Hosa Holalu - One of the masterpieces of the Hoysala Architecture.

All these days the blogs I had written about includes a hiking and/or a temple.  This time for a change I am writing my blog about a temple just for its architecture and sculptures.  The temple is Lakshminarayana temple at Hosa Holalu on the outskirts of Krishnarajapete, near Mysuru.

The priest in the temple told a saying in Kannada

" Beluru horagade nodi
  Halebeedu olagade nodi
  Hosa Holalu eradu kade nodi"

The meaning is if I want to see the temple for its sculptures then I have to see Belur outside walls, Halebeedu inside walls and here in Hosaholalu village Lakshminarayana temple,  I have to see both the sides.

By size, this temple may not be competing with that of Belur and Halebeedu but surely a good competitor for both in terms of beautiful sculptures.  So this time my blog is fully pictorial.

Location : Near Krishnarajapete and this village Hosa Holalu which was under Gangas and Cholas until 11th Century historically came under Hoysalas afterwords.   The Hoysalas build a fort with an agrahara (A place for the Brahmins mainly to live) along with this temple.  Out of my personal experience, this temple rich in architecture and sculptures and also comparable with similar temples in its nearby places like Nuggehalli Lakshmi Narasimha temple and Govindanahalli Pancha Lingeshwara temples.  To be precise in a day anyone can cover all the three temples rich in hoysala style sculptures.  Incidentally all the three temples are coming under ASI.

Now let us go to the pictorial blog of this temple.

The temple typical hoysala style within the well maintained lawn as it is maintained by ASI.

In the entrance of three main deities  Lakshmi Narayana Venugopala and Lakshmi Narasimha at centre left and right respectively the miniature of the lord is done at the top. This is lakshminarayana in miniature which is exact replica of the lord inside.

The Hoysala Lion symbol at the corners of the pillars

64 and 16 sided pillars out of the main four pillars

Miniature gold necklace type carvings

  Dancing ladies with mudras in almost all beams over the pillars

Tackling two lions

The bala Ganapathy i.e., child ganapathy where both the legs are visible. Normally Ganapathy sits with one crossed leg.

Mahishasura by Lord. The leg on the Ox Hand on the head of Asura due to weight the tongue of Ox came out and front legs folded due to pressure all clearly carved out.

Mango Leaves festoons

Banana flower normally the custom which is prevalent even today to tie two banana trees during festive days in the house entrance.

 The curved snake like stone and layers behind all out of a single stone piece

 The Lakshmi Narasimha miniature on the top of the entrance.

 The dancers and musicians.

 The pillar having the designs is also having hole in it for the purpose of decoration by inserting a thread to hang flowers in its entire circumference.  The first picture holes are visible to eye not the camera but the same hole visible against the sunlight in the backdrop.

 This temple is called trikuta architecture means three lords with their room on all the three sides . This is the miniature of Venugopala Swamy. It was the legend that after the original statue was stolen an alternate was kept in its place.  The real lords are as follows inside the three separate rooms.

A monkey eating a coconut where its nails in hands and legs are felt and also the curved tail all within less than an inch in height. For reference the second photo is with my index finger is given. 

The outside richly decorated walls with stories of Ramayana Mahabharatha and Prahalatha.

Layer of Lions

Layer of Anna Pakshi a legendary bird that drinks only milk out of milk diluted with water

The layer of elephant warriors.

The layer of Horse Warriors

Was told that each sculpture is unique in some way though looks similar at the outset

A lady seeing herself in the mirror and this is also available in Belur.

Lord Indra with his wife and Vajrayutha going on an Elephant.

With due credit to Mr Praveen Mohan, who is doing extensive research on Indian sculptures this is an egyptian as accepted by archaeologists, with the split dress, chappel, stick on hand, with head scarf loin cloth and curly hair The same is available in Belur too

Narasimha in a sitting yoga posture.

Macha

Koorma

Varaha

Narasimha

Vamana

Krishna avatars of Lord Vishnu

Parasurama 

Rama 

Vasudeva requesting the donkey not to bray for which he ties a bell near its ears and pounding in front of it to distract. The legend is Kamsa the king appointed this donkey to intimate the child birth.

Lord Vishnu himself born as child to Vasuki.

Exchange of Children

When kamsa came to kill the exchanged child it flies away to heaven vanadlised sculpture.

Krishna Killing the woman demon

Krishna holding the Govardana giri

Krishna splitting the mouth of pakshi

Trivikrama statue

The process of bringing nectar from ocean of milk known in mythology as "Sagar Manthan" and for that vasuki the snake as rope and as a base the tortoise is below.

Sending elephants to kill Prahalatha.

1000s of snakes to kill.

Flames around him to kill.

Sending hard iron things on him to kill.

Pushing him from the mountain top see the trees and stones.

Throwing him into ocean waves and fishes to see

The Gatha of the lord made up of stone but if you gently knock it with nail then its' sound hears like a metal

The silver pot with threads coconut and mango leaves called as Kalasam all carved out in detail size less than an inch.

A dancing Goddess with perfect samuthrika lakshana

The finger next to toe is longer is one of the signs with clear carving.

Lakshma faints and the need of sanjeevani herb in the gandhamadan mountain was conveyed to Hanuma

Hanuman brings the entire mountain as he could not identify sanjeevini, all miniatures for reference hand

Ravana performs havan to ward of evil after assumed killing of Lakshmana, for which Hanuma tells not to conduct as he is alive.  Ravana does not bother hence he kicks the Ravana.  Hearing the story for first time.

The seven arrows are tackled by a single arrow by Rama on the shoulders of Hanuma

After killing Ravana Rama does shiva pooja at Rameswaram as told by the person but to me it looks like story of Kannappa for identification keeping one of his legs.

Kalinga Narthana by Krishna

Chakravyuha of Mahabharata in which Abhimanyu son of Arjuna carved in stone.

Bheeshma in the bed of arrows.

The corner elephant head perfectly matches with both side elephant bodies.

Platform chappals for ladies.

Lakshmi Narayana with minutely carved out Shanka Chakra

Absolute thanks to the person one Mr Made Gowda who with much interest explained the things; his experience of 25 years speaks for the clarity and his interest in his traditional knowledge that he had gained from his ancestral lineage.  The temple even if locked need not bother you, because most of the sculptures are possible to see except the main trikuta lords.  Further on request the priest is always be willing to come who lives nearby in the village but within the close vicinity of the temple.  A treasure without much rush or tourists and a knowledgeable person to explain things,  will never leave you disappointed.  Enjoy the Hoysala architecture and sculptures in a calm serene exclusive view.