Belur, Karnataka, India - Info by Sundar Palaniappan

Capital town of Hoysalas - Belur

Belur is the small town located in the Hassan district of Karnataka, India and located 38 km from the town of Hassan. Belur was the early capital of Hoysalas who ruled entire Karnataka between 10th and 14th centuries.

The main attraction of Belur is the Chennakeshava temple complex which is dedicated to lord Chennakeshave ( the charming Vishnu ) and the temple was built to commemorate the victory of Hoysalas over the Cholas.

The temple complex is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture.

The royagopuram at the entrance of the complex was constructed by the Vijayanagar kings, whom considered the deity at Chennakeshava as their family god.

It took more than one hundred years to complete the temple complex and king VishnuVardhana's grandson Veera Ballala II completed the task in Ad 1206.

The Chennakeshava temple is built using soap stone with very intricate carvings and its sanctum is of the stellar shape with zigzag wall arrangements.

The outer wall of the temple is adorned with taller figures of 24 manifestation of lord Vishnu

List of temples in the complex

Chennakeshava temple: Dedicated to lord Vishnu

Kappe Chennigaraya temple: Dedicated to lord Vishnu.

Soumyanayaki temple: According to the inscriptions the original tower which was damaged was got repaired in 1387 by Muddappa a minister under Vijayanagara king Harihara II and a metal kalasa or finial was fixed on it.

VeeraNarayana temple: Is a small and compact structure with the outer walls containing beautiful sculptures of vaishnava and shaiva faith. The outer walls of the temple consists images of Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Parvati, Saraswathi, Ganesha, Bhairava, Mahishasuramardhini and others.

Andal ( Ranghanayaki ) temple: Dedicated to goddess Ranghanayaki.

Quick facts

....photo gallery of Belur