Halebeedu or old town, is situated around 16 kms away from Belur. Here you’ll find the Hoysaleshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The second of the temples featuring the Hoysala art. This temple is situated in the middle of a beautiful garden. The location itself takes ur breath away.
The construction of this temple was started 10 years after the Belur temple, but even after 85 yrs of labor was never completed.But inspite of this, this temples artwork is the most beautiful.This temple was built by Ketumalla, a minister of Vishnuvardhana, a hoysala ruler.
This temple too is studded with carvings, which feature horsemen, elephants, scenes from the mahabharata, ramayana, dashavtara etc. The details on each, is just unbelievable. This temple has also been target of the mughals who have destroyed a lot of figures. And what they did not touch, have been attacked by vandals, and some useless tourists.
This structure has two temples on a star shaped platform. Each deity ( shiva) is faced with two bulls, Nandi. The bulls are large and magnificent. When I had visited this place 10 yrs ago, the bulls were better off. Now there is an enclosure around the bulls. Why? u may ask. Well, some individuals, have carved their names on the bulls behind. Man, they should’ve been caught and branded with hot iron at the same place. Why cant people just admire the art.Why cant we help preserve our beautiful past? If we cant, we r no different than the marauders of the past.
Many of the figures appearing here are similar to the ones in Belur, but larger in size. This helps u in getting a better perspective.
In the statue of Krishna lifting mount govardhana, you can see various scenes, beautifully sculpted. The details are amazing.
In the sculpture of Shiva killing the elephant demon, the work is just cool. After killing the elephant demon, shiva rips open the skin, and dances inside the belly. you can see shiva’s nail piercing the skin in this sculpture.
Another one, is that of a drummer. you can see that the sides of the drum have gone in, where he is beating it.
Another sculpture inside the temple has a figure having skulls. Such is the delicate work, that you can pass a small stick thro the ears of the skulls.Amazing.
The best part is that all around the temple no two figures are alike.
I am telling it you friends, like it is. The only way you can get the picture is when u r there.And go with time on your hands. Not the way I went.not in a day package tour.
This is a beautiful place.