... 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 12th century Hoyasala Empire and today is essentially famous for the spectacular Hoyasaleshwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, built around 12th 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 ...
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