Sacred Ensembles of Hoysalas
The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas is the collective name for three exceptional 12th and 13th-century temple complexes in Karnataka, India, that were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023. These sites represent the unique and sophisticated architectural style of the Hoysala Empire.
The three temples comprising the ensemble are:
Chennakeshava Temple, Belur
Consecrated in 1117 CE by King Vishnuvardhana, this temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is renowned for its stunning, hyper-realistic sculptures, intricate carvings, and elaborate bracket figures (madanikas) that adorn the walls and pillars. It is still an actively worshipped temple.
Ancient Hoysala Shri Hoysaleswara Temple
Built a century after the Chennakeshava temple, this large, twin-shrined temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The exterior walls are covered in an extraordinary number of detailed friezes and sculptures that narrate stories from Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Shri Chennakeshava Swamy Temple (Somanathapura)
This highly ornate temple, completed in 1258 CE under King Narasimha III's general Somanatha, stands on a high, star-shaped platform and has three sanctums (a trikutachala plan) dedicated to different forms of Vishnu (Keshava, Janardhana, and Venugopala).
Architectural Significance
- Unique Style: The Hoysala architectural style is a hybrid or Vesara blend of the Nagara (North Indian) and Dravidian (South Indian) traditions, with original innovations that created a distinct identity for the kingdom.
- Intricate Details: The temples are crafted from soft soapstone (chloritic schist), which allowed the artisans to carve with incredible precision and detail. This is evident in the intricate jewellery of the deities and the detailed narrative friezes that run along the temple bases.
- Stellate Plan: A key feature is the star-shaped ground plan (stellate plan) of the main shrine and its platform (jagati), creating numerous angles on the outer walls that catch the light and enhance the sculptural detail.
- Artistic Agency: Unusually for the time, many of the sculptures bear the signatures of the artists who created them, pointing to the high status and recognition sculptors held in Hoysala society.
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