T
he reign of Hoysalas in
south India (10th - 14th
century A.D.) saw building
styles evolve into ornate
and exuberant. With much
of their work still standing
for us to admire, there is
little doubt on ranking them amongst the
finest temple builders. Heavily relying on
sculptural decoration, with large figures
often dominating wall surfaces, the world
would have been a poorer place without
these structures.
The temples at Belur and Halebeedu
marks a deviation from established
building influences of the time.
KARNATAKA
Soapstone was preferred over sandstone
- the former allows itself to be readily
worked upon for intricate and delicate
carvings. And it hardens over time when
exposed to the elements, thus giving
it a long life - the buildings are almost
a thousand years old already, and still
standing.
The Hoysalas discarded the traditional
cubical form and gave their temples a
star-shaped design, radiating energy from
within to the various arrows of the stellate
plan. This shape also provides an increased
surface area for the carvings. The severaltiered spires give way to those constructed
on flat planes, reflecting the effect of
horizontality.
The temples consist of a vimana (the
shrine section) attached to a navaranga
(a pillared hall with nine ceilings), and
further attached to larger pillared halls.
They added solid walls to the back corners
of the navaranga, and doorways to the
entrances of the pillared hall, thus making
the interiors dark.
Halebeedu
Halebeedu was the capital of the Hoysala
dynasty during the reign of Vinayaditya.
Inscriptions show that it was also known
as Dorasamudra and Dwaravathi. The
remains of many temples, palaces and
basadis (Jain temples or shrines) can be
seen here. But the most well-preserved are
the Hoysaleshwara temples dedicated to
Lord Shiva.
Work on the Hoysaleshwara temples
are believed to have started in 1121
under the directions of Ketamalla during
Vishnuvardhana’s rule and completed
by Kedaroja, the chief architect of
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