Pankaj Saxena | पंकज सक्सेना Profile picture
Author | Cultural Commentator I Write Threads on Civilizational Issues Co-founder @brhat_in

Aug 30, 2022, 18 tweets

1. The Wonder that is Veer Narayana Temple - a #Hoysala gem at Belavadi.

2. The view of the main temple of the trikuta and the view of the beautiful hamlet of Belavadi from the left vimana housing the vigraha of Venugopala.

3. The largest open mandapa of all Hoysala temples with 108 lathe-turned pillars, none similar. It connects the two lateral shrines of Venugopala and Yoga Narasimha.

4. The vimana of the Venugopala temple of the trikuta. It has tri-tala topped by a dravida kuta at the top.

The architectural idiom of the talas is - kuta-panjara-shala-shala-panjara-shala-shala-panjara-kuta.

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5. The Vesara vimana of the Yoga Narasimha temple of the trikuta. It is the reason it is considered a Vesara temple.

6. View of the Venugopala dravida vimana on the left, with a view of the staggering of the open mandapa of the temple.

7. View of the Narsimhaswamy Vesara vimana and the beautiful agraharam that is around.

8. Another view from the front which gives the appearance of a dvikuta although it is a detached trikuta with three mandapa separating the main temple from the two other front temples.

9. The wonderful articulation detials of the Vesara vimana of Shri Yoga Narasimha.

The central Panjara contains various avatars and leelas of Vishnu like Narsimhaswamy, Kaliyamardana, and many forms of Chaturvimshati Vishnu.

10. Detail of the mandapam parapet of the roof with the central panjara sporting Lakshmi-Vishnu sitting in royal pose.

11. Venugopala Swamy temple view with the view of the staggering of the two mandapams.

12. Mandapam view with the agraharam nearby.

13. The staggered bhitti of the Venugopala vimana sporting many avataras of Vishnu like Venugopala, Buddha, Vamana alongside centrally displaying the Chatuvimshati forms.

14. Rama and Balarama flanking Chaturvimshati Vishnu.

15. The outermost closed gopuram at the temple, a peculiar feature not found at many Hoysala temples.

16. The view of the agraharam from the temple.

17. The elephant guarding the outermost gopuram with the view of the house of the pradhana archaka @PB_Belavadi

18. Another view from the front, something I can never tire from. So this was a brief view into the wonder that is the Veer Narayana Temple, Belavadi.

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