Trip to Chikmagalur - Part II (Belur)

From Halebid we moved to Belur which is 16kms from Halebidu. Belur is famous for Chennakesava temple, again built by Hoysala king Vishnuvardhan somewhere around 900 years ago. 

We hired a guide to know about temple who gave us good information about the temple and its history. In kannada "chenna" means "Beautiful/Handsome" and hence this is a Handsome Vishnu temple! This is a symmetrical structured temple which has minute handwork of different statues of deities, dancing maidens, maidens in different moods, animals etc.   

Guides typically have a small mirror in hand with which they reflect on the statue to focus for explanation. There are 42 statues of maidens, which are called "shilabalikas". Out of 42 statues 32 are outside the temple and 4 of them are inside the temple. The one's I remember are Darpana Sundari, Bhasma Mohini, lady with parrot, Lady with Monkey, lady hunting a bird and lady removing a thorn from her feet. Each of these statues is very intricately carved giving details of their pose. Bhasma mohini is Vishnu avatar to kill the Bhasmashura in disguise. ( http://flickr.com/photos/adarsh/316344081 )

There is a broken statue of Arjuna aiming at the eye of fish in Draupadi swayamvar. The statue contains the arrow hitting the fish but there is no bow in the hands of Arjuna as it is destroyed.

There are statues of Vishnu in different avatars. In the Narasimha avatar statue, there is a chain carved around the lord’s neck, which looks like a original chain. There is a special statue of Ganesha, people call it "Result Ganesha" as students come here and do pooja for a good result. Inside the temple the Vishnu statue is large and beutiful as its name. There is a mandap in front of garvagriha that has four pillars and the on top the four shilabalikas. One of the pillars was supposed to rotate with the bearings, which is called Narasimha pillar. But now the pillar does not rotate as the temple roof came down. There supposed to be another gopuram on the temple but it got destroyed.

This pillar has many statues carved on it and there is a blank space. There are many reasons explained by our guide are like, may be this is left blank to challenge anyone to create a new statue of this quality, or to explain other form of god that is blank/vacant or "shunya" in sanskrit or another reason explained was, if the creator missed some avatar of god then there is a place left for others to carve the same on it.

There is another statue on a pillar is a beautiful dancing lady. Our guide neatly explained this with speacial interest. According to ancient hindu scriptures there are four types of women, they are Sankhini, padmini, hastini and nagini. Padmini types of women are most beautiful and they have typical characteristics to attract men. The statue which was carved there was a typical padmini type of woman. (This is what told by our guide;)).

The entire temple is inside a big boundary, which has a kalyan mandap also. 

There is a big pillar outside the temple, which is just kept on a platform with out any joints or support. 

Information: 

Distance: From Bangalore 222

Stay: Hassan is the nearest best place. Chikmagalur is also an option.

Guide: For Rs.150 one can hire a guide. I recommend hiring a guide to know interesting details about the temple!

Spend good time at the temple and enjoy the delicate work of Hoysala kings.

More info about the temple

1. On statues:

http://www.ourkarnataka.com/states/hassan/belur.htm

2.  There are beautiful picture on this site:

http://www.pbase.com/yardbird/india_karnataka_belurhalebidu

3. More on Soapstone

http://www.hoysala.in/soapstone-sculptures-of-hoysala-temples.shtml

4. More details on Narasimha pillar

http://www.hoysala.in/narasimha-pillar-belur-temple.shtml