Hoysala Trail - The roads taken in 2008

A collage of all the Hoysala temples visited in 2008

The Hoysala trail was one of my best trips this year and it was done in two parts besides several other independent jaunts. My earliest tryst with the Hoysalas was probably as a kid when my parents and I had visited Belur and Halebeedu. A couple of years ago, I went to Belur again with my cousins and then Sharath and I took a day trip to Talakadu and Somnathpur, near Mysore.

At Mosale, another twin temples awaited us.

However the trip that got me interested was in January this year when I went with my uncle's family to the coffee estate at Bikodu near Belur.We covered just about three places - Belur, Belavadi and Nuggehalli which blogged about extensively. What I saw and read excited me to probe more that led to the trail a couple of months later. As the series has hardly been blogged, Ive decided to post some pictures at least to give you an indication of the trail .

At Marle , where the twin temples of Keshava and Siddeshwara stand built during the time of Vishnuvardhan

My cousin, Lalitha and I embarked on this trail with just 3 full days in hand and an agenda to see at least 20 villages. We made Bikodu, near Belur our base and drove all around the belt, looking at maps, losing our way sometimes .We were indeed the objects of curiosity in most of these villages, especially among kids .Some of the temples were maintained so well by the ASI, some were in complete ruins, some were opened by the villagers, some we opened ourselves. We heard stories at some temples, but at most temples, no one had any information to share.

At Hullekere near Gandasi, where we opened the doors to this beautiful Keshava temple.

The villages that we visited included Anekere, Shantigram, Marle, Javagal, Chatachatahalli, Halebeedu, Basadihalli, Hulekere,Pushpagiri, Adagur, Kondajji, Dodagaddavalli,Mudugere, Hullekere, Arsikere ,Haranahalli, Koravangala ,Mosale and Angadi where it all began. Later on Sharath and I went to Arekere and Kaidala besides Somanathpur.

The coffee children

Kids at a drying yard of a coffee plantation near Bekodu, a village near Belur and Hassan in Karnataka.

And back on the trail

A sudden assignment took me to Javagal in Hassan district and thereafter to Coorg yet again and I am now back, finished with the article and the pictures..We are working on a special on homestays and discussing the merits of homestays wrt resorts. While I do think both offer unique experiences , I prefer a homestay for the local connect and the personalised service and the fact we get an opportunity to meet some great people ..

So..what do you all think ? Do let me know..In the meanwhile here is a glimpse of rural Karnataka and the Coorg trail resumes in the next post

Nuggehalli - a detour from the highway

Our next port of halt – Nuggehalli, another small unassuming hamlet where I can guarantee you that you can get lost amidst the small lanes..Fortunately there were not too many of them. We were enroute to Bangalore from Hassan and we did not have much time on us – but we couldn’t give Nuggehalli a miss.



Two temples, from the Hoysala era dot this village which was once an agrahara or a place of learning called Vijaya Somnathpura . We go back to the 13th century when it was the reign of the Hoysala King, Someshwara . However records say that this place is ancient and was patronized by the Cholas prior to the Hoysala rule.



As we reached Nuggehalli, it was mid afternoon and barring a few boys playing cricket, the village seemed deserted. We asked the route to the temple and one boy asked – LNS ? I was taken aback at the modern abbreviation used to describe this ancient temple of Lakshmi Narasimha. The boy then called the priest who opened the temple for us.





Legend has it that a saint by name Rushbha, performed penance and that the Lord Lakshmi Narasimha appeared before him . Inscriptions however say that the temple was built by a chieftain Bommanna Danda Nayaka, who was an aide of the Hoysala king , Someshwara. Based on the wishes of his guru, he is said to have built both the temples –Lakshmi Narashimha dedicated to Vishnu and Sadashiva Temple, dedicated to Shiva.



Lakshmi Narashima temple is an ornate Trikua temple built in the typical Hoysala style with walls adorned by sculptures , around 120 narrating the stories from the epics .The carvings are so intricate and detailed that one can see black stones in the eyes of some and jewellery as well. The inscriptions carry the name of the sculptors – Mallithamma and Baichoja. .Dedicated to Kesava, Narasimha and Krishna , the temple is built of soapstone.




The Sadashiva temple is a smaller, beautiful temple that has some of the most ornate carvings . Built in the Ekuta Nagara type, this temple built on a platform is dedicated to Shiva. The walls were not adorned unlike other Hoysala temples, but this temple is known for its architecture.

The main temple was closed when we came in and there was not a soul around but for a lone goat on the compound which ran away the moment we entered. We spent some time looking at the pillars , the carvings on the inner wall and enjoyed the silence before starting our journey back to Bangalore


The Hoysala trail has not yet ended - Halebeedu, Somnathpur and a few more temples need to be covered. I have been to both these places earlier , but I have photographs only of Somnathpur. And both will soon be on the trail as well..




Getting there

Nuggehalli is located on the Tiptur-Channarayanapatna state highway and it is about 50 km from Hassan city. A deviation from Hiresava on NH48 will take you to Nuggehalli which is 16kms from the National Highway.

Shettihalli- a church submerged in water

My weekend getaway was quite a different experience. A visit to a coffee plantation( No-Not Coorg) was not just about long walks in the estate, or watching picking and pulping of coffee seeds or even getting lost in the many species of birds that were fluttering high. . It promised to be a discovery of sorts.

Blended with history and spirituality, the aroma was stronger. We started the weekend with a visit to a small hamlet , Shettihalli.


We were cruising down from Bangalore towards Hassan on the bypass road and the milestone read 2 kms to Hassan. My uncle had read that there was a ruins of a church in a hamlet close by and we decided to ask. Many fingers pointed left towards Shettihalli, some said 10 kms, some said 6 kms and we drove till we saw a dry field (probably sunflower )around us and then came a vast expanse of water . Standing tall in the water was the ruins of an ancient church, home to a few birds .

There was not a soul in sight and there were no roads leading to the church. We took a small detour from the road and parked the car and started walking , across what looked like a dry field filled with thorny bushes and a few trees.

It was the backwaters of the Hemavathy Reservoir and the monument was the Holy Rosary Church built by French Missionaries around 1860. We met a few villagers on our return who told us that this village was once a lush hamlet where the River Hemavathy flowed watering fields of sunflower.

An idyllic village lost to development when the reservoir was built at Gorur to develop agriculture around the neighbouring towns. No one there knew the name of the church and I tried googling it to find out. A couple of newspaper articles from The Hindu gave me the name and the rest tallied with what the villagers had told us .

The church was reportedly built with mortar and bricks and a mixture of jaggery and eggs.During monsoons, the water level rises submerging the entire church apparently, when only the spire is seen at times. The entire roof had caved in while part of the altar and the central nave still stand but there were no stained glass windows or pews or even windows left in the church.

We had loads of birds , cattle and reptiles for company , but not a person around . We chanced on it by serendipity, but discoveries like this make a weekend getaway special .


The post does not end here - A very special thanks to GMG (Blogtrotter)who has given me an award - "You make my day."

Now its my turn . I would like to give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring me happiness and inspiration and make me feel happy about blogland.

So I'll pass the "You make my day" to Smita, Reeta, Mark, Merisi,Priyank, Kalyan, Celine, Ajeya, Stephanie and GMG whose blogs have been a great pleasure to read ..