Once upon a time a demon named Bakasura lived near the city of Ekachakra. There was a compromise between the king and Bakasura. That is, king will send large portion of provisions daily along with a man. Bakasura being the demon he is, used to devour the whole food supply as well as the accompanied man. Pandavas and their mother Kunti were in exile in the same city. Hearing the plea of the Brahmin family they were staying in, Kunti decides that one of her sons will go to Bakasura with food supply. Bhima was chosen for this special task as he was the strongest. Bhima stated off to forest with all the supplies. On the way he finished off all the food because Bhima himself is a glutton. This infuriates Bakasura to no end and a fight ensues between them, and Bhima kills Bakasura.
We mentioned this story because Belavadi was known to legend as Ekachakranagara. And we are in Belavadi's Veera Narayana Temple. We have known Belavawadi as a second name of two artists siblings, Sudha Belawadi and Prakash Belawadi. There was a popular warrior queen named Belawadi Mallamma too. However, that was Belawadi with 'W' instead of 'V' and that Belawadi is in Belagaum district of Karnataka. We digress.
We could see the three steeple from our car as we waited for the big bunch of school kids to cross the roads. But they weren't going inside the temple. We overheard them shouting ganapathi temple. We sighed in relief because clearly we wanted the whole temple for ourselves. Yeah! We are selfish like that. And we are the one who later complain about the beautiful monument being deserted. Either hypocrisy or bipolar. We parked the vehicle adjacent to a house.
As expected the temple complex was totally abandoned.
Nothing short in beauty or elegance, this magnificent Hoysala temple was built in 1200 C.E. by erstwhile Hoysala king Veera Ballala 2. This is said to be one of the largest temples of Hoysala dynasty. The complex contains three shrines, Veera Narayana, Venugopala, and Yoga Narasimha, all the three having their own tower, hence it is called trikuta style. The tall image of Narayana (8 ft) with four hands is considered as one of the best examples of Hoysala art. Venugopala (Krishna with flute) is 8 feet tall and Yoga Narasimha (meditation pose is 7 feet tall). The open Mantapa is vast, expansive, and sweepingly immense. This space has a total of 37 bays. The two closed mantapas have 13 and 9 bays respectively. The shining pillars are lathe-turned and bell shaped. Inner walls of shrine are plain, but roofs are well adorned. The temple is made out of soap stone as that is the building materials of Hoysala architecture. All the towers are decorated magnificently with sculpture.
Even though its close proximity to Halebidu this temple is not ransacked by invaders. It might be because of its remote location or its less popularity. We would say Veera Narayana Temple of Belavadi comes under top 10 in the Hoysala trails (Belur, Halebidu, Mosale, Amruthapura) that we started doing and will update them as and when they are done.
Tips
Getting there:
Bangalore-Kunigal-Yadiyur-Hirisave-Channarayapatna-Hassan-Halebidu-Belavadi
If you more than three days you can club it with Belur, Halebidu, Shettihalli Church, Mosale, Shravanabelagola.
Total Distance-230 KM
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun-09:00-05:00
Entry Fee: Free
Best Time: October-February
No parking. It is better to park the bigger vehicles in the main road
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