Have you ever craved for a place? What is it called when you feel home-sick for a place that is not your home? I wish, deep down that I am not alone in this. I'm not a cliche' wanderlust person but I feel more inclined to the places that kinder the old soul in me. And no other place has made this kind of an impact as much as this one . Built on the grounds of 'Halebidu' (Karnataka) is the glorious monument that roars art and everything love, the Hoysaleswara Temple. I often find myself wondering what is so special about this place, which is now not even in its full glory. The Hoysala aesthetic is damaged because of men who tried to put power above love, but this monument is a proof that some things are beautiful even when they are broken.
Rather than the artistic creation of the place, what pulled me closer to this place and it's king is his sense of love for all religions and their respective Gods at a time when being a smarta was not welcoming. The king, at his highest glory could have went with raising a sky scraper for his one favorite God in the banks of the largest man-made lake till date. He didn't, rather he opted to put in his architectural craving into something that will stand tall and strong in the sands of time.
The period of Hoysala's was not a long running era in the Indian history but the impact they made on the nation's culture and art is still worth admiring. An era that lasted for only three centuries but leaving a long lasting impact; beautiful and mystifying. Isn't it ? I am an ardent lover of water bodies and this is one of the very reasons why I am craving soul-deep for this place. The all glorious Hoysaleswara was once known as "Dwarasamudra", meaning 'gateway to the ocean' as it was built on the banks of the lake raised by the King who requires more acknowledgement and recognition (completely my personal opinion) like the most others.
The successful years of the Hoysala empire was under the reign of their King VishnuVardhana, who built the monuments Halebidu and Belur and few others. Among his creations, Hoysaleswara temple along with the nearby Jain Temples and the Kedareshwara temple and Kesava temple in Belur have been proposed to be listed under UNESCO world Heritage sites. (Belur's Chennakeshava temple is where my old soul resided in its one of the previous lives, I am sure of that).
I can't even begin to say the love and respect I have for a King I know very little about (You will be able to know more about him in my future blogs). May be it is his belief of accepting all religions as the same or his love for architecture or his aesthetic sense that made me drop almost all the labels we have been carrying for centuries now and made me long for a place more than I have ever did in this 25 years of my life time. As much as I like to declare the inevitable fact that me and my dad have hardly got anything in common when it comes to aesthetics, it is him who took me to this mystifying place and introduced me to the world I never knew belonged to, all along.
PS: Lockdown due to this COVID-19 pandemic has not just made me revisit old series and movies but also the places I have been to. Given the liberty of travel, I never realized how much this place meant to me and the love I have for a place that is not my home could be this strong.
❤️
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