Halebidu Temples 2

Left side of pic. Lord Vishnu takes the form of Vamana or Dwarf and asks demon Bali for three feet gift of land. Right of pic small image at bottom is Shukracharya who tells Bali not to gift but the demon does not listen. To see earlier pictures of temple please click on Halebidu Temples.

Left is Ravana lifting Mount Kailasha ie the abode of Lord Shiva. Right is Shiva and Parvati on an elephant.

Scene from epic Ramayana. Shri Ram giving abhignan (ring) to Hanuman so when he meet Sita she recognises that he has as a representative of her husband Shri Ram.

Left image is Lord Shiva. Right is Narasimha avatar image of Lord Vishnu killing demon Hiranyakashyap. There is a sitting image of Narasimha ie called Yog Narasimha. Missed clicking.

Close up of Narasimha Avatar of Lord Vishnu killing Hiranyakashyap shows him removing his abdomen. Narasimha was the family deity of the Hoyasala Kings so there are 14 images of Narasimha in this temple.

Close up of Narasimha Avatar of Lord Vishnu killing Hiranyakashyap. This image does not show Lord Vishnu removing his abdomen.

Scene from Mahabharata. Extreme right is Chakravayu formation. It is a formation in which once u get in it very difficult to get out. Amongst the Pandavas only Arjuna knew how to get out of a Chakravayu. U Extreme left of pic Bhima with a mace. Next to him is Arjuna who is face to face with Guru Dronacharya who is thwarting the Pandavas attempt to rescue Abhimanyu who is inside the Chakravayu.

U see Varaha or Boar avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Scene from Mahabharata. U see Bhima in centre of pic with elephant attacking him. He kills the elephant and throws them behind his back as u can see on left of pic.

Left bottom of pic is monkey who is pulling a lady''s saree. Note the lady is wearing stylish high heal footwear.

ASHTABHUJANATYA GANESHA. 8 arms dancing ganesha. While dancing both bells that u see in pic are swinging in the air. In his hand are laddos. Pic in one corner so right side not come clearly.

BALUMARI GANESHA. When Ganesha''s trunk on right side indicates that Ganesha is very angry. Such Ganeshas are not worshipped at home.

Close up of mythical animal Makara. Has body of pig, mouth of crocodile, trunk of elephant, feathers of peacock, legs of lion, eyes of monkey and cows ears.

Centre is Garuda, right is Nagaraj. Both of always rivals, used to fight.

Varuna sits of mythical animal Makara. Left of pic is Kirtimukha to ward off evil.

U see Lord Shiva holding demon head in his hand with Ganas (skeletons). See right of pic. Blood is flowing from the skeleton and a dog is waiting to drink the blood.

Next four pictures are of the western side of temple against setting sun background. Close up of south western side

Centre part of temple western side.

On left of centre side u have one more structure on either side with all these sculptures. Area in left and right hand of pic also has sculptures. What work and imagination.

Western side of temple towards north side u see two stone chariots in pic. Note the plinth design.

U see man with a french beard playing an instrument. Even in 1125 AD french beard existed.

Another man with a Chinese beard.

Centre of pic left side watch carefully. Shows a lady ghost feeding milk to her child. Attention to detail is amazing. Sculpture is a Bhairava form of Lord Shiva.

Close up of Makranta Toran with Nataraja form of Lord Shiva in the centre. On either side is mythical animal Makara. North side entrance of temple. U had seen south side toran earlier.

Next few pictures are inside temple. U see Dancing Hall or Navaranga. On right of pic is main temple sanctum. U can see two of the four pillars in the dancing hall. U walk down straight u come to the Queen''s temple.

A pillar in the dancing hall. On top u see images of Apsaras. There are totally 108 pillars in the temple. Each pillar has 5 part called PANCHSHILASTHAMBA which represent the 5 elements of nature ie earth, sky, water, air and fire. Because it is a Shiva temple there are 108 pillars. Shiva dances in 108 forms.

Lingam in main temple.

Right of pic is dvarpal or doorkeeper Nandi. Dvarpala is holding trishul and beautifully decorated skulls on the mukuta (crown).

Left of pic is dvarpal or doorkeeper Bhrungi. Dvarpala is holding trishul and beautifully decorated skulls on the mukuta (crown).

There are seven small temples inside the temple. They are called Turret.

Lotus carving on ceiling inside temple.

Early morning sun rays entering the temple. In India we pay great importance to early morning suns rays. Exposure to these rays is good for health too.

Temple ceiling is Ashthadikpalas Guardians of 8 directions. Top left to right is Isha, Indra, Agni. Second line is Kubera, Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu, Yama. Last line is Vayu, Varuna and Nara. The last one is Nara, the vehicle of Niruti which is good for rainfall. Extreme top centre of pic is Keertimukha that drives awat evil.

Ceiling in temple. Centre left to right is Lord Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Top left to right is Karthikeyan, Laxmi/Saraswati and Ganesh. Last row are all Dancers.

Ceiling inside temple. Not a great picture but panel is very impressive. Can someone help with picture description.

This part is Queen Shanthaleswara temple.

This image of Lord Ganesha is in open air at southern side of temple.

Close up of soldiers fighting. Some images were broken as u can see.

Kalbhairava form of Shiva. Since this is a Shiv mandir ending with last pic of Shiva.

A kms or so from the main temple is the Kedareshwara temple which is also a very magnificient one. It was built by Veerballa II and his queen in 1319. The basement of the temple has a large number of sculptured friezes, unfortunately basement is closed. The upper part of its walls bear nearly 180 beautifully carved images of various gods and goddesses standing under elegantly designed floral arches. U see entrance to temple.

Side panel. Starting from lowest level elephant, lion, creeper, horses, creeper, Samundra Manthan or churning of the milky ocean, swan and shikharas.

Left to right is Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu, Ratimanmat (love Gods) and Ganesha.

A side view of temple. Right of pic are panels above which are holes for light to enter. After that are sculptures all the way.

Side view of temple southern side. Intent is to give serious students a feel of temple design.

A view of temple from the north western side. Everywhere lower level panel upper are sculptures.

Panel with Gods and Goddesses.

Left to right are Vishnu and Lakshmi first, drummer, Lord Brahma, Chamaradarni, goddess and dancer.

Left Nataraja form of Lord Shiva, centre is Lord Vishnu and right is Bhairava.

A close up of temple panel.

Centre is Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi. Both sides are goddess. This temple though beautiful does not attract too many tourists.

Left Shiva Parvati sitting on Nandi, Chamaradarni, Goddess and Lord Brahma.

Left is Shiva, centre is Shiva dancing on single leg and right again is Shiva.

Mahakali holding a drum and dancing on a demon body with Ugraraupa (angry face).

Krishnakalingamardhana - Krishna dancing on Kalinga serpent. Indians of today must not rest on the laurels of the past but ask themselves why were their forefathers so creative? What is it that Indians of today need to do to become creative once again.

Left is drummer. Right is Ravana lifting Mount Kailash. With this my dream of sharing the beauty of Belur and Halebidu temples ends. I hope you enjoyed the pics and descriptions. Any feedback is welcome.