Title:
A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples
Author:
Gerard Foekema
Publisher:
Abhinav Publications, 1996 (First)
ISBN:
9788170173458
Pages:
152
This
book is not about history, but all for tourists having a genuine bend to
appreciation of temple architecture. Karnataka is undisputedly the best
specimen to sample magnificent temples of the early and medieval periods. We
have cave temples at Badami when construction of religious places just took
hold in the South. The superbly ornate Chalukya constructions at Pattadakal and
Aihole blending Dravida and Nagara styles present the next spurt, Hoysala
temples around Hassan and Mysore showcase the next phase, culminating in
Vijayanagara architecture at Hampi. The Gangas and Kadambas are, of course, not
to be left out of this list. This is ample justification for Karnataka to be
the envy of every state in India. The geography is fascinatingly variable and
delightful. It was on a train journey from Bengaluru to Harihar eight years ago
that I fell in love with Karnataka. This book is a must-have for one who
intends to visit Hoysala temples in and around Hassan, among which Belur and
Halebid are the most famous.
Gerard
Foekema is a Dutch writer of art-history who first visited India in 1976,
purely as a tourist and fell in love with old Indian architecture, both Hindu
and Muslim. His first trip for study purposes was made in 1979, and since then
he has returned to India every two to three years. He has produced two more works
on the same subject, titled Architecture
Decorated with Architecture: Later Medieval Temples of Karnataka, 1000 – 1300 AD
and Chalukya Architecture: Medieval Temples of Northern
Karnataka Built During the Rule of the Chalukya of Kalyana and Thereafter, AD
1000 – 1300. I just had a mild heart attack while searching the price of the latter,
at a whopping Rs. 21,000 in online stores.
This book begins with a
brief history of the Hoysalas. But it is a little too brief, at just 4 pages! The
entire kingdom hardly lasted two centuries from 1100 to 1300 AD, so a full list
of the kings could have been given, in order to familiarize the reader with
their names at least. An introduction to the dedication of the temples to
particular deities is given and a primer on how to identify the god-figures in
sculpture. People who are not familiar with Hindu mythology would find this
extremely useful. Foekema presents the general plan of Hoysala temples,
describing the parts of it, which is surprisingly simple with the help of nice
illustrations. However, the chapter on sculpture, in which the author describes
the sculptural details of the temples, would have been more helpful if a few
diagrams were available along with the text.
What is really appealing to the
tourist is the latter half of the book, narrating the styles of temples at the
most famous sites beginning with Amritapura and ending with Somanathapur,
including those at Belur, Halebid, Nuggehalli and Belavadi. Even though 15
sites are described, some of the equally glorious sites are omitted, like Kondajji
and Anekere. This is not at all a serious issue, but being a complete guide, a few more sites would
have been in order. The structural plan of each temple is presented along with
the description. An impressive collection of 48 monochrome plates are attached
at the end of the book, in sequential order in which they are described. The
glossary is small, but comprehensive for this small title. Bibliography is
included more as a mandatory component for a book of this sort, rather than for
being useful to readers. The sites are also clearly illustrated in an
accompanying map. A good index is helpful for locating the sites speedily as
this book is likely to be taken by hand while visiting the places of
architectural grandeur.
The hard back version is not so rugged
for outdoor duty but gentle use is just about okay. More than anything else, it
presents glimpses from an era when the religious fights between Saivites and
Vaishnava worshipers ebbed and a cultural syncretism was visible in the
intermingling of shrines of both persuasions. Not only is there an almost one
to one correspondence in the number of temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu,
but many of them are housed in the same complex, attesting to the high level of
tolerance that light up Hoysala rule over the dark intervening centuries that
separate us from them.
The book is highly recommended.
Rating: 4 Star
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