Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c36.30

c36.30

There yet remains the highest achievement of the Chalukyan-Hoysala school of architecture, the temple of Hoysalesvara at Halabid. (Plate CXXIV, Fig. 1). Owing to the truncated condition of this building, for it lacks the whole of its superstructure, its architectural appearance is disappointing, but were its roof and tower in position, rising up to group themselves in balanced mass against the sky, the effect would be distinctly imposing. In spite however of such a fundamental disability, this temple, chiefly on account of the emphatic prodigality of its sculptural embellishment, is, without exaggeration, one of the most remarkable monuments ever produced by the hand of man. The Hoysalesvara was the principal temple within the walls of the ancient city of Darasamudra, which for three centuries flourished as the royal capital of the Hoysala empire Now, even the name of this city is forgotten, and it has declined into a small hamlet in the Hassan District, called Halabid, some fifty miles north-west of Mysore. Of the temporal power of this one-time great capital-city, of its places and citadels, fortifications and civic buildings, there remain now only grass-grown mounds. Yet of the spiritual life of its people this fine temple is still a standing monument, when all that was material has faded into oblivion. That Darasamudra was the centre of marked religious activity is plainly shown by the remains of numerous Brahmanical and Jain temples grouped within its walls. One of these, the Kedesvara, a building of moderate dimensions, yet beautifully proportioned and exquisitely carved, may have been the "Chapel Royal," as it was in close proximity to the palace and connected with it by a road. But this superb though minor example is entirely eclipsed by the remains of the grand temple of the imperial capital, the Hoysalesvara, designed and erected, as an inscription states, by one Kedaroja, the master builder of NarasimhaI (1141-82), the Hoysala king, under the supervision of Ketamalla, chief officer of the public works, and it is as well, in view of the remarkable nature of this building, that their names should be remembered. Its date was therefore after the middle of the twelfth century, a time when the empire was in its first vigour, and from it one may gain the most complete impression of the style.