Was a bit late in getting up and the idli-vadas don’t really count as breakfast in my dictionary, so picked up some fruits. It was 9:30 am when I boarded the Hassan bus, a traffic cop kind enough to direct me at the KSRTC bus stand. The bus left within 10 minutes, and was soon filled up as we slowly pulled out of the city limits. I settled in to enjoy the 156 km ride to Hassan, which I reckoned would take us not more than 3 hours (eventually ended up after a little over 4.25 hours to Belur). The people were really sensitive to the weather; I was in jeans today just to account for the coldness should rains come later in the day, and everyone had closed their windows. If it wasn’t hot enough that the people had to complement it with their total lack of deodorant knowledge. I persuaded my fellow rider to open the window somehow.
The going was slow as the road had a lot of slopes outside the city, and the bus was going slowly over these. There were a couple of 10 minute stops at some towns before the bus finally came to Belur at 1:45 in the afternoon. Didn’t see any bus stand, the bus had simply stopped for 10 seconds at a corner petrol pump, and I jumped out after confirming that it was in fact Belur. It had started raining just 15 minutes before I reached here, I don’t know how the rain gods keep blessing me only. So took an auto who charged me 20 bucks for the 2-3 km to the main temple – Chenakeshava. If one wants then they can also take the KSTDC tour from Mysore which takes one to Belur and Halebidu, costs somewhat like 500 bucks, but I really don’t like being told to hurry up and check out a place I like in an hour, so I chose to chart it out myself.
The temple was certainly worth the trip, exquisite carvings which kept me clicking regardless of the falling rain. I had read that this temple took more than a century to build, and i could see why! Even the pillars have different circular patterns, each one holding its own distinct feature. So many deities on the walls, of course I couldn’t name any of them, but I could make out the differences in the features in each one of them. Inside the main temple there is a large golden colored multi headed cobra, and lots of other statues (photography prohibited sadly). The central area inside the main temple has a ceiling of black stone carvings which could only be seen fully with the aid of a strong torchlight affixed on the ground. I stepped out into the rain clicking like a maniac all the different statues which certainly did hold me in awe. Outside the temple is a cart with wooden carvings which I found quite nice. Thankfully the rain had letup a bit by now, so I proceeded to the bus stand where I enquired about the bus to Halebidu and boarded it along with the locals.
The green field and the hills were certainly looking very attractive, but I was on a tight schedule here. The bus dropped me off at the Halebidu bus stand (its right next to the Hoysaleshawara temple at the end of the bazaar line in the town) 25 minuts later. Again, this place was filled with intricate carvings on the walls, animals, warriors, gods, birds, dancers, chariots, everything depicted in perfect symmetry. There are two large bull statues next to the main temple which look quite good. This place was a bit crowded as a group of foreign tourists had just landed with their tour guide. The temple compound also had a nicely maintained garden which had been washed with the rains in the morning. There’s also a small open air museum within the compound holding a lot of statues, no photography here too.
I enquired the shopkeepers in Hindi as to where the jain temple were, which was a further 400 meters onward, you pass a school on your right on this road, and get some glimpses of rural life with the small shops. The jain temple had big Buddha statues inside while I found the architecture on the walls and pillars not as impressive as the last 2 places I had just seen. The road was now passing between a light tree cover on both sides and was deserted, so I asked the caretaker if there was anything else ahead, he told me an old Siva temple, so I set out for it. I’m glad I did, its not visible from the Jain temple, and is about 300 meters away, situated next to a big pond. It was completely deserted at 5 in the evening, and I proceeded to take snaps of the various sculptures in this amazing temple. Met just a foreigner in this time who was backpacking across India, and seemed to have ventured out this far as well.
I finished all my sightseeing by 6, and started off for the bus stand. I got a bus for Hassan, no direct buses to Mysore from here. The bus started at around 6:30 pm, and the rickety 31 km road trip to Hassan took almost an hour. In the dark, raining environment, I asked around for the Mysore bus, and boarded the right one. My concern now was that the trip would take even longer than in the morning in the rain and darkness, and it’d be close to midnight by the time I get back to Mysore. I did not want to traverse around an unknown city at that time, without food in my belly! And to top it all there was a 20 minute delay as there was an accident on the road in front of us. Surprisingly the bus ran quite fast, and I was in Mysore by 10:20 pm only. I picked up a couple of fruits and pastries from an open shop just in case I couldn’t get anything to eat. The night air, mixed with the slight rain was quite refreshing, and I ended the day with a masala dosa at my room, thankfully still available this late!
Maybe a bit hectic, but certainly a place I wouldn’t have wanted to miss on my trip. The temples were nothing like I had seen before, and the journey, well I guess I live for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment