Welcome to the second installment of my new Travel X Jewellery series, Bejewelled Travels. In this post, I am going to take you on a virtual video journey of Hoysala Temples in Karnataka. I will also show how making this video inspired the Belvadi temple necklace.
Even though I lived in Bangalore, Karnataka for two years, I hardly explored the city, let alone the state. The only places that I visited outside Bangalore then was Sri Rangapatinam and Mysore. I later took a trip to Mangalore and Sringeri. I was indoctrinated in Kannadiga culture only in 2018 by Charusmitha of Coolture designs. While working on Parampare, I came across so many places, particularly temples that I wished to visit. So when an opportunity presented itself in December 2018 for me to travel to Belur and Halebeedu, I made use of it. I saw for myself the glorious Hoysala style statues of Darpana Sundari and Shilaballikas at Belur that I have made pendants of. During that two day trip, I discovered a gem that is the Belvadi Temple.
Belvadi Veer Narayana Temple
The Trikuta Temple or Veera Narayana Temple, was built in the 13th century by Veera Ballala II. It is about 28km from the Belur and 30km from Chikmangalur on a different route. Known in mythical times as Ekachakranagara (One wheel town?) it is believed to be the place where the Pandava Prince Bheema killed the demon Bahasura.
The temple has a large courtyard, with a centre walkway and has western landscaped garden on either side of it. Once you cross the walkway two exquisitely carved stone elephants greet you. In this ASI National Heritage monument, you will find a hall of polished Stone lathe pillars. There are peepul leaf like forms carved into the mid section of these pillars. The temple is said to be made out of soapstone. As you go close to the main shrine, you will see reliefs of elephants (in various activities) adorning the bottom portion of the mandapa seating. There is a Domical bay ceiling created like a downward facing lotus in front of the main shrine.
Inspiration to realisation – the Belavadi temple necklace
Other temples in this region are known for their sculptures in the gopuram and the Facade. However, this temple at Belvadi is known for its curvaceous black saligrama (holy fossil stone) idols that are still in worship. Thus for my necklace I chose the colours brown and black. I chose to include both gold and silver accents to show the richness of the temple. While visiting the temple, I was really intrigued by the pillars and the stone blocks used in construction. I interpreted them as cylindrical fabric beads and cuboidal glass beads in the necklace. Furthermore, there is a softness to the pillars and icons though they are made of stone. Hence I used soft thread beads and dori.
The Star vimana (Conical dome) or Stellate vimama is one of the trademarks of Hoysala architecture. Here too there are two stellate vimanas and one flat. The stellate ones are filled with beautiful sculptures similar to other Hoysala Temples. They are enclosed in foliate and floral frames. Sadly, the faces of many of these sculptures, atleast In the lower rungs are disfigured. Keeping the above in mind, I picked a star bezel to create my pendant and went with floral forms for my digital artwork.
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