Ganesha - at Dwarasamudra

Dwarasamudra is the name of the town that is now called Halebidu. It was the capital of the Hoysala Empire, in the 12th Century.

Ganesha
Hoysaleshwara Temple
Halebidu (Dwarasamudra)
 

Halebidu is very famous for the Hoysala time temples, which had exquisite sculptures and workmanship. Some of the temples were destroyed and others were damaged. Of those that have survived, Hoysaleshwara temple and Kedareshwara temple in this town, are exquisite, and parts are quite well preserved.

In this first post, I would like to highlight one such sculpture - that of a Ganesha Relief work, on the South wall of Hoysaleshwara temple. The south entrance to this twin-temple (two main deities, Hoysaleshwara and Shantaleshwara, both Shivalinga forms, named after the King and Queen of the empire), is considered a Royal entrance, leading to the bigger sanctum of Hoysaleshwara lingam.

To our left of the entrance, as we go towards it, next to the Dwarapalaka (gatekeeper), are two superb carvings of Karthikeya sitting on his vahana, a peacock, and Ganesha standing (or dancing) on his vahana, a mouse (shrew).

Most of the reliefs, friezes and sculptures have been done on single-stone pieces. The workmanship shows the imagination, design, planning, skill and execution of the art work. Multiple parts of the entire sculpture have been carved out keeping entire picture accurate with respect to proportions, positions and detail.

Crown of Ganesha

I would like to highlight the intricate details designed for the crown and jewels of Ganesha.

👈Multiple rows of work in the crown

👈Standard lion symbol (Yali) - middle jewel

👈Beads in the jewels and symmetry in the work done

👈Serrations in the patterns

Jewels, Snake, Toes

Next, we can look at the details covered with respect to the dress, the ornamentation of the dress, etc.

 👉A detail garland /ornament carving, probably representing the big decorations on elephants, hanging on the right side and curving at the bottom

👉Short necklace with ornaments

👉Long necklaces off beads

👉A Snake wrapped around the sacred thread

👉Attention to detail in the carving of the toes of Ganesha

Mouse (Shrew) and its details

Thirdly, but not the least, the attention to detail of the depiction of the mouse.

👉Ornaments, decoration, and even a saddle/ sheet on the mouse.

👉Detail work in depicting Ganesha's toes, nails, etc.

👉The mouse has mouth open - the guides all point to this stating that the weight of Ganesha is making it moan - as supposedly imagined by the sculptor.

👉The weight falling on the rear of the mouse, is shown with rear leg pressing down on the ground even, which seems to have been depressed.

The entire temple was supposed to have taken many decades to develop. It was not complete, when the Delhi Sultanate attacked and brought the empire under its control. Many temples, structures were destroyed in those times, and some of the destructive effects, as well as incomplete works can be seen.

It is unfortunate that even during time of British rule, and immediately after independence, more damage was inflicted, either by occupiers / out of ignorance or some even out of malice.

See Wikimedia Commons for more photographs

If one were to stop and take in the detail works in each of these temples, it would probably take us days for each temple and weeks to cover each city/town in each area of India. These pictures, blogs, available videos, etc., cannot do justice to what the work can do to our hearts & minds, when we see them in person.