India Travel Club
Adventures & Holidays

BELUR & HALEBID

The Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid (Halebeed, Halebidu), along with the one at Somnathpur east of Mysore, are the cream of what remains of one of the most artistically exuberant periods of Hindu cultural development. The sculptural temple decoration even rivals those of Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and Konark (Orissa) or the best of European Gothic art.  
  The Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebid was constructed about 10 years after the temple at Belur, but despite 80 years labour was never completed. Nevertheless, it is easily the most outstanding example of Hoysala art. Every cm of the outside walls and much of the interior are covered with an endless variety of Hindus deities, sages stylized animals and birds, and friezes depicting the life and times of the Hoysala rulers. No two are alike. Scenes which depict  war, hunting, agricultural, music and dance, and some very sensual sculptures explicitly portraying the après-temple activities of the dancing girls, are all represented here, together with two huge Nandis (Siva’s bull) and a monolithic Jain statue of Gomateshvara.
 The small museum adjacent to the temple has a collection of temple sculptures and is open from 10 am to 5 pm. There is also a smaller temple, the Kedareswara, at Halebid and, off the road to Hassan, a Jain temple.

At Belur, the Channekeshava Temple is the only one at the three Hoysala sites still in daily use. Non – Hindus are allowed inside but not into the inner sanctum. It is very similar to the others in design but here much of the decoration has gone into the internal supporting pillars and lintels, and the larger but still very guardian bests. As the Halebid, the external walls are covered in friezes.The other, lesser, Hoysala temples at Belur are the Channigaraya and the Viranarayana.     The Halebid and Belur temples are open every day.