The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c44.14

c44.14

Another fine group of these memorial stones is to be found at Murdeśvara, about thirteen miles south of Honāvar on the coast (Plates CLV and CLVI). Murdeśvara is situated on the sea shore, which, with its broad sandy beach, is fringed with a deep belt of palm trees. Amongst the palms, at intervals, are clusters of thatched huts and single homesteads, while the principal part of the village is a little bāzār where the chavadi is located. The whole is embowered within a forest of cocoanut palms and other trees, is intersected by many a shady lane, and wears an aspect of quiet content. Standing out into the sea, at one point, is a small hill which, in olden times, was fortified; but only the remains of its walls now exist together with traces of a few buildings of rubble masonry. Scattered about there are the remains of buildings and temples which shew that the place was of much more importance a few hundred years ago than it is now.