Monuments

Halebid  /  Belur  /  Badami  /  Aihole  /  Pattadakal




Halebidu 
Town Area Size: 2.248 sq kms
Altitude: 3150 ft / 960 meters
Climate:
Summer: 20-35°C. Hottest Month: April
Winter: 14-22°C. Coolest Month: December
Rainfall: 86 cms (June-October)
Ideal Time To Visit: October to February

History
The great city of Dwarasamudra flourished as a Capital of the Hoysala Empire during the 12th & 13th centuries. During the reign of Veeraballala II, the grandson of Vishnuvardhana, it reached the greatness of its zenith. Veeraballala II extended his empire from sea to sea between the Cauvery & Krishna rivers.

On account of certain reasons this came to decadence stage. The renovation work was undertaken by the State Government about 30 years ago & the town as well as its area gradually improved. The climate is pleasant. There are buses running from Hassan, Arasikere & Belur. There is a big tank which feeds thousands of acres of land wherein sugarcane & paddy are grown.

The sculptural work of the temples is based on Shastras & importance. One can collect the information to his maximum desire.

Halebidu (former Dwarasamudra) in Hassan district is in Belur taluk and 27 kms away from Hassan and was the capital of Hoysala after Belur. It has one of the finest Hoysala temples. The twin Shiva Temple with a common platform and two garbhagrihas, one beside the other have a common broad navaranga. One of them houses Vishnuvardhana Hoysaleshwara Linga and the other Shanthaleshwara Linga. Infront of the Hoysaleshwara is the Nandimantapa and behind that is a shrine of Surya with a two-metre-tall image. The temple doorways are highly ornate and impressive. Outer walls have rows of intricate figures narrating episodes from epics like Ramayana, Bharatha and Bhagavata. The place has a Parshwanatha basadi with highly polished pillars in which on- lookers queer images are reflected. There is a Museum of the A.S.I. The Kedareshwara temple is another monument built by Ketaladevi, Ballala II's Queen. Chatchatnahalli (nearby) has a trikuta temple built by Chatta Dandanayaka in 1220.
Getting here: Halebidu is well connected by road and rail to Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore. Regular buses ply from Hassan.

Belur
Town Area Size: 2.85 sq kms
Altitude: 975 meters
Climate:
Summer: 20-35°C. Hottest Month: April
Winter: 25-28°C. Coolest Month: December
Rainfall: 110 cms
Clothing: Cotton clothes thoughout the year except December.

History
Belur is 222 Kms from Bangalore, 34 Kms from Hassan and 149 Kms from Mysore. This place is famous for its exquisite temples. Belur is known as Dakshina Varanasi or South Banaras for its temples. The serenity of Belur is attributed to the celebrated temple of Channakeshava, built by the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana in 117 A. D. to commemorate his conversion from Jainism to Vaishnavism.


Belur in Hassan district (222 kms from Bangalore and 38 kms from Hassan) is famous for its magnificent Hoysala Temple Complex. The Chennakeshava temple here was completed in 1116 by Hoysala Vishnuvardhana to commemorate his victory over the Chola. It took 103 years to complete. The facade of the temple is filled with intricate sculptures and freizes-with no portion left blank. Elephants, episodes from the epics, sensous dancers nothing was left uncarved. The Veeranarayana temple houses the shrines of Kappe Chenniga, Andal, Saumya Nayaki, and other dieties.

Getting there:
By Air: Bangalore airport is the nearest to Belur (222 kms)
By Train: Hassan is just 40 kms from Belur. Banavara and Arasikere are also near Belur.
By Road: Regular buses ply from Bangalore (222 kms), Halebid (16 kms), Hassan (40 kms), Hospet (330 kms), Mangalore (124 kms), Mysore (149 kms) to Belur.

Badami

History

Badami, the one time capital of the Chalukyas , is noted several temples, some structural & other rock-cut, of the 6th & 7th Centuries. The foundations of Badami, or Vatapi as it was called, were laid by Pulakeshi I (535 - 566 AD) his son Kirtivarman, the Ist (567 - 598 AD), beautified the town with temples & other buildings.
Caves of Badami

Mangalesha (598 - 610 AD) brother of Kiritavarman I completed the construction of the cave temples & endowed the temples with the village on the occasion of the installation of the image of Vishnu. The greatest ruler of the dynasty was Pulakeshi II (610-642 AD) who among others defeated the Pallava King Mahendra Verman I. The Pallava later captured & destroyed Badami to avenge their defeat Badami was also in the possession of the Vijayanagar Kings, The Adil Shahis, The Savanur Nawabs, The Marathas, Hyder Ali & finally the British who made it part of the Bombay Presidency.

The capital of the Early Chalukyas, Badami is picturesquely situated at the mouth of a ravine between two rocky hills. Badami is famous for its four cave temples - all hewn out of sand stone on the precipice of a hill.
Enter the first cave temple - past Shiva's door keepers - and there he is! The eighteen-armed Nataraja striking 81 dance poses!

The largest and most ornamental is the third cave temple dedicated to Vishnu. Overlooking the cave temples is a reservoir dotted with temples dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva. Also a must are the Bhutanatha temples that lend their name to the lake beneath the cave temples.

Getting there:
Rail: Badami is on the Hubli-Sholapur rail route.
Road: Badami is connected by road to: Hubli and Bijapur.

Aihole

History

Once the capital of the early Chalukyan dynasty (6th to 8th centuries), Aihole is a picturesque village on the banks of the Malaprabha river. Variously called Ayyavole & Aryapura in the inscriptions, Aihole is historically famous as the cradle of Hindu temple architecture. There are about 125 temples divided into 22 groups scattered all over the villages and nearby fields. Most of these temples were built between the 6th & 8th centuries and some even earlier.

Only mere traces of a fort dating from the 6th century can be seen today. A large number of prehistoric sites have been found in Morera Angadigalu, near the Meguti hillocks in Aihole. Excavations near some temples have yielded traces of antique pottery and bases of structures constructed with bricks of pre-Chalukyan times. More temples are being excavated every day bearing witness to the vigorous experimentation on temple architecture which went on at Aihole more than 14 centuries ago.

Famous as the "Cradle of Indian Architecture", Aihole has over a hundred temples scattered around the village.
The oldest temple here is, perhaps, the Lad Khan temple dating back to the 5th Century. The Durga (Fort) Temple is notable for its semi-circular apse, elevated plinth and the gallery that encircles the sanctum. The Hutchimalli Temple out in the village - has a sculpture of Vishnu sitting atop a large cobra.

The Revalphadi Cave - dedicated to Shiva - is remarkable for its delicate details.Not to be missed is the Konthi Temple Complex (Kwanthi Gudi), the Uma Maheswari Temple with a beautifully carved Brahma seated on a lotus, the austere Jain Meguti Temple and the two storeyed Buddhist Temple.

Getting there:
Rail: The nearest railway station is Begalkot.
Road: Aihole is connected by road to Pattadakal, Badami, Bangalore

Pattadakal

History

The tiny village of Pattadakal is situated on the banks of the Malaprabha river. Referred to as Petrigal by Ptolemy, Pattadakal was later known variously as Raktapura (Red Town) & Pattadakal Kisuvolal . This place reached its pinnacle of glory under the Chalukyas from the seventh to the ninth centuries functioning as a royal commemorative site. The group of about ten temples, surrounded by numerous minor shrines & plinths, represents the climax of early Western Chalukyan Architecture. King Vikramaditya II (734 - 745 AD) and his art loving queens Lokmahadevi & Trailkyamahadevi, brought sculptors from Kanchipuram to create fantasies in stone in Pattadakal.

Pattadakal saw the Badami Chalukya art in its full bloom. It is 22 km away from Badami and 514 km from Bangalore. Here the best temples of the style, the Virupaksha and the Mallikarjuna are seen. These were built by the queens of Vikramaditya II (734-44) in memory of his victorious march against Kanchi, the Pallava capital, and the temples were named by them after themselves as the Lokeshwara (by Lokadevi) and Trailokeshwara (by Trailokadevi), which came to be known as the Virupaksha and the Mallikarjuna respectively. The two magnificent temples with their nicely engraved lively figures on walls and the massive square pillars are in sand stone. Pattadakal itself was known as Kisuvolal (`Red Town') as the sand stone here is reddish in colour.
The Sangameshwara, Chandrashekhara, Jambuling and Kadasideeshwara are the other major temples here, and Pattadakal has also a Jaina basadi of Rashtrakuta times with two beautiful elephants in this front. The Galaganath here which is dilapidated, has caurvilinear (rekhanagara) shikhara.

Getting there:
Pattadakal is well connected by road and rail to Bangalore and Mysore. Regular buses ply from Bijapur to Pattadakal.