Splendid Rock temples of belur and halebidu are around 230kms from Bengaluru. Karnataka is famous for explicit rock cut/carved temples from ancient era. Built by hoysala kings, in soft stone in 11th century, Belur & Halebidu rock temples have very elobarate carvings of mythological and social events. Shravanabelagola has worlds tallest monolithic statue of bahubali, a jain saint.
07.00: We planned a day trip to these three sites from Bangalore, since they are about 5 hrs drive from bangalore it was essential that we left early. We were four adults and two kids. Though we planned to start at at 6am, we managed to leave at 7.
08.00: It took almost an hour going through the ring roads of Bangalore to reach Nelamangla and the diversion towards hassan. Hassan road is nice though still under construction, so you expect lot of diversions.
12.00: We reached Shravanbelagola which is about 150 kms from Bangalore at 12 noon. Vindyagiri, on top of which there is bahubali also called gomateshwara's statue, has a steep ascent to the top. It requires some effort to get to the top especially for the old with arthritic knees. But the view from the top and the statue of bahubali, is worth all your efforts.
13.30: It takes ½ an hour to climb to the top, another ½ hours spend at the top and by the time we climed down it was 1.30 pm.
16.00: Its about 90 kms to halebidu from shravanabelagola. There are good number of sign boards indicating directions set up by karnataka tourism. We stopped at kamat yatrinivas for lunch on the highway near Hassan. One can go to belur or halebidu from hassan directly. We proceeded to halebidu first. This road is not as good as the road to belur but very scenic with lakes and greenery.
Fantastic temple with intricate carvings in great detail. This complex,which is bigger than belur temple,is made of two temples dedicated to lord shiva was never completed. It has also two big nandis, among the biggest in south india.
17.00: It is less than 15kms to belur chennakeshava temple. Good roads connect the two. Beautiful temple complex where worship is going on till today. This star shaped temple which are hallmarks of hoysala architecture is carved out of soft stone. Beautiful stone carved maidens adore every corner of this temple. Also called shilabalika, these carvings depict maidens with various forms of make up, hair styles and life styles. There are various mythological figures too. Darpana sundari or the lady with a mirror is much appreciated.
Hired a guide, which i feel is a must to understand in detail the story behind the carvings. It will cost you around 200 rs, but is worth it. He will tell you many details which will be difficult to know on your own. It took more than an hour to go through the temple and also taking some pics.
18.00: Left belur. It was almost 2300hrs when we reached Bangalore.
