Hoysala art, through the lens

Historian Chitra Madhavan spoke of the architectural uniqueness of the Hoysala temples.

February 26, 2015 08:40 pm | Updated 08:44 pm IST

The Belur Temple.

The Belur Temple.

The Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid in Karnataka, were the focus of an illustrated lecture at the C.P. Arts Centre. The photographs used were taken by G. S. Sesha Rajan, who modestly said that he was not a professional photographer. But his photographs had captured the beauty and the intricate detailing of Hoysala art so well, that seeing the pictures was like being at the temples. Historian Dr. Chitra Madhavan gave a talk on ‘The Splendours of Belur and Halebid: The Art of the Hoysalas.’

Chitra gave some well known facts, as for example, the legend behind the Hoysala emblem, Queen Santala being a Jain, etc. She said that just as there were Madanikas at the Belur temple, there were Madanikas at the Warangal temple built by the Kakatiyas, who were contemporaries of the Hoysalas. The Madanikas of Belur display 600 hairstyles! Chitra drew attention to the idea of fertility associated with the sala tree.

The 644 elephants carved around the base of the Belur temple differ from each other in some respect. An image of Ugra Narasimha, seated on Garuda and tearing up Hiranyakasipu, is a rarity seen only at Belur.

Vishnu can be sculpturally represented in one of 24 forms- Chaturvimsati murthis, based on which hand of his holds the mace, conch, discus and lotus. Each of these representations is called by one of the names used to praise Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranama.

The lecture abounded in adjectives to describe the superlative quality of the sculptures and the architecture. To use adjectives such as ‘splendid’ or ‘fantastic’ about the temples, is to state the obvious. Of course, they are splendid.

But what made them so? Art appreciation is about trying to fathom the foundation of the art - what made the artists do what they did, and in the way in which they did. Art appreciation is about inference and interpretation. When one talks about the splendour of Hindu art and architecture, one needs to go beyond mere superficialities.

Ananda Coomaraswamy, for example, said that Indian sculpture was not patterned after any ‘living model.’ Writing about Hindu art, Percy Brown spoke of an “unending array of imagery, steeped in symbolism.” What is the symbolism behind the sculptures and the architectural features shown in the photographs? This was not brought out in Chitra’s lecture.

Fergusson, Havell, Coomaraswamy, Stella Kramrisch and Alice Boner have all written extensively about Indian art. One may or may not agree with one or any of them. But shouldn’t a talk on the splendour of temples present their theories in the context of the specific sculptures and architecture being discussed? The lecture lacked in this respect.

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