Three Hoysala-era temples in Karnataka were inscribed into the UNESCO’s World Heritage List on September 18, 2023, under the collective entry of ‘Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas’. The announcement was made during the World Heritage Committee’s 45th session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This inscription has made the holy temple trinity, the Hoysala Temples of Belur, Halebid, and Somnathapura, the 42nd World Heritage Site in India. Hoysala temples have been on the UNESCO tentative list since 2014 and 2019. The Department of Archaeology, Museums of the Karnataka government had been asked by the Bengaluru chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to work on the nomination dossier. India had submitted the nomination dossier for the Hoysala temples in January 2022. These temples serve as an evidence to India’s vast cultural and historical legacy.
About the Hoysala Temples
While there are hundreds of Hoysala-era temples, the temples of Belur, Halebid, and Somnathapura are famous for their exceptional Hoysala art. The Belur temple has 46 pillars and except the four in the central bay, all the other pillars have a different variety of complex designs. Shantala Devi, the queen of the ruler Vishnuvardhana, who had built the temple, has been sculptured as Darpana Sundari in the temple. The Kesava temple in Somanathapura temple has been built in the shape of a 16-pointer star and has three shrines dedicated to Keshava, Janardhana, and Venugopala. The Hoysaleswara temple in Halebid has immense sculptures over the exterior of the temple. It serves as a repository of religious thought expressed in plastic form. Helebid temple was ruined when it was raided by Malik Kafur, who was the then General of the Delhi Sultan, Alauddin Khalji.
The Chennakeshwara temple of Belur is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It was built around 1117 CE by the famous Hoysala King, Vishnuvardhana, who had built the shrine to mark his victories over the Cholas. This temple is also called the Vijaya Narayana temple. It is a living temple with an area of 1.59 hectares of temple complex land.
The Keshava temple of Somanathapura is a Vaishnava shrine, and was built around 1260 CE by Somanatha, a general of Hoysala King Narasimha III. Several artefacts are displayed in the open ground of the temple that is enclosed by a multi-celled prakaara. The area of the temple complex is 1.88 hectares.
The temple at Halebid, the Hoysaleswara temple estimated to be built in the 12th century is believed to be the largest Shiva temple built by the Hoysalas. It is located at the banks of the Dorasamudra tank. Halebid has many protected and unprotected temples, archaeological ruins, and mounds. The town was protected by the remnants of the fort and gateways. The area of the temple complex is about seven hectares.
UNESCO on the Sacred Ensembles of Hoysala
UNESCO World Heritage website has described the Sacred Ensembles of Hoysala as a serial property which encompasses the three most representative examples of Hoysala-style temple complexes in southern India, dating from the 12th to the 13th centuries. The Hoysala style incorporates a variety of contemporary temple features including those from the past. This helped them in creating a different identity from their neighbouring kingdoms.
The Hoysala dynasty ruled the state of Karnataka from 10th to 14th century. The dynasty began as provincial governors under the Western Chalukyas. The Western Chalukyas and the Cholas were the two dominant empires in the South; however, they slowly crumbled by the 10th century. This paved the way for the Hoysalas to establish their empire. The Belur and the Halebidu or Dwarasamudra temples are located in cities that served as the capital of Hoysalas.
Architecture of Hoysala Temples
Hoysala style is a blend of wide-range of styles. It is taken from the Bhumija style of central India, Nagar traditions of northern India, and the resplendent Karnataka Dravida style. The architects of Hoysala temples have manifested their knowledge of different temple-building traditions differently in the three temples. The temples had multi-tiered friezes and large-scale sculptural galleries. They were built on star-shaped circumambulatory platforms. There was no intricate detailing in the early Hoysala temples that were made from granite stones. These temples of Hoysala were built during the peak of the Hoysala empire. In these temples, carvings were made from soapstone, which is a soft stone on which carvings could be done easily. Elaborate, ornamental, and delicate work was done by the sculptors in these temples and the sculptures looked hyper-real with complex hairstyles, clothing, and jewellery. The walls and pillars have rich narrative and descriptive dimensions. Hoysala sculptors also left their signatures on the works of art they had carved, like Malloja, Maniyoja, Dasoja, and Malitamma. Apart from the demonstration of the superior skills of the sculptors, these temples also narrate the tale of the politics that shaped them.
Another special feature of Hoysala architecture is its unique confluence of styles. It is a combination of three distinctive styles, namely, the mainstream Dravidian architecture represented in the Pallava and Chola temples; the variant of the Dravida style called the Vesara style, seen in the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta temples and the Nagara style seen in the North Indian temples.
Another interesting feature of Hoysala temples is that these Vaishnava and Shaivya shrines were built during that time when Jainism was prominent in the region. So, these temples marked a turn towards Hinduism.
Other Buildings of Hoysala Period
There are no other surviving monuments of the Hoysala period, like palaces or forts. This remains a mystery of the early medieval and medieval non-Islamic world, because the buildings were built in neither mud nor brick nor wood, nor stone. Only some ruins of Hampi still survive in the form of architecture.
Significance of UNESCO Recognition
The designation of these three Hoysala temples in the UNESCO World Heritage list would help gain attention for the other Hoysala temples in the region. The designation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site has also increased the expectation of tourism and revenue in the region. Further, if a site is listed in the UNESCO Heritage List, it gains international recognition and legal protection. Also, it gets funding from the World Heritage Fund to facilitate its conservation under certain conditions.
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