Beluru and Halebidu

First day, 31st March 2012, Saturday

This time it was a trip to historical places of Beluru and Halebidu. One partnership that can equal that of Sachin-Saurav's opening for India is Akshay-Vinayaka's I guess. As per the schedule we left Bengaluru bus stand at exactly 7 am by Bengaluru-Chikkamagaluru bus. This bus goes directly to Beluru. As usual we chatted, howled, laughed our way, so much so that the driver of the bus exclaimed that we both can beat 20 people in debate and called our talks "good time pass". Our talks (civilized people call it gibber) spanned a wide range from- scriptures to losing our culture to how stupid people are and how intelligent we are to of course girls- the fact that the last topic took 82.71% of our discussion time and effort is a different matter. We had breakfast at Kallur cross.

We reached Beluru at 12:30 pm. Took a room at Sumukha Residency. The receptionist was pretty. This hotel was stone's throw away from the Shri Chennakeshava temple complex- the reason of Beluru's fame. After freshening ourselves up we left for Yagachi dam- which is around 4 kms. We visited the back waters and had lovely time kayaking. It was meditating to sit idle in the middle of the waters, which was calm with occasional small waves. If this is not beauty, then what is? It was first of its feeling rowing a boat. Our screaming 'left-left right-right' was music to only our ears. We were given drop till Beluru by a bunch of college dropouts. We entertained them with tea and a puff. They have given their numbers and have promised us a great time if we were ever to visit Hassan again. Look, friendship knows no bounds!

Then after having 'haap cup cha' we proceeded to the Chennakeshava temple. The temple complex was started by a Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana Ballala and completed by Ravi Ballala- his grandson. It took 103 years to complete. The gopura is magnificent. We hired a guide for taking us around. Absolute Beauty! Beluru is celebration of femininity and womanhood- so much so that even Chennakeshava swamy (a form of Lord Vishnu) is dressed as a woman- not Bangalore types but- saree, nose-ring, waist-band, earrings, necklaces, ankle-lets and kumkum. The idol of the deity is magical. I was not able to move away from it. I visited the temple again in the evening just to see Him. The complex is huge. The Chennakeshava temple has 48 pillars- all different from each other. Just 2 of them are monoliths others are pentaliths. Monoliths- Ugranarasimha pillar (which is stupefying due to its intricate carvings) and Mohini pillar (true to its name it is indeed attractive). On Mohini pillar is Vishnu's female form- Mohini. Breathtaking! The compassionate yet dignified expression, the body language and the body itself. Whoa! I wish to write a separate blog on Mohini statue itself. This was the thing that impressed me the most. Then there are 'shila balikas' in their different dance poses. The temple is star-shaped like any other Hoysala temples. The temple has a base of 3 layers of rocks- first layer has carvings of elephants, second lions and third horses. Well, now how to express Beluru's beauty in words? I have realized the wealth of the words- Words are silver Silence is Golden. Indeed! I will remain silent with a final line- if you die without drinking the nectar of Beluru then yours was an incomplete life.

When I came out of the temple complex there was a feeling of completeness, a feeling of 'I have achieved whatever there is to be achieved'. Even Vinayaka told me that I behaved differently- such was the impact of Chennakeshava, Mohini and the whole temple itself. We finished the day with our talks which had even greater depths- our personal lives, Chennakeshava, essence of life, beauty of life. 'Girls' were conspicuous by their absence from our talks.

Next day, 1st April 2012, Sunday

We left for Halebidu. We reached at 11 am. This temple complex is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has 2 huge shivlingas- Hoysaleshwara and Shantaleshwara. The nandis before them are one of India's largest and most beautiful. This complex is double the size of that of Chennakeshava's in Beluru. The architecture remains similar. The temple exterior is richer than Beluru's. But this temple- constructed by a minister in Hoysala kingdom- is incomplete, due to attacks from foreign armies. The temple is star-shaped and various stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata are carved on the walls. As Narasimhaswamy was the family-deity of Hoysalas, his idols appear regularly. But that feeling of completeness was somehow missing here in Halebidu.

We visited a museum and a Jain basdi and took private tempo to reach Hassan- listening to new Kannada songs through the dusty roads. We reached Hassan at 3pm. Had lunch at Sanman and took a KSRTC bus to namma Bengaluru with a satisfied yet heavy heart. Reached Bengaluru at 8:30pm.