Sri Veeranarayana Swamy Devastana, Belavadi

Sept 17, 2024. The day started with a drive from Bhogasandra to Arasikere with a stop to see the ancient stepped well called Aiyyana Baavi near Tiptur town. Then we proceeded to Arasikere where we had breakfast, then visited Sri Chandramouleshwara Gudi and proceeded to Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Devastana. Then we drove up to Javagal and spent an hour at Sri Lakshminarasimha Devastana. Until now all temples were uncrowded, it was relaxing, got good darshan of the deities. Belavadi is a short drive from Javagal. Even Viranarayana Devastana wore a deserted look, hardly any tourists.

As per one of online sources, Belavadi was known as Ekachakranagara. It is said that Pandava stayed here during their exile and Bhima slayed the man eating demon Bakasura here. Also it is said that Sri Narayana killed a demon named Shakhasura here.

As we step into the well kept premises, we see a huge gateway concealing the temple. It is an ancient practice to conceal grand structures from a direct view by building a Dwara or Mahadwara the front. This gateway may not be a Mahadwara but it is a grand structure by itself. The Dwara has two a large open hall with two doorways.

The sloped roof flat topped Dwara and the open space between the gateway and temple. Every doorway is flanked by a pair of elephant idols.

These elephants are placed at the inner doorway of the Dwara. Elephants had a special place in Hoysala culture hence one gets to see so many elephant idols. I guess each of these idols were dedicated to a real life creature during the Hoysala times.

The gatekeepers. At  Javagal Lakshminarasimha Devastana, the gatekeepers names are Jaya and Vijaya. Not sure if the ones here have names. For that matter, there's no historical information board here. The presence of Shankha & Chakra is a clear indication of Hoysala rulers affiliation to Vaishnava culture.

An unfinished elephant idol gives an idea of the sculpting process.

That's the main temple. In this view we see two Shikharas which means there are two sanctums. At the entrance of this east-facing temple is a pair of elephants.

The structure is really stunning, the kind of eye-catching details is so great that it makes us wonder how this was made. This is one huge assembly of smaller sculptures. Sculpting individual parts is is one matter but assembling them perfectly is another matter.

A closer view of one of the elephants. Surely elephants of the royal stable of those times were decorated with jewelry... could be brass, silver or possible gold too.

Before going around the temple, it would be helpful to know it's plan. Here's a screen-shot from Bing Maps. The temple is 58 meters long and 31 meters wide. If the Dwara is included the length goes up to 90 meters. As you see the temple is a large T in plan, three sanctums are placed at each end of the T. So this is a Trikutachala. The three Garbhagrihas are connected by a series of pillared halls. Going by the looks of the temple, the plan and side elevation, this temple was a smaller temple with one sanctum, and it has been extended over years adding two more sanctums. Historical sources say this temple was first built by Hoysala king Veera Ballala II and later it was extended by king Narasimha Ballala.

At the temple's main entrance a board warns tourists to refrain from photography inside the temple which was quite disappointing. Disappointing because the pillars are a sight, together and individually the turned & polished columns with floral embossing are a wonder. Here we noticed few tourists like us. The sanctums were shut, the caretaker asked us to look around until 1 PM by when the Archaka was expected. So we stepped out for a tour of the exterior. The Shikhara seen here sits over the southern sanctum.

This is one of the backrests which go around the temple. 

The outer walls are covered with idols like these, most of them forms of Chaturbuja Narayana meaning four-armed Vishnu. Here are two forms, each having Shankha & Chakra in different positions. In the middle is Garuda with palms joined. I you look closely, the idols faces have been marred with a hard blunt object. Same is the case with all idols here, and same goes for most Hoysala temples. It's no big secret who vandalized the idols systematically.

The stout figure here seems to be Vamana, one of the ten avatars of Dashavatar. I'm not sure who the young woman depicts. In her left hand is an object which looks like corn cob, it could be anything else. She's attired in heavy jewelry, hair tied into a bun and holding a torch in her raised right hand. Notice the size of the ear pendant and a ring on her right thumb. On the right is Narayana, front right arm is missing.

This is the outer wall of the southern sanctum. At the lower level is the opening for the Abhisheka liquids to flow out. The symmetric idol arrangement has Narayana in the middle and on the flanks are attendants and other characters. The middle idol could be Veera Narayana. It features Varada Hasta, right hand fingers pointing downwards, a hand gesture that represents the act of giving boons or gifts. The stout character, as mentioned earlier, seems to be Vamana avatar and on the opposite side is a seated figure which seems like Buddha. Flanking this symmetric arrangement is Gopalakrishna on the left and Narayana on the right.

Moving on, there's another symmetric arrangement which features Mohini, Garuda and Krishna dancing on Kalia's head. All idols feature elaborate headgear and massive ear pendants. Some say that these headgear weren't ordinary, they depict some sophisticated gadget of advanced technology.

Now we are looking at the rear most part of the temple. The seemingly stepped wall seems to be a support to the damaged structure. Here is where I got the feeling the original temple has undergone a lot of additions, some joints are clearly out of sync. Restoring such a structure must be tougher than repairing a structure built in one go.

On the sanctum's side walls are idols of Govardhana Giridhari, Arjuna aiming the target by looking at the target's reflection in a bowl of water or oil and forms of Narayana. There's another idol of the woman with torch and corn cob. 

The next picture seems like a black & white shot. It isn't. This is a portion of the upper level but the lowest part of the Shikhara. Here the attraction is Hoysala emblem- warrior Sala fighting a lion. The emblem is flanked by Kirtimukha which is supposed to ward of evil eyes. By the way, the building bocks of this temple is soapstone.

This is a side view of the three tiered Shikhara on the southern sanctum. At the middle in every tier is Narayana and Garuda. Here we can see another type of Kirtimukha, the type with popping eyes. Every tier base is decorated with hanging jewelry. Sculpting those delicate parts and then assembling the parts at that height must one challenging work.

A closer look at the ancient repair job, a stepped support wall. This portion is painfully out of sync with the rest of the building. As you climb the steps you step into a long pillared hall. 

This is one of the bays attached to the main sanctum. At the top is Venugopala, that's Krishna playing flute. The simple looking canopy is supported supported by turned pillars through a self-aligning mechanism. In fact all pillars have the self-aligning mechanisms to keep the structure stable in case of ground movement caused by seismic activities. Structure can be disturbed due to thermal expansion-contraction of stones. Ancient builders built flexible structures, that's why they remain standing for hundreds of years and repairable.

Coming to the rearmost part of the temple. The plain walled portion is the original temple in my opinion. Even the pillared hall attached to it is an extension.

The northeastern view. This portion seems to have survived without any damage. It's the extended parts which have suffered damages and repaired more than one time.

We sent around the temple completely but I haven't posted pictures of the northern side. 

It was a warm day, the floor was unbearably hot and tummy was signaling hunger. As we completed the Pradakshina it was 1 'O clock, the Archaka arrived promptly. The Archaka made his way to the main sanctum and the fifteen off tourists followed him. For a spacious temple as this, fifteen is nothing, all of us got clear view of the deity Sri Veera Narayana. The five feet high idol is made of dark stone, it was a sight to behold. Its beauty was mesmerizing. Then the Archaka led us to the northern sanctum where the deity is Sri Venugopala. This idol too was stunningly beautiful. It had an hypnotizing effect on the entire group. Lastly the Archaka showed us the deity in the southern sanctum- Sri Yoganarasimha. This idol too mesmerized the group. I could hear whispers of admiration. The Archaka performed Arti to all three deities and offered Prasada to the group. I could feel the vibes of satisfaction of having peaceful Darshan. I won't forget the experience for a long time.

Done with the temple tour, we were back at the car. Hunger was knocking hard. I walked to a small shop opposite the temple and inquired if there was any mess serving ragi mudde lunch. A tourist guide who was accompanying one of the groups overheard me and suggested to try the Brahmins mess a stone's throw away. Like Javagal, this locality too was a Agrahara, the community of priestly class Brahmins. The simple little eatery run an elderly woman offered hot meals. The entire hall could hold just a dozen customers at a time. It was clean and tidy, no odor whatsoever. Lunch consisted of rice, sambar, kosambari, papad, pickle & curd. Every morsel was relished. The best part of the meal was Sridhar ate heartily. Fresh food at the right time, it was so satisfying. 

After resting for a few minutes, we headed to Udbhava Ganapati Devastana, a minute's drive away from Veera Narayana Gudi. The temple doors were closed, I took a few pictures and we left Belavadi. Our next and final destination of the day was Sri Chennakesava Devastana at Arakere.

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