Belur

Belur

My family and I visited Belur and Halebeed during the Christmas vacations. We left Bangalore at around 7 in the morning. We stopped for breakfast on the way near Kunigal. The roadside dhaba served lovely, hot idlis, dosas, khara bhath and vadas. I can still taste the spicy garlic chutney. The coconut chutney too was lip smacking good. After a halt of almost 45 minutes, a sumptuous breakfast and refreshing hot coffee, we continued our journey. Our plan was to check in at a hotel in Hassan which is the nearest town (a distance of about 38 kms) to Belur and Halabeed. We checked in at a hotel called Suvarna Regency, a decent spread with restaurant attached. There were parking facilities for our car too. We found the prices reasonable and affordable. There are other hotels also in Hassan, notably the Southern Star and Hassan Ashok which cater to foreigners.

As it was past noon by the time we reached, we decided to have lunch and then proceed towards Belur and Halebeed. We reached Belur just after 2. Friends had advised us to hire a guide which we did. The guides are approved by the Archaeological Survey of India, and their fee is fixed at Rs.150/- for which we were even given a receipt.

The presiding deity of the Belur temple is Lord Channakeshava. The temple was built by Hoysala Vishnuvardana, one of the great kings of the Hoysala dynasty to commemorate his victory over the Cholas. The temple is architecturally rich with carvings of intricate design and decorations. Each and every sculpture (known as shilabalikas as most of them are carved out of a single stone and are of women) is life like, depicting the lives of people in the 12^th century. The sculptures are visible in full detail – the nails and eyelashes can also be seen. We were told by our guide that some of the bangles carved on the hands of the sculptures rotate. These sculptures are so rich that they have inspired generations of jewellery designers from round the world. These temples are often called The Jewellery Box of the world.

The entrance to the temple contains a sculpture of a mythical creature on the doorway – the sculptor has created this animal by combining the attributes of seven animals-the sharp eyesight of a monkey, the wide mouth of a crocodile, the beautiful tail of a peacock, the strong limbs of a lion, the trunk of an elephant, the ears of a cow and the body of a pig. The name given to this imaginary animal, by the sculptor, is Makara. We moved right from the entrance and went round the temple. The temple is star shaped. There are three reasons for this star shaped construction – one, to provide more wall-space for the sculptors to carve; two, to save the temple complex from the harsh effects of exposure to the elements; three, a superstitious belief that the star shape would save the Hoysala Empire from downfall and ruin or conquest from enemies i.e., the glory of the empire would not be eclipsed just as a star cannot be eclipsed, whereas the sun and the moon are both subject to eclipses. 

We were told by the guide that each and every Shilabalika has a name. One that comes to mind is Darpanasundari, it is the sculpture of a lady holding a mirror in her hand and completing her Shringara (makeup). There is another of a lady who has just had a head bath; the droplets of water at the end of the strands of her hair can be seen! Yet another one shows a lady being harassed by a mischievous monkey. Some of the sculptures were damaged. We were told by our guide that there was no attack on Belur as there had been at Halebeed. The damage is a result of vandalism.

The temple is full of pillars and each pillar is unique. There is a pillar in the courtyard of the temple complex which stands without any support. One can even see the gap between the pillar and the platform on which it stands on one side. Their knowledge of gravity and wind force was appreciable as witnessed by this marvel which is still standing today!

We were able to spend just 3 hours in Belur (we had to proceed to Halebeed) which I felt was wholly inadequate. The temple took 110 years to build and it is a pity that we were unable to do full justice to its splendour which is the result of such painstaking labour. Personally, I feel that one needs atleast a week to fully appreciate the glory of those beautiful carvings, evidence of our rich cultural heritage.