A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.96

c21.96

A larger and earlier example is furnished by a group of temples at Belūr dating from about 1117 of which the temple of Chennakeśava is the centre. Its superstructure is now missing but clearly when complete it must have been a work of surpassing beauty. It has three entrances, one on each of the free sides of the pillared hall, ‘approached by a flight of steps flanked by a pagoda-like shrine, the last a useful note of architectural emphasis’. On the main pillars of the hall and its recessed ceiling the sculptor has bestowed the largest amount of attention. The hall is 92 feet by 78 feet and the total number of pillars is forty-six. All of them, except the four in the central bay, are of different design so that the variety and complexity of the whole is astonishing. Each pillar must have been the handiwork of a separate artist and his assistants, an arrangement which set the masters of the art to compete with one another in the production of their finest work.