Hoysala Temples Tour - Day 2
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Have you read the temples covered on the 1st day
of the tour? There was time for just 3 of the Hoysala temples. Read the post
Hoysala Temples Tour – Day 1.
Day-2 Begins at Halebeedu
The morning begins with the darshana of Lord Eeshwara at
Halebeedu Temple.
The town packed with school excursion buses. And the temple premises packed with school children. Wow it was hard to get a peaceful glimpse. It was even more difficult to do some photography.
School trip to Halebeedu Temple
But worth the visit and all the chaos.
And then there are couple of more temples and Basadis pertaining
to the era of Hoysalas. The ones we witnessed next are Kedareshwara Temple,
Parshwanatha & Shanthinatha Basadi and the famous ornate pond Kalyani at
Hulikere.
Cieling of Parshwanatha Basadi, Parshwanatha Basadi,
inside-out view & shiny pillar of Parshwanatha Basadi
Hulikere is just about 3 km from Halebeedu. Any local will
inform the route direction about these places.
Pushkarani, Hulikere
Read more about Hoysaleshware Temple, Halebeedu and HulikereKalyani.
Visit to Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Javagal
Halebeedu to Javagal, the distance is roughly about 20 km.
The route has endless stretches of banyan trees. So, a little shady, a little
sunny stretch is what you can expect throughout.
Banyan tree stretch enroute Javagal
There are huge sign boards that indicates about the heritage
temple of Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Javagal.
Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Javagal
See more images of Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Javagal.
Drive to Arasikere. (from Javagal)
The drive of about 30 km from javagal to Arasikere is super
exciting with a variety of village life and farmer life glimpses.
The life of people living around the regions where Hoysala
temples are located captured in pics.
The bullock carts, hay stack load, sheep herd, donkeys
transporting heavy weight goods, all these are a rare sight to be treasured.
The typical village life
The crop of corn is a staple in these regions here. You get
sights of processing the corn or drying them under direct sunlight.
Visit to Ishwara Temple, Arasikere
This is one of the beautiful temples I have seen till date.
The temple is not crowded unlike the other famous ones (Belur and Halebidu).
There are hardly any devotees who visit this temple, which makes the
photography a real enjoyment.
There was a little girl’s photo shoot session going on. The
attires kept changing every 10 minutes and it was worth watching every bit of
the photo shoot.
One of her outfits, the traditional kids wear.
Photo session of a girl @ temple premises of Arasikere
The details of the carvings are extremely beautiful. These
extra details can be enjoyed since there is no much hustle-bustle in the temple
premises.
The locals we meet here give details and information of possible
nearest routes to cover other hoysala temples. With updated route information,
we move towards our lunch session.
Route map of Hoysala Temples
See more images of Arasikere Hoysala Temple.
Route Map – First Half of the Day-2 of Hoysala Temples Tour
Prior to lunch, the below temples & basadis could be
covered.
Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebeedu
Kedareshwara Temple, Halebeedu
Parshwanatha & Santhanatha Basadi
Kalyani, Hulikere
Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Javagal
Lunch at Arasikere:
Arasikere, a town and taluk, serves good options for local
tastes. The place is famous for spicy and tasty cuisines, especially menasina
bajji. Mensina Bajji is basically Chilly Pakoda.
Visit to Someshwara Devalaya Harnahalli
Post lunch, drive begins to Harnahalli. Harnahalli is about
10 km from Arasikere and is a place where there are two of Hoysala temples.
This is one among the temples which is not well maintained.,
tiny plants and unwanted shrubs all over the place, and even on the temple
gopura.
Someshwara Hoysala Temple, Harnahalli
A disheartening sight is of the sacred bull on top of the
entrance of the temple. The orginal left out few pieces of the bull were
attached to idol made of cement. It seems like some recent maintenance work
idea which is being depicted very badly.
This temple was locked, and the concern appointed caretaker/priest
of the temple was nowhere to be found in the nearby area.
Chennakeshava Devalaya, Harnahalli
The temple premises is huge, but usually locked after after
the early morning prayers. The caretakers or the priests get back to their
other business after the morning worships and temple routine. This was getting common.
Locals who get to know there are visitors at the temple, would
inform the caretaker (who lives nearby the temple). And he appears with a big
key to unlock for us.
The caretaker unlocking the doors of Chennakeshava Temple @ Harnahalli
See more images of inside and outer carving of this temple
here.
Chennakeshava Temple, Aralaguppe.
After Harnahalli, our next stop was Aralaguppe. To reach
Aralaguppe from Harnahalli, the drive was back to Arasikere and then towards
Aralaguppe (via Tiptur).
The route from Arasikere to Aralaguppe is worth enjoying.
Everything is a special sight. The main sight one gets to see is the activities
of the farmers.
Farmers are usually busy in their fields or processing their
crops.
Here you get to see a family working with their farm grown
ragi crop.
The temple is dedicated to Hindu God Vishnu. The temple
stands on a 16 star pointed platform with a beautifully designed tower over the
shrine.
See more photos of the temple, distance, and other
information here.
Gangadeshvara Temple, Turuvekere
Gangadeshvara Temple at Turuvekere is a 18 km drive from
Aralaguppe. A drive mostly on the mud road.
It is a common thing to see the farmers and other workers
with their crops on the road on road side. They have their own traditional way
of processing their crops.
The temple at Turuvekere was a miss for us. The locals
started misguiding the route and the locations. So, the temple was just dropped
off our list and continued to Nagamangala which was a distance of 37 km from
Turuvekere.
Yoga Narasimha Temple, Melukote, Mandya
On reaching Nagamangala we induced another temple in to our
list of Hoysala Temple. We decided to drive another 32 km until Melukote to
visit the famous Yoga Narasimha Temple. It was dark, so not many captures of
the place.
Melukote is not a Hoysala Temple.
This winds with the Melukote Temple. We halt at K.R.Pete.
Not many options for boarding and lodging, but somehow one night stay can be
managed.
Route Map – Second Half of the Day-2 of Hoysala Temples Tour
Someshwara Devalaya Harnahalli
Chennakeshava Devalaya, Harnahalli
Chennakeshava Temple, Aralaguppe
Yoga Narasimha Temple, Melukote.
Hopefully the pics make you
interested in visiting these temples personally.
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