Hassan

This pleasant, busy ad fast developing little town is the obvious overnight base for visits to Belur and Halebid. Belur, on the banks of the Yagachi River, was the Hoysala dynasty’s first capital and continues to be a significant town that is fascinating to explore. The gloriously elaborate Krishna Chennakesavara temple was built over the course of a century from 1116 as a fitting celebration of the victory over the Cholas at Talakad. Halebid is set amid a lush agricultural landscape ringed by distant hills, this isolated site was the Hoysala capital in the 12tha nd 13^th centuries. Today the principal attraction of Halebid is the Hoysaleshvara Temple, begun in 1121 by King Vishnuvardhana, and after some forty years of work was left unfinished. It is no longer known which deities were originally worshipped here, though the double shrine is thought to have been devoted at one time to Shiva and his consort. The sacred Jain pilgrim site of Sravanabelgola, southeast of Hassan and north of Mysore, consists of two hills and a large tank. On one of the hills, Indragiri, stands an extraordinary eighteen metre high monolithic statue of a naked male figure, Gomateshvara. One of India’s largest freestanding sculptures, the 10^th century statue is reached by a flight of about 700 steps after a strenuous climb.