya temple. The name is said to be drawn from a tale that once a frog (also known as Kappe in Kannada) was found on its navel. The other temples found in this complex are Saumyanaki Temple, Ranganayaki (Andal) Temple & Viranarayan Temple.

A pillared corridor surrounding the main temple houses numerous smaller shrines, with several single & double shrines. There is also a water tank on the right side of the main entrance of the temple complex which is not visible as a wall boundary has been built around it.

On the entrance of the temple, one is greeted by the Hoysala symbol. This temple is not very different in terms of its architecture but the highlight of this temple would be Madanika. Its said to be around  more than 80 such idols in various poses in the temple complex. The artwork inside this temple is immersive, even the ceiling has its tale to tell.

One cannot get enough of this place with its soapstone carvings. They are one of the finest sculpting that I have come across.

As I exited, I decided to get some kind of souvenir in terms of fridge magnets but sadly they do not have that many options, I still found one of my liking and bought it. Nearby there were women selling all kinds of carvings in stone. As I checked I found one turtle and a Shiv ling idol and got them. Buying them almost resulted into a fight from another women selling her wares who got upset when I did not bought it from here. Surprising part was they all had the UPI scanner available with them to make payment. Talk about digital India.

Belur is also known for its coffee similar to Chikmagalur and got some for the home.  

From there, I decided to visit the Ancient Hoysala Shri Pathaleshwara Temple which was nearby but it was locked. 

My next stop was to visit the Yagachi Dam and the Yagachi Water Sports which was around 5 kms from the hotel. Hopped on my ride and went to the dam first. The experience was ok and there was nothing much to do over there. I moved on to the water sports place and I believe with the right kind of people around this could be fun. As for me, there was nothing much to do, I enjoyed the view and left back to my place.

Since I had the rest of the day off, I decided to get my bike washed and that I think caused problems for during my return to Mumbai. Stay tuned, all will be revealed in the next post. 

Hoysala Temples - Second Day

 

 

Today, I was going to pay a visit to the famous Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebeeidu. This place was around 17 kms away.

The good thing about this place was a parking spot for the bike. As I parked my bike, I was approached by a man selling postcard photo book of the temple. I was not interested in buying it and moved away stating I will check later. A polite way of saying No. More on this later.

I was stopped by the security and informed that eatables were not allowed and my packet of chocolates that I keep handy were taken away. 

As one enters the temple complex, there are two routes on the left and right that one can take. The left one will take you to the main temple and the right one would take one along the ruins of the foundation of what stood their earlier, followed by a dilapidated temple. As one walks along the ruins there are idols that are in a good condition are worth to admire for their beauty.

One could only imagine how the temple complex would have been in its glory days. As one walks along they are encountered by a man made lake overlooked by palm trees. The area is surrounded by greenery and as one walks further along the lake there is an open space which was filled with students who were probably on a picnic or study tour.

A bahubali jain statue stands tall in the midst of it. There is also a museum which has all the idols/statues laying in the open area and inside too.  All of them have a story to tell, how much one understands or try to understand is left to one's understanding.

Sometimes it feels awe to be in the presence of such ancient items to be there, see them and know that they somehow managed to survive and make their presence felt.

The  Hoysaleswara temple was ransacked and attacked twice by Muslim rulers and yet it managed to survive to see what is left today. The restoration of the temple is done in such a way that no one would believe that it was attacked at all.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Its a twin temple dedicated to Hoysaleswara and Shantaleswara, the Shiv lingam named after the masculine and feminine aspects of Shiva.

The architecture of the temple is similar to the earlier ones I saw but the design and the story telling that follows has new tales to tell. The interior of the temple do mesmerizes one with its soapstone sculptures and showcasing the artistry and detailing of that era. 

The temple also has two Nandi shrines on the outside. I took sometime and sat near one of the Nandi idol for sometime to dwell on the beauty of this place. 

I stepped inside the temple and it spoke of its story of its era through the work and sculpting of the artisans who worked on making every inch of the temple speak for itself. The soap stone sculptures hypnotizes one with its detailing and intricate designs. Both of the shiv lings are similar placed and makes its presence felt.

I sat outside on the seating area near the entrance of the temple, spend some time and left.

Leaving was not that easy as I thought it would be. The guy selling the postcard photo book of the temple got behind me in buying one. We went back and forth and I had a look at them and they were really nice to keep. So I bargained on the price and got 2 books for Rs. 100. Not sure if this provides him a sustainable living but one has to do what they have to for survival.

My next stop was the Ancient Sri 1008 Bhagawan Shantinatha Digambara Jaina Basadi which was not very far from the  Hoysaleswara Temple

I had to check with the guard sitting outside that it was indeed the place as there was no one around except me. 

I entered the place and it was quiet and peaceful. The three temples inside are dedicated to Jain Tirthankars Parshvanatha, Shantinatha and Adinatha. This was also build in the 12th century. The architecture of these temple were simple and different from what what we saw of the Hoysala temples. There are two huge statues of the tirthankars and one relatively small compared to others. There is also a step well called Hulikere Kalyani.

As one stepped into these temples, there was hardly any light inside except for the afternoon sunlight falling inside and a light bulb near the idol. Efforts could have been made to keep the place lit up.

I wandered around and then moved towards the third and last temple of the day, the Shri Kedareshwara Swamy Temple.

The temple was also at short distance and at a dead end road. This also had hardly any people around except for 2-3 boys sitting on a bench. 

The temple was constructed by Hoysala King Veera Ballala II (r. 1173–1220 CE) and his Queen Ketaladevi. It carried the same design as with the rest of the temples. The temple doors were closed so one could not enter inside but the exterior walls had their stories to tell.

 I wandered around and found a place to sit and introspect on the civilization that existed and managed to survived in terms of its temples and other creations that tells its tale. 

After spending sometime, it was time to leave and call it a day. 

Hoysala Temples - First Day

One of the things that I prefer to have is to have a breakfast option during my hotel stays. This one did not came with that option but certainly had a restaurant to eat. 

First stop was going to be 29 kms away from my hotel. The temple that I was visiting was in Javagal. Kind of reminded of our former fast bowler Javagal Srinath who also hails from Karnataka. He was not born here though.

It was the month of Dec 2024 and still the rain would drizzle now and then. The road was covered with greenery on both sides. Nature is best experienced during the rains. 

I reached my first temple for the day, the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple. The temple entrance is greeted by two beautiful small elephants. The temple is a trikuta (three shrines). 

When I reached there, a pooja was being conducted adjacent to the temple. As I entered inside the temple premises, the temple was relatively smaller in height compared to the ones that we often come across. There were hardly any people on this side of the temple. 

I find it strange that I do not even visit the local temples in my area and here I am fascinated by a temple hundreds of kms away that is said to built in the 13th century.

One of the fascinating part of the Hoysala architecture is the way the temple exterior is considered as a canvas for depicting the revered gods  Its almost like walking through art inside a museum. Every wall with gods and others depicted had a story to tell. 

The good thing was that they were in good condition, takes one back in time. The detailing and the intricacies of those sculptures were mesmerizing. I entered inside the temple, it was dimly lit and I was the only one inside. There were three statues i.e., of  Lakshminarasimha, Sridhara and Venugopala on all the three directions. 

The foundation of the temple had the circular lathe-turned pillars and is so fine that it felt almost machine cut. Its a wonder how the know-how of this work has been lost on us.

Paying my respect to the gods and admiring the inner sanctum, I exited the temple and moved to the next hall where the pooja was being conducted. There was also a goddess idol shrine over there. Offered my prayers, stood for a while attending the pooja and made my exit from the temple. 

From there, I headed towards Sri Veeranarayana swamy temple in Belavadi which was around 30-32 kms away. It was again a secluded place with hardly any tourist/people around. 

The Hoysala architecture was evident here too. This temple is dedicated to Vishnu.  As one walks towards the main shrine, the walls of the temple adorned with beautiful carvings makes its presence felt. Even the ceiling had Vishnu playing the flute.  

I bumped into the priest who informed me not to take photos of the idols, something that I abide by.

The approach to the main deity' room was almost dark with hardly any lights. I said my prayers and decided to explore the exterior of the temple which was similar to the earlier one in terms of the sculpting carved.

From there I went to visit my last temple of the day, Ancient Hoysala Shri Doddagaddavalli Lakshmi Devi Temple. This place was another 30 kms away.

Its always a good practice that when one is away from the toll free highways and all, a biker should always choose the car mode to avoid any kind of surprises that good map might come up with in terms of best route.

I almost ended up in someone's house but thankfully there was a way out and I was able to reach this temple from a less traveled road trail. As I was parking my bike near the temple, it started raining, more of drizzle. As I was making my way to the temple, a couple also entered the temple premises.

This temple is said to be built in the 12th century by a wealthy merchant Kalhana Ravuta and his wife Sahaja Devi during the reign of the famous Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana.

The highlight for me in this temple was the two demon shaped sculptures outside the shrine of Kali goddess who was hidden behind the open top half closed doors, with the face of goddess carved above it.

There were few local villagers here along with the security women who were doing pooja for the lord Shiva deity. The couple who had entered before me were taking pictures and when I started taking them, I was told no photos still I managed a few but not enough for my liking.

The temple complex consisted of the main temple and the entrance hall which also had a seating arrangement. One could see the main temple with the Hoysala emblem on the top from the entrance hall. There were also small temples within the complex but there were no idols in it.  

After the pooja was over, prasadam was distributed which I took with me. It was still raining and I decided to find a space for myself in the entrance hall. The villagers too joined along with their kids and of course the security guard whom I hated for not allowing me take pictures inside the temple.

I had a good conversation with a little girl who could speak in English but not Hindi and the mother had no clue what we were talking about. I finished my prasadam but the rain did not look it was going to stop anytime soon.

After spending sometime, I decided it was time to make a move. Put on my rain gear and walked towards my bike to head back to my hotel. 

It was time to call it a day.