.. a visit to Lord Bahubali.. Shravanbelgoda..

Heritage Triangle: Belur - Halebidu - Shravanbelgoda

Bangalore–Shravanbelgoda-Halebidu-Belur-Bangalore

26th December 2009; Day Trip (7am-10.30pm)

Long weekend of Xmas and no travel plans yet ready...for sure I didn’t want to be alone at home doing nothing and was busy working out some exciting day travel plans..... luckily I got across Karnataka Tourism (KSTDC) web page and decided to capture on the day trip of ‘Heritage Triangle’ of Karnataka- Belur, Halebidu and Shravanbelgoda... After long time I was heading for hardcore Heritage Tour so was kind of exciting... For some reason was not expecting too many people to opt for this route but was totally wrong when I managed to get the last available coach ticket... huh...

It was a pleasant experience to be there at 7 am at KSTDC office, Badami House, BLR from where these coaches depart. I quite liked the Karnataka Tourism efforts to boost the tourism sector across the state may it be online booking facility, decent accommodations or even the quality of coaches they have. Wonder MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism) have failed to upgrade themselves at least to this standard. y other states (...honestly I shouldn’t talk about other states as I don’t know much about their initiatives...)

Shravanbelgoda (158 kms from Bangalore)

Coaches for this day trip left Badami House at 7.15 am sharp. We were heading toward Shravanbelgoda, a Jain pilgrimage centre of prime importance. After a quick breakfast stop at around 9.30am, we marched ahead to reach this town at around 10.30am. We all got down from the coach with strict instructions from the driver to be back in an hour’s time. ...

Shravanbelgoda... about 158 kms from Bangalore, it is a city located in the Hassan district of Karnataka and is a Jain Pilgrimage Centre of prime importance today!!... Located between the two hills, Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri, it is famous for the 57 feet monolithic statue of ‘Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali’, located on the Vindyagiri. It was erected by Chamundaraya in 10^th century and is considered to be the tallest monolithic statue in the world till today…

…to get to this giant statue you have to climb around 700 steps of Vindhyagiri…

… its all worth it for the great view of the town against the backdrop of Chandragiri Hill…

… effort has been made to protect the old scripts carved in the rock by the travelers visiting the place during 9th-14^th centuries…

… as you are a top, you are fronted by this giant monolithic statue of lord Bahubali carved out of granite…

… the base of the statue has inscriptions in Kannada and Tamil. Also it hold the oldest evidence of written Marathi, dating from 981 AD…’Shri Chamundaraye Karaviyale’ is what it suggests according to one local there…

… this place is also famous for the great event ‘Mahamastakabhishek’ that takes place every 12 years… the statue is covered with milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins then… the next ‘Mahamastakabhishek’ is suppose to take place in 2018…

So after witnessing this magnificent statue, surprisingly everyone was back to the coach almost in time …it was already 11.45 am and from here on we were on move to our next destination.. the ‘Hoyasaleshwara temple’ in Halebidu… UNESCO World Heritage Site….

A Masterpeice ... Hoyasala Architecture...

... Off from Shravanbelgoda we were on our way to Hoyasaleshwara Temple, A UNESCO World Heritage Site at Halebidu ... following the roadway to Hassan and moving further, Halebidu is located 31 kms from Hassan... reached a small town of Halebidu at around 1.30 in afternoon and after a quick lunch we were all set for a guided tour of temple....

Halebidu was the capital of 12^th century Hoyasala Empire and today is essentially famous for the spectacular Hoyasaleshwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, built around 12^th century by King Vishnuvardhana. It is a distinct piece of Hoyasala Architecture on which almost three generations of craftsmen have said to be worked and still considered as an incomplete piece.

These temples are not spectacular in terms of their grand scale or prolific gopurams like in other south Indian temples, but are spectacular in the sense of the intricate carvings and stonework that they display.

... climate sensitive approach to design and panning... North and east wall with perforated walls for light and wind whereas south and west are dead walls with extreme carvings ...

...Hoyasala Architecturere specialises with its star shape form for the temple and plinth that allowed them an extra surface area on which they can further carve out stories from Indian mythology... even this temple has two shrines but connected by this common platform ...

...Most distinct feature of this temple is that the stone they used, locally called as ‘soap stone’, is basically a softer stone compared to Granite that you find everywhere in South India. This is one the reason why artists were able to produce such intricate carving work all over the temple surfaces...

... Temples have a very strong base with extremely well detailed carvings... and each of these carvings and order of layers depict a story or has a meaning...Also, check out the deep crevices... stone slabs were placed on top of each other interlocked... and each section of slab then is taken over by craftsmen to work on for their entire life producing such an masterpiece.... some of these slab panels can be still seen incomplete ....

... Every surface of temple is sculpted out with characters from Hindu mythology and each surface narrates these stories from Hindu mythologies that we have heard in childhood...

... if you are really keen into admiring every single detail that the temple offers, the hour long tour really don't do the justice... anyway, with the plan of visiting this temple again in near future, I decided to move further to see yet another masterpiece of Hoyasala period at Belur ...

Belur ... Channakesava Temple ...

... Belur... our next destination is located just 16 kms from Halebidu and at around 4pm we reached to witness yet another masterpiece of Hoyasala Period, the famous ‘Channakesava Temple’... Shoes and Cell phones are strict 'No No' here but thankfully the management allows carrying cameras inside...

As we entered we were taken a hold by a tourist guide, thankfully for us turned out to be a great boon because of his sense of humour and of course knowledge of history... Like Hoyasaleshwara temple is for ‘Shiva’, Channakesava temple at Belur is dedicated to lord Vishnu...

First striking feature of the temple complex is the Gopuram through which we enter the temple complex... what we understand from the guide is that this Gopuram along with the compound wall was added later on in 14^th century by Kings of Vijayanagara Empire to protect the temple complex....

... Channakesava temple at Belur is specifically appreciated for its interior beauty and carvings unlike the Hoyasaleshwara Temple at Halebidu which is widely appreciated for its external carvings... Even if I listen to this, the temple surfaces at Belur too were extensively detailed out with Hindu Mythology characters and stories...

... Below is the detail and intact piece of emblem of Hoyasala Empire ... basically indicating a warrior fighting a Tiger ...

... some of the engineering details like surface water discharge well worked out and performing efficiently till date...

.. Inside of temples are equally well detailed out may it be pillars, walls or even ceilings, all depicting and narrating mythological stories... some of these surfaces are amazingly well polished... wonder how they manages to get these mirror polished finishes in 10-12th centuries..

... the Channakesava (Vishnu) deity inside the temple...

... another wonder in the temple complex... this free standing pillar is connected at the base only at 3 corner whereas 4th corner of the pillar at base is not attached to the base... its brilliant engineering with calculated centre of gravity principle and is one of the major attractions for kids and people present in the temple complex...

... it was around 5.30 pm and essentially the end of our heritage day trip ... an all in all worth experience ... and worth visiting again.. may be on my own to spend longer times at these temples....

... now we were on our back to B'lore straight from Belur... tired with day long activities, return journey went off mostly sleeping in the coach except for dinner break at Kamat's on the way back... the coach was all over quiet again as everyone fell asleep again after a dinner break ... 10.30 in night as we reached back B'lore Badami House and everyone dispersed their own ways........ was totally satisfied the way the day went along and had promised myself to get my friends here next time they visit me in B'lore ...