| Address: | Sri Chennakeshava Swamy Temple Belur: https://goo.gl/maps/UkrfdXBZMLxqFsJY8 Halebidu Archaeological Site: https://goo.gl/maps/YUfctpoEgxzZXFkh9 |
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| How to go: | Well connected by road from Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysuru. Regular bus available. Except that KSTDC bus service organise tour for Belur Halebeedu. |
| Pros: | Experiencing rich archeological site, great highway connectivity, availability of food shop and market, available hotels for stay |
| Cons: | Nothing such I found |
| What to visit ? |
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| Company: | History and architecture lover |
| Minimum day/time to visit: | 1 day |
| Locality: | Rural Karnataka |
| Expenses: | Apart from private car, KSTDC tour operator is the best option |
| More Information: | Today in this blog I will talk about Belur Halebeedu temple of Hassan district in Karnataka. People who love old architecture for them this two temples are very important and people don't dare to miss any of those whenever they plan for a tour in Hassan. For a glance you can visit two different videos I have uploaded in youtube, you can find it in this page also. Get some idea and plan for your next visit to Belur and Halebeedu. Belur Velapuri, former name of Belur, was the capital of Hoysalas during 11th to 13th centuries after destruction of their old capital Halebeedu. Both comes under Hassan district in Karnataka. The temple and the monuments are the best creation of Hoysalas which represents their master of art, lifestyle and creations. Most of the structures are of human which differs many other beautiful temples across the nation. The temple basement is typical star shaped and the temple is made up of soap stone which were brought from Tumkur. The specialty of the stone is it is easy to give shape while cutting and once it done it become firm day by day. It took around 100 years to complete the masterpiece of Hoysalas architecture. To maintain the glow they do chemical wash and wax polish once in 10 years. Main temple that is Chenna Keshava temple is situated in the middle of the complex and contains most elegant sculptures of human and animals. It is dedicated to Lord Vijayanarayan, one of the 24 incarnations of Vishnu. It was built when Hoysala defeated Cholas in Talakkad battle. The entire temple complex consists 5 temples inside. I have already mentioned main temple before. The temple in extreme west of the Main temple is called Saumyamuki. Another 3 temples are gradually, Veera Narayana in south west which is Laxmi and Narayana temple, Ranganayaki temple in north west and South covers Kappe Chennigaraya temple. Main attractions of the Belur temple is several Madanikas structures across the outer and inner wall of the main temple. Madanikas means female figures pointing some activities. Few subjects of Madanikas to be mentioned like Beauty and mirror, Pet parrot, a lady with betel leaf, lady in her makeup, monkey pulling sarees, hair dressing, tribhangi nritya, masculine woman. Apart from these there are more like Arjuna,s shooting, the Sun god, brahma, Chamundi, Ravana lifting Kailash mountain and many more. Once you enter inside the main temple you will be amazed to see the ceiling decoration and several decorative pillars. Don’t forget to observe the main pillar called Narasimha pillar, which has 6 steps and every step is carrying some different stories. Another attraction of this temple is Gravity pillar which is 42 ft single rock pillar and stands on its own weight. In the end I will tell you, there are many more information about Belur which cannot be completed in a single video. It needs proper guide and time to know about the history. I would suggest to stay for a night nearby hotels and take full time to understand the architecture along with Halebeedu temple, then only you will feel complete about the temple. Halebeedu I will talk about another Hoysala architecture after Belur Chenna Keshava temple that is none other than Halebeedu. Before starting I would like to thank you all my audience for watching and loving my vlogs. Well people go to Hassan district for travel and they miss Belur and Halebeedu Is definitely a rare case for all the explorer. If you haven’t watch my Belur vlog yet, go check this out guys… and if you are done with that, let’s start with Halebeedu. As mentioned before Hoyasala’s first capital in Hassan was Halebeedu in 11th century. Previously it was known as Dwarasamudra by the name of adjacent lake. Today also you will see the beauty of the lake beside the temple. During that time Hoysala enriched by the fertile deltas of Krishna and Kaveri river as well as huge amount of gold and jewellery. That attracted Delhi sultanate, hence one by one Malik Kafur, Mohammed bin Tughluk attacked repeatedly and taken away most of the precious things from Halebeedu. As a result Hoysala abandoned Halebeedu and shifted to their new capital in Belur which is 16 km away from Halebeedu. The main deity of Halebeedu is pair of Lord Shiva which is considered as male and female form of Lord respectively. The temple has a symmetrical shape from both side where lord Shiva is facing east formally named as Navaranga and Sukhanasi and each platform is facing huge Nandi mandapa from the outside of the temple. The extraordinary construction has been done by Ketumalla starting from 1121 to 1207. The shrines are very similar to Chenna Keshava temple of Belur. The curved sculptures in the temple body are dedicated to mythological epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranic legends etc. The lower portion of the temple is decorated with elephant curves, lions, scroll work, mythological beast Makaras and Hamsas. Upper portion of the wall is decorated with hallmark of Hoysala art of Lord shiva, Bala Krishna, Arjuna, Karna and many more related stories. Another main attraction of Halebeedu is its archeological museum which contains huge seated sculptures of Ganesha, Nandi bull and Gomateshwara and many more. The entire temple is pretty maintained and the beautiful garden while entering to the temple complex is breathtaking. It takes around 1 hour to visit the entire temple complex along with guide. For a large amount of group guide changes 50 rs each. In the end I am mentioning few hotels in my description box where you can stay nearby. I feel afternoon time in golden hours the temple looks pretty amazing. So choose your timing accordingly. |
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