Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu – The Temple

Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebidu – The Temple

The temple complex is facing towards the east. The temple stands on a raised platform (jagati), a feature common to many Hoysala temples. The platform provides ample space for the devotess to circumbulate the temple. The temple was built with chloritic schist, more commonly known as greenschist or soapstone. The soapstone is soft when quarried and easier to carve into intricate shapes but hardens over time when exposed to air.

The temple is constructed in divikutachala style (two shrines and two superstructures). The temple has four entrances flanked by miniature shrines. The northern entrance is the commonly used entrance as it is situated close to the parking lot. There is one entry on the south side and two on the east side one for each shrine. The southern entrance is guarded by six feet tall four-armed dvarapalas on either side. The door lintel has a carving of Nataraja accompanied by Nandi, dancers and musicians.

The south eastern entrance also has six feet tall four-armed dvarapalas on either side. The door lintel has a best-preserved carving of ten armed Nataraja accompanied by Narasimha, Sarasvati, Brahma, Ganesha, Parvati, Bhairava, Indrani, Keshava and Surya. The north eastern entrance doorway is damaged. The dvarapalas are missing but the pedestals housed the dvarapalas can be seen. The carvings above the door lintel are defaced.

The original dvarapalas of the northern entrance are lost and two dvarapalas found on the ruins of the surrounding region is kept there. The carvings above the door lintel is also damaged and inferior in execution. The dvarapalas and the carvings at the entrances suffered destruction during Islamic invasion. Both the shrines are of same size and faces towards east. Both the shrines have a characteristic star shaped ground plan and consists of sanctum, antrala, navaranga and nandi mandapa respectively.

The navaranga of the both the shrines are joined by a common verandah creating a spacious columned interior. The navaranga was originally an open structure but it was closed with perforated stone screens and the entrance doors were added during the reign of Hoysala king Narasimha I as per an inscription found in the temple. The navaranga has two small niches facing each other between the two temples where they are joined at the transept. These have carvings and artwork, but the statues inside each is missing.

There is a stone panel near the western niche with a large Sanskrit inscription in a North Indian and a South Indian script. The four central pillars of the navaranga and its ceiling of each shrine are intricately carved. Each of the four pillars had four standing madanikas (Salabhanjika) figures. There are totally 32 figures on the central pillars for the two temples only 11 remains currently. Six remains in the northern shrine and five remains in the southern shrine.

All the madanikas are in damaged condition. The pillar near the second eastern door have two damaged madanikas, but the better preserved are those in the central navaranga. The shrine of Hoysaleswara (southern shrine) enshrines the Linga installed by the King Vishnuvardhana and the shrine of Shantaleswara (northern shrine) enshrines the Linga installed by the Queen Shantala Devi. Each shrine is square on plan. Both the shrines faces towards east and with three niches on the north, west and south.

The doorways of the antrala of the shrines are guarded by dvarapalas on either side. There is an intricate carving of Lord Shiva with Parvati accompanied by the celestial beings with two large makaras above the lintel. Varuna with his consort Varuni are seen riding the makaras. The doorjambs are decorated with purnaghatas (vessels of abundance). The superstructure over the shrines are completely missing. The exterior walls of the sanctum are plain.

The superstructure over the vestibule which connects the shrine to the navaranga, called sukanasi (a low tower that looks like an extension of the main tower) is also missing. There are two shrines situated opposite to the two main shrines enshrining its respective Nandis in seated posture. The Nandi shrines also has miniature shrines at the entrances. There is a small Surya shrine attached to the southern Nandi shrine. It enshrines a seven feet tall image of Surya in its sanctum.

A set of nine moldings can be seen at the base of the wall above the platform (jagati). The first horizontal molding from the jagati contains procession of elephants, second contains yalis, foliages on the third, horsemen on the fourth, again foliages on the fifth, depictions from the Hindu epics and puranic scenes in the sixth, makara in the seventh, friezes of swans in the eighth and again foliages in the ninth. There are about 340 large intricately carved reliefs around the external walls of the main shrine.

Notable among them are Uma Mahesvara, Nataraja, Dakshinamurti, Bhairava, Govardana Giridhari, Gajasura Mardana, Bhairavi, Durga, Mahishasura Mardini, Kali, Venugopala, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Trivikrama, Harihara, Ganesha, Kartikeya, Brahma, Saraswathi, Indra, Surya, Mohini, Nardana Vinayaka, Madanikas and other deities. There is a Garuda Sthamba (Garuda Pillar) situated to the south of the main shrine in the temple premises.

The top portion of the pillar is completely lost. There are eight male figures (Garudas) in the middle of the pillar, four of whom are shown as using their swords to sacrifice themselves. One of the martyr is shown seated in an anjali posture preparing for the sacrifice, while others are shown in the process of the sacrifice. The images represent the devotion of these to their leader and their determination to die with him. Garudas were known to be the selected bodyguards of the kings and queens. They used to live and move with the royalty with the sole aim to defend their master.

They committed suicide at the death of their master. The inscription on the pillar records that a general Lakshmana, his wife and followers sacrificed themselves after the death of Veera Ballala II. There is a museum managed by the Archaeological Survey of India situated inside the temple premises. It contains sculptures, architectural fragments, inscriptional slabs and various temple artworks recovered from the site. There are remains of a destroyed shrine can be seen on the south western side of the temple.