Chennakesava temple :
I am an ardent admirer of ancient history . The temples, churches, mosques, monuments, palaces, pillars are all silent witnesses of our eventful past. If you listen closely you might as well hear them, telling you stories of lives that passed by, of dynasties which ruled, of wars that destroyed and also of nature’s fit of pique.
The Chennakesava temple was built by King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala dynasty in 1117 A.D. You can read more about the temple here 🙂 .
Within the complex, the Chennakesava temple is at the centre, facing east, and is flanked by the Kappe Channigraya temple on its right, and a small Sowmyanayaki (form of the goddess Lakshmi) temple set slightly back. On its left, also set slightly back is the Ranganayaki temple.
This is the Rayagopura or the superstructure crowning the main entrance built during the times of the Vijayanagara Empire .
Two pillars exist here – the Garuda (eagle) sthambha (pillar) facing the main entrance and the Deepa (lamp) sthambha .
The material used for construction of the temple is chloritic schist or soapstone on which beautiful detailing has been done.
The main temple has three entrances and their doorways have decorated sculptures called dwarpalakas ( doorkeepers ) adorning them on either side. There are also miniature shrines with Bhumija (tower or spire on top) styled superstructure at the entrances as shown in the above picture.
The mantapa (hall) is one of the main attractions of Chennakesava temple. Among the 48 ornate lathe turned pillars Narasimha pillar ( unfortunately which I couldn’t click ) is the most popular along with the four pillars bearing madanikas (celestial damsels).
The main temple with smaller shrines at the backdrop.
Backside of the temple.
PS 1: I hope you guys enjoyed my amateur tour of Chennakesava temple, Belur. I am extremely sorry for the scarcity of images because while taking these pictures little did I know that they would find special mention in this yet to be born blog of mine.
PS 2: Info bytes courtesy WIKI WIKI WIKI . 😀 Sorry guys my historical knowledge isn’t that great!
Love
Shruti
In love with a twilightstar 
Arianna Huffington’s refreshing piece on India (and the book that changed Steve J’s life):
Some of our most innovative business leaders have drawn on principles that can trace their origins back to India, finding that yoga, meditation and renewal are a much-needed counterpoint to a Western workplace culture fueled by burnout, stress, sleep deprivation and exhaustion. Consider the book that Steve Jobs asked to be given out at his memorial: not a business manual, not a book about tech innovation but The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the people who helped popularize meditation in the West. As Yogananda wrote:
Intuition is soul guidance, appearing naturally in man during those instants when his mind is calm. Nearly everyone has had the experience of an inexplicably correct “hunch,” or has transferred his thoughts effectively to another person. The human mind, free from the static of restlessness, can perform through its antenna of intuition all the functions of complicated radio mechanisms sending and receiving thoughts, and tuning out undesirable ones.
Jobs had spent time in India and was particularly taken with the role of intuition in the everyday lives of Indians. “The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do, they use their intuition instead, and their intuition is far more developed than in the rest of the world,” Jobs said. “Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That’s had a big impact on my work.”
And this power of intuition and mindfulness is increasingly, and conclusively, validated by science.
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nice and cool sculptures 🙂
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I know 😊 , thank you so much for dropping by Joshi. Really means a lot 😊
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Quite informative and impressive too…. hope to visit this part of the country some day… 🙂
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You should Maniparna 😃 , you would love the place !
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Pictures were quite nice and infos were very relevant and precise…
Is that guy wearing a fastrack watch?
And it was not mandatory to mention “wiki-wiki-wiki” because wiki doesn’t expect you to do so and everyone in blogging makes fair usage of wiki info/data… it is like thanking your first English teacher for being able to post this blog today 😀
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Answer to your first question – yes thaf guy , my husband is wearing a fastrack watch which was also my wedding gift to him 😄 . Hm and about the thanking part now that you reminded me maybe I should thank her as well 😃
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Looks very beautiful ! I have been to Humpi before. I must say it wasn’t very impressive. I would rather say this place is better than Humpi.
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Is it ? Oh I never knew 😞
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It sure is. Anyways taking one look wouldn’t hurt. It isn’t that bad after all :-).
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😃
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Actually, Rajesh Khanna once said in a function few days before he died
” Aaj tu hai jahan, yahan kal koi aur tha.
Ye bhi ek daur hai, wo bhi ek daur tha ”
Whenever i see something ancient and magnificiant, this line comes into my mind. We are just a temporary creatures of this endless time. after 500 years, kids will see our remains.. How you see this?
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Very true I agree 😃 totally !
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Impressive; I am hoping to visit here, haven’t traveled to most of the monuments in Karnataka 🙂
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Neither have I, just this one but I am sure they are very beautiful and I can’t wait to visit Hampi 😀
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A very informative post 🙂
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Thank you so much Anoop , I thought of naming it informative tuesdays but then don’t have much info at hand 😉
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Still a good peek into history.
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😃
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