Hoysala sculpture and architecture – Halebid (1)

hoysala - halebid: image (1)

It does only take a half-an-hour journey (or at the most forty minutes) to reach Halebid from Belur. The place once known as ‘Dorasamudram’ is now Halebid, a small and sleepy town. It is said that the construction of the Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid was taken up with the initiative of the wealthy merchant class of the place who practiced and followed Shaivism, the prominent of whom were Ketamalla and Kesarasetti. The construction of the temple was completed by 1120 A.D. Though major chunk of the resources required for the construction of the temple was borne by the merchant community of Halebid, the temple was named after the ruling king Hoysalesvara Vishnuvardhana.

The Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid is said to be the largest of the Siva temples built during the period of Hoysala rule and in fact one of the largest and finest in South India. The main difference between the Chennakesava Temple at Belur and Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid is that the latter is more in height than the former and with the addition in the height the architect and the sculptors of the Hoyselesvara temple had gained additional space to present the relief sculpture even more effectively.

The above photograph shows the profusion of relief sculpture on the outer wall of the Hoysalesvara temple and the intricate carvings that exhibit the decoration and ornamentation the Hoysala sculptor tirelessly practiced to present to the world in the most appealing way possible and succeeded.