Chennakesava temple complex, the main attraction, is dedicated to Chennakeshava, meaning handsome Vishnu
I love walking barefooted through old stone buildings. I love the feel of smooth cold stone under my feet as I explore through the old temples and historic structures. Belur and Halebid are temple ruins that have attracted travellers for many years now. A few hours’ drive from Bangalore will take you to these beautiful temples that boast of some of the most intricately sculpted walls.
Sculptures of Queen Shantala can also be found inside the temple
Walking amidst various tourists, I was trying to pick snippets of information, their respective guides were providing. I was mentally making a note of things I had already read about these ruins, with the stories they were narrating. It was then that I heard the words “I’m Sanjeev and I will tell you things about these temples nobody else can”.
As I turned around to see the source of this claim, I encountered a rather comic character. A tiny man clad in a stained safari suit and shockingly thick hair despite a balding forehead, was beaming at us very proudly. Undoubtedly he and his claims stirred my curiosity. I knew instantly he is the one I wanted to tour the ruins with. It was more his perspective of things than the actual history, that roped all of our interests. His dramatized expressions and an earnest intention to make us all feel in awe of these ruins, charmed a lot of tourists, and I was no different.
Sanjeev started painting a beautiful mental picture for us. The story started with the rich kingdom of Hoysala, back in 12th century, ruled by King Vishnuvardhana and his beautiful queen Shantala. He told us about royalty, unthinkable treasures, hundreds of servants and silk farms. He told us about the King’s undying love for his queen. He compared the love story of King Vishnuvardhana and Queen Shantala to the one of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz. These temples were said to be made by the vizier of the Hoysala kingdom for the Queen at the King’s order.
Sanjeev took us through every wall, every pillar of the temples. We were all thoroughly enjoying his dramatized anguish about the Mughals, who attacked these temples in the 14th century thereby starting the downfall of the Hoysala kingdom. He also seemed passionately disappointed at the government’s failed attempts at maintaining and restoring these ruins. His anger and frustration as he spoke seemed genuine as he explained the deteriorating conditions of these temples that he so loved.
Elephants depicted strength and might of the kingdom, lions depicted courage and bravery and horses defined speed, agility and growth
As our story drifted towards the temples’ main attraction – the sculptures, he seemed in almost deep meditation. As if talking about his own artworks, he proudly told us that every pillar, every sculpted inch of the temples were different from another. He even dared us to find a single design that is repeated in the ruins, even going as far as declaring that he won’t take a single penny from us, should we prove him wrong. Even the string of designs forming the base of the walls were exclusive of each other.
The base layer consists of thousands of elephants, depicting the strength and might on which the kingdom stood. The second layer consists of lions depicting the courage and bravery of people of the kingdom and the top most layer depicted horses defining the speed, agility and growth of the kingdom. Because of Sanjeev and his deep study, we all took our time to notice every small detail of the sculpted walls, leaving us awestruck at the intricate and variety of work that was created centuries back, with mere hands of mere mortals.
The ornate pillars inside temple testify to the exquisite craftmanship of Hoysalas
As our day progressed and we visited both the temples, Sanjeev pointed out various mythological characters on the sculpted walls. The likes of Lord Shankar Parvati, and Ganapati, were easy to spot, while some of the others were difficult. Some were broken, some were restored; some were left incomplete. The walls expressed such beautiful crescendo of creativity that one could easily spend months just soaking in all the details.
But above all the sculpted stories were the sculptures of queen Shantala and her dancers. Sanjeev painted a beautiful description of King Vishnuvardhana’s queen. An epitome of beauty, queen Shantala was one of those very few queens who actively participated in administration of the kingdom. She was a genius at mathematics and was a gifted dancer and musician.
Various carvings on the broken walls still echo her grace and her importance in the Kingdom. As the prayers and the chants began, we all started heading towards the dimly-lit centre of the temple to join the priests. By then my eyes were trained to figure out the sculptures of Queen Shantala, and it was then I could see what Sanjeev meant. I found her figures on every corner of the temple. Sanjeev said, “The Queen loved these temples and despite what the Mughals did, or the government is failing to do, she continues to protect these ruins. I guess that is why so many people still come to these temples”.
As I closed my eyes for the prayers that followed, I realised my visit had come to an end and though the guided tour started with a funny guide telling us stories, he ended it for us, exactly the way he wanted to, in pure awe of these broken down temples.
Every sculpted inch of the temples were exclusive of each other
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