BELURKARNATAKA

Belur was a flourishing city under the Hoysala kings some 800 yeas ago. The Belur temple is star-shaped and embellished with gods and goddesses in all their varied aspects and incarnations, as well as scenes from the great Indian epics. The realities of life are also depicted beautifully in the forms of hunters, dancers, musicians and women at their daily toilette. A series of semi-detached pillars and ornamented porches lend variety to the facade; the artistic combination of horizontal and vertical light and shade and the play of silhouettes far surpasses anything in Gothic art.