The Lion Slayers of Belur

From the easy rhythm of the plantation life (which felt unchanged in hundreds of years), we drove an hour to Belur to the Chennakesava (Vijayanarayana) temple, built by the Hoysalas in the 10th century. We experienced the history not taught in our ICSE text books, and names of Cholas, Pandyas, Chalukyas, and Vijayanagara adorned every story. These kingdoms ruled Southern India in an almost unbroken chain from 300BC to 1550AD and we for one, knew so little about them.

Who were the Hoysalas?

One interpretation says - The Hoysala chieftain, slew the governor appointed by the Chola’s (symbolized by the Lion), and established his own kingdom. They needed to be careful to not provoke Chola’s who were already in decline, so called themselves Lion Slayers (Hoysala), rather than those that defeated the Chola’s.

Another speaks about a young man, who slew a lion/tiger to protect his teacher, and was blessed to become a king. Hoy - means strike, and Sala was the name of the young man.

Both were intriguing. The Hoysala reigned for 300 years, and after initially borrowing from the existing Ganga and Chalukya architecture, they developed their own style, whose beauty and skill were acclaimed globally at their time, and now by UNESCO.

Chennakesava Temple

The temple is not built with a high dome structure, but instead is built flat on a star shaped platform. It has an inverted dome "Bhuvaneshwari" above the mandapa, which is intricately carved lotus with scenes from music, dance, wrestling, kolata (local folk dance), Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata Gita.

42 Pillars & The Narasimha Pillar

This has got to be the most intricately carved pillar we have seen to date. Apparently, in its prime, this pillar rotated on its ball bearing (kaksha) system.

Every inch of the pillar is carved with miniature idols. The detail of each idol has to be seen to be believed. It is complete with every type of adornment you can think of.

We learnt that 'filigree' was an intricate form of carving on gold or silver jewelry. Each idol/carving had its own filigreed jewelry.

Every small enclosure for each diety on each floor of the pillar has individual smaller columns and chajjas, smoothly polished on 360 degree faces.

There are a total of 42 pillars soapstone pillars polished on a lathe, still smooth and shiny after 1200 years. They are monolithic - carved from single pieces of stone.

Each pillar tells a story of the land, the people, their beliefs, their way of life. My children were so engrossed in each story, we could have spent a day here. Full marks to the guide - he made it very entertaining.

Geometric Symmetry - to Next Level

Our pictures dont do the outside walls justice. Intricately carved, with elephants, lions, warriors of different kinds on horseback, on chariots and on foot commemorating the victory against the Cholas.

Each 'arm' of the star is perfectly aligned from base to top - we placed a straight beam of light, there was no obstruction.

The statues from one 'arm' of the star face the other 'arm', and the line of sight, from the face of one statue to its counterpart has no obstruction.

The capability of these sculptors (storyteller sculptors) is beyond comparison to any other temple we have visited so far. Each area has the sculptors name engraved for posterity.

Entertaining stories...

I have mentioned below a few of the stories which made us laugh, intrigued us, wowed us and entertained us in equal measure.

Makara – The Qualities Embodied in a Good Leader

The main entrance was adorned by the Makara Torana. The Makara is a mythical animal, meant to guide the king on the qualities of Leadership:

* Jaws of a Crocodile –Determination & Ferocity - Once you decide, you don’t let go

* Nose of an Elephant – Long Deep Breath – Calm and Deliberate Thinking

* Body of a Pig – Stability of Policies and Actions

* Ears of a Cow – Hears the slightest sound – Listens to his people

* Eyes of a Monkey - Can see far into the distance

* Feet of a Lion & Tail of a Peacock - we were unable to catch the symbolism for these

Garuda

The Brahmini Kite – does not eat dead animals, hunts fresh each time, eagle eyed, swoops down vertically on its prey.

The Kite is the chosen vehicle of Vishnu, enables him to reach us immediately, swooping directly to us when we need him.

Seshnaag

Vishnu sleeps cradled in the lap of the multiheaded snake, Seshnaag.

Just as the snake becomes alert at the slightest sound or movement, Vishnu stays alert even when sleeping/resting to be able to answer the slightest need of his bhakts.

Ganapati Bappa Morya

With his large ears, he hears everything misses nothing;

With his long nose he takes a long and deep breath, a sign of a calm mind;

The Elephant's head symbol of excellent memory;

the big stomach, well fed, allows him to concentrate;

And 4 hands – writes down ALL he hears simultaneously;

Finally, his vaahan, the Mouse – always curious and runs everywhere.

'Darpana Sundari'

There are 42 dancers (male and female) on the walls of the temple. Depicting different poses, moods, musical instruments and story line for each.

The filigreed jewelry intricately carved hangs away from the main stone body, requiring sound understanding of the structural integrity of the stone.

We chose the dancer looking at her makeup in the mirror as the one we liked most.

The lady who sent and received messages using a parrot (voice mail instead of pigeon mail) was a close second.

We were not prepared for how much we would enjoy this place. We had to skip Halebidu and start towards Mysore.

Malnad Cuisine

On the way to Mysore, we stopped at Hoysala Eco-Village Restaurant, to sample Malnad cuisine. Malnad cuisine is the distinct cuisine of the Kodava people of Kodagu (a larger hilly region which encompasses Coorg). Their written history dates back 2500 years from the time of the Sangam literature.

On learning of our travel from Mumbai, and our interest in local food, the hosts went out of their way to have us try all their specialties. The pathrote starter (similiar to Gujarati Patra), The Akki Roti with the baingan in spicy cashew coconut gravy was to die for, the kids loved the chicken in spicy coconut gravy. Kadabu (jackfruit) dumplings to finish off along with tapioca kheer spoke for itself. What a meal!

Food wise this trip has been truly outstanding.

Vikrams "best food in the world" counter: 38