HALEBIDU - HOYALESWARA DEVALAYA

This remarkable Hoyaleswara temple considered as the open air museum of sculptural art is a masterpiece of the medieval craftsmen. Eminent critics hailed it as a poem in black stone that brought immortal glory to the patrons first and Hinduism next.

The Hoyaleswara temple is a double shrine. Around it there are seven friezes of extraordinary artistry and they run to a total length of 710 feet. This exterior thus sculptured is more artistic than the interior. Hence the saying, "Look at the inside of the Belur temple and the outside of the Halebidu". Legendary personages and Hindu gods are carved in such realistic forms and adornments, visitors raise their hands at their sight involuntarily and feel emancipated consciously. That is the glory of the exterior of the main temple. After going round it, which incidentally completes the Pradakshana, the visitors go inside. As the devotees enter, the elaborately carved and elegantly fashioned doorway adorned with splendid lintels with the imposing Dwarapalakas and enchanting damsels bearing fly-whisks on both sides gleam into the sight. The first shrine has a porch with a niche on either side.

Of the two cells, one is dedicated to Hoyaleswara, the deity of Hoyasala dynasty; the other Panchikeswara, but the linga is here called by the additional name of Santaleswara. Hence there are some conjunctures that the builder Ketamalla, with a view to perpetuating the memory of his Lord - Vishnu Vardana and his queen-consort Santala Devi, named the deities after them. Though in ruins, it is drawing a .steady stream of tourists and theists, throughout the year.

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