An incomplete guide to Hoysala temples ;-)

From the preface of the Complete Guide to Hoysala temples by Gerard Foekema: For me, enjoying Later Calukya and Hoysala temples is one of the great pleasures of life. I love these temples because their plans are so logical and natural, because their architecture is so ingenious, and because their execution is so rich"

We did this very interesting trip over the weekend of 28th, 29th & 30th March 09.

The route map:

* Map not to scale. Total distance on the odo, from start to stop : 826kms. Background: Due to some commitments getting postponed, we suddenly had a 3 day weekend coming up (we had taken off on Monday 30th) and no plans on hand. A Belur-Halebid trip was long overdue anyway and this seemed to be a good opportunity to do it. While researching into the history and significance of the Belur-Halebid temples, I came across quite a few interesting websites, including the superb travelogue by a TBHPian @akbaree @akbaree had recommended a book titled A complete guide to Hoysala Temples by Gerard Foekema which is a good and comprehensive source of information on Hoysala temple architecture. Unfortunately I could not buy the book since it was out of stock in the shops I

checked with. However, significant portions of the book are available via Google-books. [The maps and some sections are not available online] To quote from the book: More than a hundred of Hoysala temples survive today, and I think more than 10 of them to be of interest to the average tourist. The most important message I have to convey is that the large temples in Belur and Halebid give a marvelous impression of Hoysala sculpture, but only a poor impression of Hoysala architecture, because they are seriously incomplete. Visiting a few other villages in the neighborhood of Belur and Halebid is very rewarding, because there smaller but complete temples can be found. Several of these small and modest temples perfectly show the logic and beauty of Hoysala architecture The thought of covering all the temples listed in the book was quite appealing. I looked up these places in the Eicher & TTK road maps and found that not all of them are marked. I filled in the gaps by looking up these places on G-maps, Mapmyindia and also by reading up directions to these places on different websites. Slowly the route started to take shape. Of the places mentioned in the book, we dropped Amritapura & Basaralu since they would involve too much of a deviation from our route plan. [which is why my log is titled 'an incomplete guide to...'] 13 out of the 15 places from the book were penciled in. Also, there are several other places, which also have beautiful Hoysala temples, but are not mentioned in the book added in a couple of those as well, ending up with a list of 17 places to be covered. The list of places we visited over the three days: Day 1

Turuvekere Aralaguppe Arsikere Haranhalli

(Overnight stay at Halebid.) Day 2

Halebid Hulikere Belvadi Javagallu Belur Dodda Gadduvalli Koravangala

(Overnight stay at Hassan)

Day 3

Mosale Nuggehalli Govindanahalli Kikkeri Hosaholalu Somanathapur

Belur temple gopuram, in 1895 in 2009

Somanathpur temple, in 1865 in 2009

Somanathpur temple, in 1865 in 2009

Somanathpur temple, in 1865 in 2009

Belur, in 1865 in 2009

Halebid temple, in 1856 in 2009

Halebid temple, in 1868 in 2009

Halebid temple, in 1865 in 2009

Halebid temple, in 1856 in 2009

* Old pics courtesy British Library ASI. The Belur Temple originally had a gopurum on top, which collapsed / was taken down sometime later. The small add-on shrine (seen in the center of the old photo) + the steps (in front of the add-on shrine) which were attached to the temple by someone after the Hoysala period were also taken out during some renovation exercise

Who were the Hoysalas? In a chronological context, Karnataka was ruled over by the following kingdoms:

Pre-historic age. Early years Satavahanas 325 A.D.- 540 A.D. Kadambas of Banavasi 325 A.D.- 999 A.D. Gangas of Talkad 500 A.D. 757 A.D. Chalukyas of Badami 757 A.D. 973 A.D. Rashrakootas 973 A.D. 1198 A.D. Chalukyas of Kalyan 1198 A.D. 1312 A.D. Yadavas of Devagiri 1000 A.D. 1346 A.D. Hoysalas 1336 A.D. 1565 A.D. Vijayanagara Kings 1347 A.D. 1527 A.D. Bahamani Kings 1490 A.D. 1686 A.D. Sultans of Bijapur 1500 A.D. 1763 A.D. Nayakas of Keladi 1399 A.D. 1761 A.D. Wodeyars of Mysore 1761 A.D. 1799 A.D. Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan 1800 A.D. 1831 A.D. Wodeyars of Mysore (Under British Empire) 1831 A.D. 1881 A.D. British Empire 1881 A.D. 1950 A.D. Wodeyars of Mysore 1956 Present day Karnataka is formed.

To quote from the Wikipedia: 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. The Hoysala rulers were originally hill people of Malnad Karnataka, an elevated region in the Western Ghats range. In the 12th century, taking advantage of the internecine warfare between the then ruling Western Chalukyas and Kalachuri kingdoms, they annexed areas of present day Karnataka and the fertile areas north of the Kaveri River delta in present day Tamil Nadu. By the 13th century, they governed most of present-day Karnataka, parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra Pradesh in Deccan India. 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 patronized the fine arts, encouraging literature to flourish in Kannada and Sanskrit.

Wikipedia also has a good write-up about Hoysala architecture: Hoysala architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia More than a 1000 temples were probably built during the Hoysala period. However only a few have survived relatively intact to this day. Some were just abandoned and disintegrated over the centuries; some were renovated and rebuilt to an extent that they no longer resemble their original design. Of the temples that survived, around 20 temples are recommended as must see for anyone interested in Hoysala architecture. Our trip was planned to cover most of these temples The planning: [1] First we listed down the places to cover and the temples to see at each place. [2] Charted out the places on a rough map to give us an idea of the order in which to cover these places. [3] We decided that our first night-halt would be at Halebidu and the second night-halt would be at Hassan. As you start seeing the pics, you might feel that many temples look quite similar yes, they do. While the overall architecture might follow some standard patterns, what differentiate the temples are the carvings on the walls, the level of intricacy in the design etc. So each temple is different if you observe it from close quarters. Most of these temples either have guides, caretakers or priests who can walk you through the temples and explain the significance of each. The trip: Day 1 We planned to make an early morning start, but both of us could wind-up only close to 11pm the previous evening and by the time packing is done and we fall asleep, it is around 2am. So, we wake up at 6.30am and finally start off at around 7.30am.

Saturday morning traffic was light and we reached Nelamangala without any trouble and took the right turn towards Kunigal. On our previous drive along this road we had seen that there are some good hotels after Kunigal where we could stop for breakfast. I will not delve into the specifics of the route since the map should give you a good idea about the location of each place and we did a lot of stop-and-ask throughout the trip to find our way around. Spotted this scenic archway along the way

The route to Turuvekere, our first place to see

TURUVEKERE We enter Turuvekere!

In Turuvekere we covered three temples, the Chennakesava temple, the Moole Shankara temple and the Gangadhareeshwara temple. Chennakesava temple

Next we headed towards the Moole Shankara temple and found that it was locked. We asked around to see who had the key and were directed towards a nearby house. After enquiring about where we were from and our interest in the temple, they offered us some coffee and snacks and then just handed us the keys to the temple!

The Moole Shankara temple

Hmmm This is the first time we unlocked a temple!

We spent some time here, locked the temple again, handed over the keys and proceeded towards the Gangadhareeshwara temple The Nandi, which is around 7ft tall

A unique Stone bell! You can actually strike it with a stick and it sounds like a normal bell!

ARALAGUPPE After Turuvekere, we proceeded towards Aralaguppe, though we knew that it was somewhere around, we asked some locals to guide us and they mentioned the route options and suggested the best route that would be kind on the Xing

One unique experience I had at this temple was being stung on my hand by a wasp. Nothing serious though The Keshava temple at Aralaguppe

It was close to 2.00pm by the time we ready to leave from Aralaguppe, we would be driving through Tiptur on the way to our next destination, so lunch stop was at Tiptur.

ARASIKERE After a lunch break at Tiptur, we reached Arasikere at around 4.00pm and proceeded towards the Shivalaya. This is a live temple on the outskirts of the town.

After spending around 45 mins at the Shivalaya, we headed out towards our next stop; Haranahalli, which is around 8 kms from Arasikere.

HARANAHALLI We covered two temples here, the Lakshminarasimha temple and the Someshwara temple. The Someshwara temple

The Lakshminarasimha temple

Another locked temple, found the priests house and got him back to open the temple for us

It was quite late by the time we were ready to leave from Haranahalli, so we decided to drive to Halebidu, stay overnight there and track back towards Belavadi and Javagal the next day. [We drove through Javagal and passed the Belevadi diversion on our way to Halebidu.]
HALEBIDU We walked towards the Halebidu Hoysaleswara temple the next morning

Autos waiting near the temple to whisk you around town

Our next stop would be the Kedareshwara and the Jain temples which are a couple of kilometers away from the Hoysaleswara temple and then onward to Hulikere. A word of caution, the map we found on the hoarding (in the post above) gives an idea about the general directions of the places to visit, but the distances are absolutely not to scale and Dodda Gadduvalli is shown on the wrong road, it is actually on the Belur Hassan road. We were a little confused since my map differed from the hoarding map finally we checked with the best GPS system in these areas; a shared Auto driver! Who confirmed that we were indeed on the right track. The Kedareshwara temple

The Parsavanatha and Shantinatha Basadis. The main idols in these temples are 18 ft tall!

Saw this owl watching us watching him [in the crevasse under the Myna]

HULIKERE Our next stop was Hulikere, which is a couple of Kms from Ha lebid. No temple here just a small but beautiful Kalyani

This frog swam up to us to say hi!

Spent some time here and drove back through Halebid towards Belavadi & Javagal.

BELAVADI Belavadi is a few Kms away from Halebidu and there is a huge Veeranarayana temple complex here.

Since there was no power supply, the priest used a solar lantern to show us around the dark insides of the temple

The Utsava-murthys

JAVAGAL After Belavadi we headed towards Javagal, which is again a few Kms away. The Lakshminarasimhaswamy temple at Javagal. This again was a temple which was locked when we reached there and we had to trace the priests house and call him to open the door for us.

The priest was kind enough to give us a bunch of bananas to munch upon and also a bottle full of great tasting teertha. This was a life-saver since it was lunch time and we were really hungry! After spending some time here, we headed back towards Halebidu and onwards to our next destination; Belur.

BELUR Once we reached Belur I troubled Sangeetha by making her walk round and round the temple with a compass in hand trying to find the exact locations from where the 1850s, 1860s black -and-white pics were taken "Where is the north west face?", "Where is this view from south?"

Ancient wooden wheels from the temple chariot

Intricate carvings

One last pic of the temples dwaja-sthambam

We headed on towards our next stop, Dodda-Gadduvalli, which is around 25kms from Belur, on the Hassan-Belur road.

DODDA GADDUVALLI Found this map on a hoarding on the way, which gave us a good idea about the directions of the places we intended to cover and helped reconfirm our maps

The Lakshmi temple

The eerie looking Betalas carved inside the temple

The temple is located on the banks of a river/lake

Spent about 45 mins here and headed on towards Hassan. We had planned to stay overnight at Hassan, but since there was still quite a bit of daylight left, we decided to cover Koravangala, which is around 10kms away from Hassan.

KORAVANGALA The route that we took to Koravangala lead us directly to the temple and went along a tank bund

The Koravangala Bucheswara temple

The Govindeshwara temple which lies in ruins in front of the Bucheswara temple

Reconstruction was started sometime in the past, only to get mired in a court case and was stopped midway through

The temple Kalyani, which apparently never runs dry

The kalasha and the Hoysala symbols (A man slaying a lion) on the Bucheswara temple are still intact. These symbols were once carved on almost all Hoysala temples, but have collapsed or were taken down over the centuries

The rotating Nandi! The Nandi idol is placed on a pivot and can be rotated 360 degrees. The legend was that once upon a time the Nandi would turn on its own to indicate the success of your prayers or wishes. However these days you have to turn it yourselves and the ease with which it turns is supposed to indicate the difficulty level in your chosen task. Thanks @akbaree for noting this unique Nandi in your log, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing this in Koravangala.

We headed back towards Hassan and enquired at a few hotels that we came across and found that the room rates were almost uniform. We settled down at a place called Jewel rock, where the rooms had been recently renovated. They charged us Rs.600 per night for a standard double room.

We freshened up and headed out to get some dinner before logging off for the day. MOSALE Hassan, at 6.00am, it was quite exceptionally foggy

We checked out of the room and were on our way to Mosale by around 6.30am. There are two temples to be covered here, Chennakesava and Nagareshwara.

Close to Mosale

Temples in the mist

Drove through the village, parked in front of the temple and while I was taking pics, Sangeetha went in search of the temple priest. This was turning out to be a routine to find temples locked when we reached. Sangeetha would track down the person who had the keys

It is supposed to be auspicious to look at the Shivaling from between Nandis ears, i.e. as close as you can get to Nandis perspective

The priest of the adjacent Chennakesava temple was a small kid, Srinivas, who was chanting all the shlokas quite clearly and walked us in and around the temples

NUGGEHALLI After completing Mosale we drove back to Hassan and took the road towards CR Patna. Stopped for breakfast at a Kamat Upachar enroute and proceeded towards Nuggehalli. We intended to cover the Lakshminarasimha and the Sadashiva temples. The Sadashiva temple

The temple was being used for conducting some school exams. I remember going to a temple prior any important exams, this was one step ahead, write exams in a temple!

Oh God! Please let me remember what subject is this? I dont remember attending this class at all must have slept through all the sessions

The Lakshminarasimha temple

The stone which talks about the history of the temple

GOVINDANAHALLI

Govindanahalli was a little difficult to track down; somebody pointed us towards a route that went to a Govinahalli, which sounds quite similar. However we were lucky to find this board along the way, which indicated that Govindanahalli was actually a different place, but it was nearby.

After driving through a narrow mud road for about a kilometer, we reached Govindanahalli and found the Panchalingeshwara temple. As usual, it was locked!

Same old story here too temple locked, found priest/caretakers house, he was not at home, a lady from his house cae along to open the temple for us. The Panchalingeshwara temple

This is quite a big temple, with 5 garbagrihas, 5 lingas, 5 Nandis, 5 gopurams, all in a line, inside the same structure

Took some pics, walked around the complex and then headed off towards our next destination Kikkeri. KIKKERI Kikkeri is on the main Hassan-Mysore road. The Brahmeshwara temple here is special because it has carvings of Madanikas (Dancing girls) like in Belur, however many of them are in pristine condition. The few missing ones are supposedly in some museums abroad. This is a good place to see some intact examples of exquisite Hoysala sculptures. The temple is located on the banks of a river / lake

Ok, same story temple locked Sangeetha tracked down the person who had the key, whose house was a few 100 mts away from the temple There was some difficulty in opening the temple since there was a big bunch of similar looking keys, finally we were in!

Ok, looks like the board indicating that this is a protected monument needs some protection

As mentioned earlier, the intact Madanika statues

Took some pics outside the temple

We got directions to our next destination Hosaholalu and headed off HOSAHOLALU Hosaholalu is around 2 Kms from KR Pet. There is a Lakshminarayana temple here that was on our list. The Lakshminarayana temple

We were also given suggestions to visit a place called Kallhalli which is supposed to have an exquisite 18ft tall Varahanarasimha idol. However there was some confusion about the route and distance etc. So we dropped it. Since it was around 2.30pm by the time we wound up from Hosaholalu, we had lunch in KRpet and headed off towards Mysore/Srirangapatna and onwards to our last destination for this trip; Somanathapura.

SOMANATHPURA The route from near Srirangapatna to Somanathapura is not in such a great condition and our average speeds were down to the 40s / 50s. We expected that Somanathapura temple would be open till late evening, however the temple shuts down at 5.30pm and we reached the place at 4.15pm. That gave us a little more than an hour to walk around.

We were probably the last visitors to walk out of the temple that day and headed back towards Mysore road. Reached Bannur and took the road to Maddur.

Spotted this sign on the way As it flashed past us, I thought I had read it wrong, so reversed and drove back to the sign to see that it indeed said New York! I have seen a Singapura near Davanagere, a Timbuktoo on the way to Hyderabad and now I found a New York around 7 Kms from Maddur on the Bannur road

We reached the Bangalore-Mysore road and turned towards Bangalore. Reached the Kamat Lokaruchi by around 7.45pm and stopped for a delicious dinner, before returning home.