A couple of minutes from the main Halebidu temple are the Jain temples. U see the Parshwanatha Basadi that has highly polished pillars which u shall see later. U see external view of temple.
In front is mantapa.
U see pillars of temple mantapa. Note the pillar design carefully, different pillars different designs.
Bellshaped polished pillars inside the temple. Close up of Tirthankara in next image.
Close of Parshwanatha Tirthankara ie 14 feet high made of black stone. On the figure a 7 headed serpent is imprinted.
U see Adhinathaswamy (Central temple) and Shanthinathaswamy (to the east of Shanthinathaswamy) are other two temples in the complex.
Image of a Jain Tirthankara in the garden ie part of the main Halebidu temple ie the Hoysaleswara temple.
About 30 minutes drive from Halebidu temples is the Veer Narayanswamy Temple at Belavadi. Guide Ramesh insisted I go there, am glad I did. U see entrance to temple. Structure is called
Dwarmantapa. Temple is app 800-900 years old, exact date not known.
After crossing the entrance mantapa u enter a garden in which is the main temple. The temple has 104 pillars and 3 gopurams of which you see two.
A side of view of the south east facing gopuram. Every gopuram has quality sculptures as u shall see. Right of pic hall is called Navranga.
Straight view of the gopuram. Right of pic is temple entrance side. Left of pic is a long corridor that takes u to main sanctum.
Gopuram end of pic is where the main sanctum is. Big hall in the centre is Navranga. Note number of pillars.
Close up of the shikhara. Beats me how the workers of those times did such intricate work that has lasted hundreds of years.
Clicked from hall one or navranga. Look straight is the image of Veer Narayana. Look at the pillar design in pic. Impressive.
Second hall or navranga. Here the pillar design is different.
Image of Veer Narayana holding gadapadma and veera mudra (weapon) and vyagrahahasta (tiger feet). Deity installed on eastern side. On two days in a year March 23 and September 23 sunlight
falls on deity.
Venugopala Swamy standing under Kalparuksha tree (if you pray to this tree your wishes come true) playing flute with cows and gopikas.
Yog Narasimha - meditation mode to control his mind after controlling the demon.
Was happy to meet temple pandit a young Prashant Bharadwaj. Not only does he know the shashtras but is also computer savvy. He said village had broadband connectivity, many villagers had
computers. In fact he had a Samsung tablet. We logged onto esamskriti in the temple itself.
Elephants are found at the entrance of number of temples. A close up of the elephant that are at entrance to hall one left side. Note the fine work.
A close up of elephant ie kept at entrance to hall one right side. Note the fine work.