Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/508

 442 CHALUKYAN STYLE. BOOK IV. In plan it bears a general resemblance to the Somnathpur temple, having three shrines round a hall (Woodcut No. 255), but, as in the Belur temple (No. 257), with projecting entrances to the mandap or porch on both sides as well as on the east front. 1 The roof of the mandap is quite destroyed, probably by Moslim violence, and a miserable covering of tiles replaces it ; but the three vimanas or jikharas are fairly entire, with the Syala. or leogriff emblem of the Hoysala kings seen over the block on the roof, projecting in front of the central spire. Beyond, to the west, is seen part of a ruined temple ; and to the south is the old Nandi pavilion, now also covered with tiles ; and the base of a dhwaja-stambha near the corner of it. These Balagami temples are ascribed to Jakanacharya, the celebrated architect and sculptor of the Hoysala kings, to whom is ascribed also the Halebid, Somnathpur, Mulbagal and, by tradition, many other temples in this region. There are also at Kubbatur, near Balagami, and at Haranhalli, Arasikere, Koravangula, Naglapur, Turuvekere, and other places in Mysore, monuments that await and deserve, more than almost any others, to be fully illustrated. 2 HALEBiD. The earliest temple known to exist at Halebid was a small detached shrine dedicated to Siva as Kedare^vara, 3 and was erected by Vira Ballala and one of his queens, probably about 1219. Its general appearance, nearly forty years ago, will be understood from the next woodcut (No. 260). It was star- shaped in plan, with sixteen points, and had a porch, so entirely ruined and covered up with vegetation that it was difficult to make out its plan. Its roof was conical, and from the base- ment to the summit it was covered with sculptures of the very best class of Indian art, and these so arranged as not materially to interfere with the outlines of the building, while they im- parted to it an amount of richness only to be found among specimens of Hindu art. If this little temple had been illus- trated in anything like completeness, there was probably nothing in India which would have conveyed a better idea of what its architects were capable of accomplishing. But, alas, 1 There is a plan of this Balagami temple and some details in ' Epigraphia Carnatica,' vol. vii. 2 Dr. G. Le Bon remarks : ' Si jamais il m'arrive de retourner dans 1'Inde, je ferai certainement une etude speciale du Mysore. Cette region, presque vierge, offrira surement une abondante moisson au explorateurs. ' ' Les Monuments de 1'Inde,' p. 173. 3 This has been erroneously called Kaite^var and Kaitabhejvara by some writers. 'Mysore Gazetteer,' vol. i. p.