Nuggehalli
Next
day morning, I took a bus to Nuggehalli and the plan was to walk to Didaga and
then to Naglapura, a total distance of 20 or so Kilometers. The Nuggehalli
temples, once pure breed Hoysala style have been augmented with later day
construction.
Next
day morning, I took a bus to Nuggehalli and the plan was to walk to Didaga and
then to Naglapura, a total distance of 20 or so Kilometers. The Nuggehalli
temples, once pure breed Hoysala style have been augmented with later day
construction. But, those temples are also monument to their erstwhile glory.
The place must have had more importance in earlier days, compared to what it
has been reduced to now.
The
Laxminarasimha temple, the one closer to the bus station was not open yet. I
had to go around the temple. It has a façade and pillars of Hampi period. There
were other smaller structures with ‘not Hoysala’ written all over. But the main
temple structure, its sculptures, the theme, the grammar of platform etc were
unmistakably Hoysala.
 |
| Lakshmi Narayana temple - Nuggehalli |
The
other temple too had non-Hoysala mark all over. The pillars were made of
granite and unlike the lathed, stubby Hoysala ones, they were tall with square
base that were rose as four cylinders to the ceiling. Unique but not Hoysala.
The main temple was indeed Hoysala and it is evident that the Hampi Kings had
‘renovated’ the temple post Hoysala period. The fact that two temples were
renovated signifies the importance the place had centuries ago. There were
other interesting non-Hoysala style pillars, one in which the design on the
pillar played a pleasing light and shade effect. I saw another one of the same
style in Belagola.
I
moved on towards Naglapura. The lesson I had learnt the previous days was this;
to move into the smaller villages because all of them are connected with each
other invariably. This is another feature that needs to be evaluated in a
different historical light. The weather and topography in India was conducive
to integration of people across villages, towns and kingdoms.
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