The Hoysala Temples of Belur and Halebidu

The Hoysalas built in chlorite schist, a stone soft enough to work like wood and hard enough to hold the detail afterwards, and their temples at Belur and Halebidu are the result. Both sit on star-shaped platforms, low and wide rather than tall, and both are wrapped in continuous friezes: a row of elephants, then horsemen, then foliage, then scenes from the epics, running the whole way round. Bracket figures of dancers and musicians lean out under the eaves, carved almost free of the wall behind them. Belur's Chennakeshava temple is still in daily worship and busy with it; Halebidu's Hoysaleswara temple is not, and its towers were never finished, which leaves it flat-topped and odd.

What you actually see

• The wall friezes - stacked bands of elephants, horsemen and narrative scenes circling both temples.
• The bracket figures - dancers and musicians carved nearly in the round under the eaves at Belur.
• The lathe-turned pillars - polished stone columns inside, cut to look machine-made.
• The star-shaped plan - the pointed platform outline that gives the walls their many faces.

When to go

October to February is dry and mild, and the region is green after the monsoon. Morning light works better at Belur, afternoon at Halebidu, which is the natural order for the day. Belur is an active temple, so it closes in the middle of the day and gets crowded at festival times. The two are about sixteen kilometres apart.

Honest expectations

Shoes must be left outside and the platform stone gets hot underfoot at Belur. The carving is so dense and so small that without binoculars or a guide much of it just registers as texture. Halebidu's unfinished towers disappoint people expecting a spire. Hassan, the practical base, is a dull town, and reaching both without a car is awkward.

Nearby

The monolithic Jain statue at Shravanabelagola is about an hour away and is often added to the same trip.