Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c12.4

c12.4

The Hoysala crest of Sala stabbing the tiger, set up in front of the *vimāna* of temples erected by them, is a fine example of free standing sculpture. There is also some in the ruined Jain temples at Angadi. But the most intricate and astonishing carving is that employed in the decoration of the outer walls of the Hoysala temples, and in the ceilings of the small domes or cupolas of their interior. It is executed in a potstone of creamy colour, which can be polished till it resembles marble; soft when quarried, but hardening rapidly on exposure to the air. The carving has evidently been done when the surface had thus weathered. Fergusson's opinion may here also be quoted. "There are many buildings in India (he says) which are unsurpassed for delicacy of detail by any in the world, but the temples at Bēlūr and Halebīd surpass even these for freedom of handling and richness of fancy. . . . The amount of labour which each facet of this porch (Bēlūr) displays is such as I believe never was bestowed on any surface of equal extent in any building in the world." Of the minute elaboration of detail in the frieze of the Halebīd temple, he says, "it may probably be considered as one of the most marvellous exhibitions of human labour to be found even in the patient East. . . . No two facets of the temple are the same; every convolution of every scroll is different. No two canopies in the whole building are alike, and every part exhibits a joyous exuberance of fancy scorning every mechanical restraint."