Sight
Seeing
:
While your stay at Gopi’s farm you will have an
opportunity to visit some of Karnataka’s most famous temples, Belur and
Halebidu
are the famous magnificent pieces of art and architecture of the
Hoysalas
.It is just half an hour's journey from the farm and presents a good
detour.
Halebidu was the 12th-century capital of the Hoysalas . The temples in
Halebidu are known for their intricate stone carving and magnificent
centuries old temples , taking you back in time to one of glory and
magnanimity .The town gets its name from the lake, Dhwara samudhra
which means ocean’s entrance . The two Nandi statues which are on
either sides of the Hoysaleshwara temple are monolithic .Many
sculptures in have been destroyed due to continual invasions and were
destructed by invaders. Halebidu means old city or basically a ruined
empire and like the name ,that’s all is left of it in the present times
though one can observe with what is left the abundance of wealth and
appreciate the
glory and grandeur of the period . The walls of the temple are covered
with
an endless variety of depictions from Hindu mythology, animals, birds
and
Shilabalikas or dancing figures and not one is known to have repeated.
The chennakeshava temple was completed in 1116 by the Hoysala king
Vishnuvardhana to commemorate his victory over the Cholas. It took 103
years to complete. The facade of the temple is filled with intricate
sculptures and friezes-with no portion left blank explaining their
perfection and artistic talent. Elephants, episodes from the epics,
sensuous dancers nothing was left uncarved. These temples are worth a
watch and are even better when available so close to the
farm.