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10th October 2009, 17:23
| #16 | ||||
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Thank you all. Its been as great writing this as it has been visiting the place. Its almost like reliving the visit. One has to really face up, close and personal, to these magnificient complexes to comprehend what works of art they truly are. My fear has been that people who have not been to these places may not be able to appreciate what I am attempting to describe here. But now that I am back in Mumbai and work, its taking time to sort out the snaps and choose which ones to display, which ones to write about. Its going to be a long haul. And the worst part is that I now seem to have forgotten the stories and myths behind many of the things in the complexes. Standing there and noting everything is a full day's job. And tiring too. Thankfully, my wife seemed to be taken in by my interest in appreciating these places and shared and participated in it too. It would definitely have been a different story if not for her support and enthusiasm. | ||||
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10th October 2009, 17:31
| #17 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - I 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - I Next stop after lunch, Halebid   Hoysaleswara temple is a temple dedicated to Hindu God Shiva. When the Chennakesava temple emerged in Belur in A.D. 1117, it converted Belur into the religious centre of the Hoysala kingdom, overshadowing the metropolis, Dorasamudra, or present-day Halebid. This apparently provided some serious provocation to the wealthy and influential Saiva citizenry of Dorasamudra. The initiative, leadership and a major chunk of the resources for the construction of this temple came from the merchant - aristocracy, the prominent of whom were Ketamalla and Kesarasetti and not from the ruling king (as at Belur). Ketamalla, a minister of Vishnuvardhana the Hoysala ruler, also built the Mahabaleshwar temple at Chamundi Hills near Mysore.  It is at least three to four times bigger than the Chennakesava temple in Belur. In fact it was the largest Siva temple built by the Hoysalas. The construction at Halebid was completed in 1121 CE. The history of Dorasamudra, the capital, begins in the middle of the 11th century with the excavation of a tank on the bank of which the Hoysalesvara temple was later located. This means that the Dorasamudra tank preceded the Hoysalesvara temple by about three-quarters of a century. The tank in the backdrop:  During the early 14th century, Halebidu was the sacked and looted by the armies of Malik Kafur, after which it fell into a state of disrepair and neglect. Malik Kafur is remembered in history as the cruel but brilliant eunuch lover/general of Allaudin Khilji. He was also called Hazari Dinar Kafur. The story goes that Khilji, was attracted to Kafur for his effeminate beauty. So he purchased him for a hazar dinar, castrated him, converted him to Islam and made him his lover. |
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10th October 2009, 21:26
| #18 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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10th October 2009, 21:53
| #19 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - II 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - II The temple is a simple dvikuta vimana (two shrined), one for "Hoysaleswara" and the other for "Shantaleswara" (after Shantala Devi, queen of king Vishnuvardhana) and is built with chloritic chist (Soapstone, also known as potstone). The two shrines which are adjoining, face east and each have a mantapa (hall) in front. The two mantapas are connected giving a large and imposing view of the hall. Individually, each shrine is smaller than the one at the Chennakesava Temple at Belur and contains a simple linga, the universal symbol of Shiva. The temple has four porches for entry and the one normally used by visitors as main entry today is actually a lateral entrance (north). There is one entry on the south side and two on the east side, facing two large detached open pavilions whose ceiling is supported by lathe turned pillars. All entry porches have miniature shrines as flanking. The pavilions enshrine large images of Nandi, the bull, an attendant of Shiva. The two Nandi's are supposedly the 7th and 8th largest Nandi's in any temple complex in India. The entry on the south side which was the original entrance in to the temple.  A view of the complex from the South East  An 8 ft (2.4 m) tall sculpture of Ganesha including the platform rests at the South entrance. People used to worship here first before entering the temple complex.  One of the east side entrances facing "Shantaleswara".  "Shantaleswara". Note the simplicity of the design within the temple complex and around the shrine. This is in extremely stark contrast to Belur. On the other Belur does not even come close to the grandeur of Helbid complex outside.  Another view of the east side entrance for "Shantaleswara".  A view from the "Hoysaleswara" 'Nandi' pavillion of the east entrance facing "Shantaleswara" with its Nandi pavillion.  The 'Nandi' facing "Shantaleswara". Note the detailed sculptured ornamentation, far more than in the 'Nandi' facing "Hoysaleswara".  Note the defacing of the 'Nandi' by our infamous 'useless publics' as the guide put it.  An interesting incident along the same lines; we noticed a young woman crossing the rope to the Nandi seemingly to touch it. For some reason my wife was curious and asked her what she was about. The woman, standing beside her proud and encouraging family, replied that she was going to etch her name along with that of her family especially because she was going to be married soon. My wife just lost it and in the resulting commotion the security guards rushed in (fortunately they have that here :-)). They too got furious (happily so for us) and drove this group out of the temple complex. Another view of the east side entrance for "Hoysaleswara".  The 'Nandi' facing "Hoysaleswara".  A view of the Nandi from within the "Hoysaleswara" complex.  The "Hoysaleswara" door was shut at the time unfortunately.  The Sun God Surya in his sanctuary behind the above Nandi; this image stands 7 ft (2.1 m) tall.  |
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10th October 2009, 21:55
| #20 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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10th October 2009, 22:11
| #21 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - III 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - III The outer walls have two eaves that run around the temple. The top eaves is at the roof of the temple and the second eaves about a meter below. In between there are decorated miniature towers (aedicule). Below the lower eaves are the wall sculptures and eight friezes. This type of relief work is called horizontal treatment. Each of the eight friezes carries an array of decoration. Going from the bottom where the temple wall meets the platform, the lowest frieze depicts charging elephants which symbolise strength and stability, above which, in order, are friezes with lions which symbolise courage, floral scrolls as decoration, horses for speed, another band of floral scrolls, depiction of Hindu epics, makara (beasts) and finally a frieze with hansas (swans). No two animals are alike in a total frieze span of over 200 m.  The below pics show how the artisans made use of corners, recesses and the height of the walls to accentuate the work.    Another perspective from below the jagati (platform) to show the impressive outer wall  A perspective of how the friezes run the entire course of the temple  One row in particular is intended for public education. How thoughtful...   And, this is how we do it !!!   Another interesting object in the temple complex is the rare Garuda Sthamba (Garuda pillar). These are different from virgals (hero stones). Garudas were elite bodyguards of the kings and queens. They moved and lived with the royal family and their only purpose was to protect their master. Upon the death of their master, they committed suicide. The rare pillar on the south side depicts heroes brandishing knives and cutting their own heads. The inscription honors Kuruva Lakshma, a bodyguard of Veera Ballala II. A devoted officer, he took his life and that of his wife and other bodyguards after the death of his master. This event is narrated in an old Kannada inscription on the pillar. "No one before," reads the record, "has set up such a vira-sasana as king Ballala's great minister."   |
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10th October 2009, 22:16
| #22 |
| Newbie  Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore
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| absolutely brilliant man.. these pictures are more than required for a good tour with your narration!! |
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10th October 2009, 22:19
| #23 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - IV 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - IV The Hoysaleswara temple is most well-known for its wall sculptures that run all along the outer wall, starting with an image of dancing Ganesha on the left hand side of the south entrance and ending with another image of Ganesha on the right hand side of the north entrance. In all there are 240 such images. The below pic is the south entrance. Note the dancing Ganesha on the left corner. Sorry, no close up. Overlooked this one. It is the first in the series of wall sculptures. Note the torana atop arising from the mouth of the makaras similar to the ones at Belur. Also note the level of detail in the door-keepers.  The final Ganesha on the right hand side of the north entrance (todays main entrance). A key point of this Ganesha is that he is turned towards his right. By iconographic and mythological ideas, Ganesha is rarely seen looking to the right and such an image is not kept and worshipped at homes. This representation of Ganesha is unique because it supposedly represents all that is spiritually pure, good and divine in this world. Something that we cannot realistically aspire to in our lives. I forget the Puranic tale which brigns about this concept.  The entire wall between the two Ganeshas above is conceived as a picture gallery, intended to meet the needs of every one who visits it. The most remarkable achievement of the Hoysala artist is in the manner in which he has captured the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the main episodes of the Bhagavata. In the middle portion of the wall, the entire pantheon of Hindu divinities are presented. It is a manual of Hindu iconography, especially of Siva. Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Note Shiva is in the centre, because this temple is in his honour.  Shiva with his consort and her ride  Shiva with Parvati. Note that Nandi is irritated shown by the wide open eyes and raised tail. This is to seemingly suggest that he is Shiva's ride only and does not want to be shared by Parvati too.  Krishna holding up Mt. Govardhana  Indra on Airavat. Note Airavat's flapping ears, tail, raised leg to convey a running motion.  The familiar Narasimha avatar pulling out the intestines of Hiranyakasipu. But without the pleading Garuda  |
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10th October 2009, 22:26
| #24 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - V 5: Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple - 26th Aug '09 - V Shiva dancing inside the demon Gajamukasura. Note that he is inside the elephant demon by way of the two legs on the top. In fact the level of detail is such that you can see Shiva's left thumb coming out of the elephant's skin on top. I couldnt capture that on camera.  A horribly emaciated dancing Kali. Note the ghoul on Kali's left  Durga slaying the buffalo demon (Mahisasuramardini)  Varaha avatar of Vishnu killing Hiranyaksha and rescuing Goddess Earth on his shoulder.  Vamana avatar of Vishnu. The first one showing the great King Mahabali solemnising his promise of three steps of land with the ritualistic water drops. Note Sukracharya pleading with Mahabali to stop and not make the promise.  Mahabali offering his head for the third step because Vamana had grown big and occupied all space between earth and heaven in two steps itself. Note Mahabali's eyes popping out with fear whilst keeping up his promise.  Arjuna fighting the Kauravas while his son Abhimanyu is now well and truly caught inside the Chakravyuh.  Bhima killing the elephants sent against him by the Kauravas with his mace and tossing their dead bodies in a heap to his rear  Somebody get an Indian Dan Brown to begin here or what? Symbologists, iconographists, epigraphists, conspiracy theorists!! I command thee to have a blast of your life beginning here!!! And finally, moi at the Hoysaleswara Nandi pavillion  |
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10th October 2009, 23:00
| #25 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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10th October 2009, 23:44
| #26 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Raleigh,NC
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12th October 2009, 09:07
| #27 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Currently Noida
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| 7: Halebid - Mysore - Ooty - Cochin - 26th-27th Aug '09 7: Halebid - Mysore - Ooty - Cochin - 26th-27th Aug '09 We left Halebid and proceeded towards Mysore, our rendezvous point with my in-laws who were to reach Hotel Dasaprakash from Chennai. En route to Mysore  An attempt to capture the beautiful sunset  One thing, all the roads we had travelled on inside Karnataka so far had been fantastic. Except the bad village roads that we drifted on to in our first day. The route we took was Hassan-Holenarsipur-Mysore. No offence, but I was always curious about how you pronounce the second place we passed through. After a big noisy reunion at Hotel Dasaprakash that drew quite a few of the hotel staff curious about the commotion, we wound up the night after a few rounds of French Napoleon brandy. Now this was the second time I was trying brandy. The first being in Kabini just a few days earlier, where my wife recommended a concoction of Mansion House Brandy with Hot Water + Honey + ground Black Pepper. The mansion house tasted bad on its own, but in this combination it was actually great and halted the progress of the cold I felt I was getting. This Napoleon brandy on other hand actually tasted damn good and is supposedly close to cognacs (I am told there is an indian version of Napoleon too, so important to stress the French connection here). Any other recommendations on brands of brandy to try? I dont think its easy to get hold on brandy here in Mumbai. It must be a south indian fancy. One outcome of the brandy was our jamming one of the wrong hotel room keys in to the door of another room. that was fun and embarassing. But the hotel staff was understanding of our disposition at the time, probably because it was a big family together.My take on Hotel Dasaprakash. This is the place to be if you are not looking for star rated creature comforts and ambience. Instead, this hotel is cheaper than most and has clean rooms, clean linens, clean but old bathrooms. For some reason, the old style design of the building gives it some character that it is lacking in many of the other 'modern' hotels like Ginger Mysore for a similar price. It may not be the best place for a fantastic honeymoon, but as a decent stopover on route to sightseeing Mysore or travelling elsewhere its perfect. After some stressful packing in the morning after a heavy breakfast we managed to leave for Cochin via at around 11.30am. The first stop was to be Ooty to drop off my father-in-law for some veterinary college reunion and for lunch. The plan was to reach Ooty by the 36 hair pin route via Masinagudi and leave via the Gudalur-Nilambur route. Now, this is the amount of luggage that we had. In addition to the 6 adults.  One of the hotel boys, atop the safari giving me a scare  Domesticated Gaur en route, Bos Gaurus Frontalis, in contrast to the wild species at Kabini.    Before we begin the 36 hairpin bend drive up to Ooty.    We stopped at the what i am told is the cliched "Hotel Nahar's" for lunch. In our case it was the only decent hotel still serving lunch around 2.30. Ooty town was too commercialised for my liking. We left Ooty at around 4/4.30 for Cochin. The drive was through the Gudalur-Nilambur stretch passing via the Pykara dam. And let me tell you, this bit was among the most scenic drives so far. Possibly because it was the rainy season. More so because this was restricted forest land. The forests seemed almost primary rainforest type. Dense and thick and beautiful. I tried to capture this at a piss-stop but did not succeed.   The route we adopted to Cochin from Ooty was slightly different. Gudalur Nilambur Wandoor Pandikkad Pattikad Perinthalmanna Pattambi Thrissur and finally NH 47 to Ernakulam The Gudalur to Nilambur stretch was awesome. After Nilambur we took this diversion off the main highway and took another route from Wandoor to Pattambi which passed through villages with decent roads. Pattambi to Thrissur was bad at night. But the worst was the under-construction NH 47 from Thrissur to Ernakulam. I made the mistake of not asking our folks at Cochin for the route from Ooty and had just adopted that given in Google Maps. We finally reached Cochin around 11.30 pm with a substantial stressful time having been spent on the Thrissur-EKM stretch. |
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12th October 2009, 09:56
| #28 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Kottayam
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13th October 2009, 09:18
| #29 | |||
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13th October 2009, 09:44
| #30 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore
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| Extremely well written travelogue and nice pics too! Waiting for more! Quote:
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