Day 2 - 16th July 2008

It was decided to get ready and start the day at 6:30 AM. I edited the alarm respectively, set the right alarm ringtone, but alas, forgot to enable the damn thing. I am so smart. My son wakes us up at 7:00 AM and we realize we are already late. I quickly go to the tourist guest house office to speak with the manager. He had promised us a water heater. He tells he will bring the water heater in 10 minutes and I come back to my room. It is now 7:30 AM and there is no sign of the water heater. I am desperate not to waste time and one more visit to the manager. This time he is able to find a water heater and gives it to me. I come back and plug it. Bhu, a spark and the current is gone. I rush back and inform the manager. He comes to the room to check and finds that the fuse had tripped. He just switches back. But I enquired with him if there is any other way to get the hot water. He says the solar is not working due to overcast sky. He tells us that he will heat the water over a gas stove and give us. I realize that it would take time and decide to take bath in freezing cold water. As soon as I complete my bath, the hot water arrives. At-least my wife, son and mom will have hot water to take bath.

We are finally ready to start our day at 8:30 AM. We finish the breakfast and start walking towards the Halebid temple at 8:45 AM.



The Halebid temple was contructed in 1120 by the rich merchants (prominently Ketamala) of Halebid during the reign of Vishnuvardhana (original name - Bittideva). The construction may have gone upto 1150.

Halebid remained the capital city of the Hoysala kings during most of the 200 years that they ruled. It's original name was Dwarasamudra although today it is known as Halebidu. Halebidu when translated in English (from Kannada) means - a ruined city or old city. It is situated some 30 kilometers North West of Hassan.

It is a magnificent feeling as we walk towards the temple. The structure looks majestic from some distance but we had no idea of what we were going to witness as we inch closer. This is one of the most wonderful temples I have ever been to. Halebid is a twin temple, ofcourse a dwikuta. Both the shrines are equal and have a Shiva Linga. If one enters from the South facing entrance, the Shiva Linga that greets first is named Hoysaleswara. If one enters from the North facing entrance, the Shiva Linga that greets frist is named Santalaeswara after the queen Santala; wife of Vishnuvardhana. Both the shrines have a huge Nandi in the front.

The friezes of the Halebid temple are the best among all the Hoysala temples that I visited during this trip. The 6th frieze from the top depicts scenes from Mahabharat, Ramayana, Bhagwad, and other folklore. Many other Hoysala temples have this feature but it is in its most flourished form at Halebid.

I must have done atleast 8-10 circumambulations to marvel the wall sculptures at Halebid temple. They are extraordinary and cover a very large portion of Hindu Mythology. Most of the wall sculptures have some or other associated legend from Hindu Mythology and these legends have been sculpted to eternity by the sculptors of this temple. The wall structures start with a sculpture of dancing Ganesha at the South facing entrance and ends again with a sculpture of dancing Ganesah on the North facing entrance. In between there are about 240 great sculptures.

There is an interesting Stambha outside the South facing entrance of the temple with carvings of soldiers cutting their own heads. These are suppose to be king loyalists offering their lives once the king is dies.

Please check my Picasa Web Album for other pictures.

Finally after marvelling at the temple for more than an hour we finally enter the temple sanctorum from the South facing entrance which was also used by king Vishnuvardhana. The sanctorum is peaceful and its design (which is as per Vastu Shastra) gives it wonderful shades of light and just right amount of air flow.


The priest has just arrived and is starting the prayer. We sit for some half an hour till the prayer is complete and pay our obeisance to the Shiva Linga. The Linga in this temple is bigger than any other Linga among the Hoysala temples. We then proceed to pay obeisance to the Santaleswara Shiva Linga. As we come out of the temple, I feel really really blessed.


We then proceed to the ASI Museum. The Museum has some fine sculptures and some other excavated art pieces from the Halebid and nearby Hoysala sites. The entrance fees is just 2 rupees and it is worth spending some time in the Museum.

After spending some three hours in the Halebid temple we are back at our tourist guest house at 11:55 AM. We request the guest house to prepare some sandwiches for us and at 12:30 PM leave for Belvadi.

Belvadi:

Belvadi is 12 kilometers North of Halebid (around 42 kilometers North West of Hassan). Belvadi has a Vaishnav temple named Viranarayana. The construction of this temple dates back to 1200 AD and was undertaken during the reign of Veera Ballala II.



The Belvadi temple has been completed in various stages. Belvadi temple is a trikuta temple. However the main shrine is very different from the other two shrines. The lateral two shrines may have been constructed at a later date than the main shrine. There are no ornate wall sculptures on the main shrine.

The pillars in this temple are lathe turned (some other temples also have lathe turned pillars like the Halebid temple) and so very shiny (most shiny when compared to any other Hoysala temple). Please take time to review the roof sculptures at 59 bay mantapa connecting the two lateral shrines.

The other striking thing about Belvadi is the idols. All the three idols (Vishnu in the main shrine, Krishna and Yoga Narsinha in the other two shrines) are the most beautiful idols I have seen. Although the Narayana idol with four hands and the Narasinha idol in a Yog Mundra are superb, I liked the Krishna one the most. The priest tells that ASI is on record recognizing this as one of best Krishna idols found so far. It is evident that regular prayers are offered in this temple, mainly at the Lakshmi Narsimha temple. We were offered the holy water thru a Shaligram. It was a first for me.

The priest of this temple was quite knowledgeable and shared some intricate details from each idol with us. There was one ASI official who was present and shared some intricate details about the temple conversation at Belvadi and some of the sculptures from the super structures. All in all it was a great feeling to be at this temple and we enjoyed every moment while we were there.

We left the Belvadi temple at 2:40 PM. Our next destination was Belur but our guide suggested to visit a Swayambhu Ganesha temple in the Belvadi village before proceeding to Belur. After visiting the Swayambhu Ganesha temple, we reach Belur at 3:50 PM

Belur:

Belur is around 30 kilometers South West of Belvadi (around 40 kilometers North West of Hassan on the Chikmagalur road). We had to come back to Halebid (from Belvadi) and proceed towards Belur.


After reaching Belur we take some refreshments. Belur temple had most number of tourists so far. It was crowded. Market in front of the temple. Lot of guides around. Typical tourist temple.

Belur temple is a Vaishanav temple and is called Chenna Kesava. Originally this temple was called Vijayanarayana as it was contructed by Vishnuvardhana to celebrate his victory over the Gangavadi region (after defeating the Cholas). The construction for this temple was completed in 1117 AD. This temple is ekakuta and hosts lord Vishnu.

We finally move inside the temple. Someone informs us the darshan will close soon so we first proceed for the Darshan. The Vishnu idol is ornate and is decorated with lot of silver and gold jewellery. We realize that our guide doesn't know much about the temple. He too realizes that he is unable to answer any of my questions. He then decide to give charge to a local guide - Udai kumar. Our Belur guide was very passianate about the temple and I was surprised that all the Madanikas have a unique name and are depicting some interesting daily life activities. Our guide seems to remember all the names. He was extremely well versed with the wall sculptures as well. We thoroughly enjoyed our hour long session with him. One should not miss viewing the two ornate pillars inside the temple sanctorum - Vishnu in the form of Mohini and Narasinha pillar.

There are some interesting wall sculptures as well; very unique to Belur temple. The wall sculptures are in best state of conservation here as Belur was never attacked by any armies. As Halebid was the capital, the Halebid temple had to withstand most of the attacks.

We finally leave Belur at 6:35 PM. It is late. We need to reach Bangalore at a reasonable time as I and my wife both have offices to attend the next morning. But we have Dodda Gadduvalli just 3 kilometers from the main Belur - Hassan road. We decide if there is some light, when we reach the diversion, we will like not to miss the Dodda Gadduvalli temple.

We are lucky and there is still some light when we reach the diversion for Dodda Gadduvalli. We take the diversion and reach the temple at 7:00 PM.

Dodda Gadduvalli:

Dodda Gadduvalli is 25 kilometers South East of Belur. The primary diety in Dodda Gadduvalli is Lakshmi and hence the temple here is named as Lakshmi Devi temple. The temple construction was completed in 1113 AD. It makes this temple the oldest Hoysala temple that we visited so far. The temple was constructed by a rich Maharashtrian diamond merchant - Kullahana Rahuta and his wife Sahaja Devi. As per the story, the merchant use to supply diamonds to Vishnuvardhana and the king advised him to build this temple from the money he has made thru the diamond trade.



Dodda Gadduvalli is the only chaturkuta Hoysala temple. It has four shrines - the main shrine has Lakshmi idol. Just opposite to Laksmi shrine, there is a Shiva Linga. In the shrine left of Lakshmi, mythological Kali is present. This temple is quite popular for the two tall betala sculptures guarding the Kali shrine. The idol from the shrine opposite to Kali has been stolen and presently an idol of Vishnu has been placed. The architecture of this temple is quite different from all other Hoysala temples. There are no ornate wall sculptures and the design of the Vimana is also very different.

Honestly speaking this was one of the most mesmerising temple that I ever visited. The ensemble of the temple is marvellous. There is a pond behind the temple that can be approached thru the steps from the temple. The idol of Goddess Lakshmi is extremely lively and I had a time of my lifetime in this temple. A local priest offers prayer regularly. The priest was not present and another local had opened the doors of the temple for us. We chanted some Lakshmi Maha Mantral for 15 minutes, marvelled at the beautiful temple and finally left for Hassan at 7:40 PM.

We reached Hassan at 8:10 PM. I had to go to an ATM to withdraw some cash. Somewhere near the bus stand we find a Mysore Bank ATM. I withdraw cash and make payment to our guide. It is time to bid him goodbye. He has been extremely helpful and great companion to us for past two days.

As we had not liked the food at Suvarna Sagar, we decide to have food at Kamat Upachar. Kamat Upachar is located just before Chennarayapatna (Udayapura) when you are coming from Hassan side. We had good food for the first time in the last two days.

We start at 10:05 PM from Kamat and reach Bangalore at 1:15 AM.