Belur - Halebeed : Ancient Engineering
In the past 4 years I have visited Belur and Halebeed more number of times than any other place. Except Mysore. And every time I've been there, I've learned something new. Fascinating place. One could spend days, nay, years studying the two temples and still be enthralled.
My most recent visit was in July ;08 (12th-13th), during the bike ride to Chikmagalur with Vance, Kudz and Jishnu.
For those who came in late : Halebeed and Belur are two temple towns (~ 16kms apart) near Hasan. The temples built by the Hoysala Dynasty in the 12th Century. The temples took more than a 100 years to build. The sculptures are magnificent and painfully elaborate. Knowledge of Indian mythology is required to understand the meaning of the carved figurines. It is rumored that when the Muslim invaders came pillaging in the 16th century, the local rulers covered the entire Belur temple in huge mound of sand to protect it. For those of you who are vastu inclined, the temple is built in accordance to the rules of vatsu, complete with water body in the North-West. The works.
I am no historian, so my versions may be a little skewed. I am not a gifted writer either, so my accounts may not be as vivid as I hope they will be. I advice you to make time and visit these places. That is the only way you can remotely comprehend this splendor from ancient India.
Slip and slide
The figurines that adorn the exterior walls of the temple are not carved into the walls. Neither are they carved on the structural elements directly. Instead, they are carved onto a panel, and this panel fits into the wall. Like a LEGO brick!
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Of course, it isn't exactly like a LEGO brick, maybe wall hanging is a better description. The front of the panels were sculpted and the rear had two hooks. The wall had receptacles where these hooks could fit in. Sounds like a very configurable temple! Wonder if they placed the statues at different locations for different occasions...
In the ancient days, people were not keen on stealing from a temple. You know, face the wrath of God was not what you wanted to do those days. Ever since the figurines started fetching a handsome price in the auction homes of Europe, perhaps the God's wrath idea started sounding like an old wives' tale. And pieces started disappearing with alarming regularity. Such was the severity of the problem, that the Archaeological Survey of India stepped in and cemented the remaining figurines into place.
Take a look at this image. They have connected two slabs of stone, as a carpenter would, using something similar to a sliding dove tail joint. Those slabs must have been heavy. They must have used elephants / mules to do the lifting or pushing. This totally impressed me.
.jpg)
Placement
Again, the placement idea was quite a hit those days. They even took a huge pillar and placed it. Yeah! Placed it. No mortar, no binding agent, just placement. Now, take a pen, and place it vertical on the table. Like that.
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The temple vicinity doesn't experience high winds it seems, and even at the winds the temple experiences, the pillar has been stationary for the past 1000 years. How cool is that! Our guide informed us, that the only thing capable of felling this pillar is an earthquake. Hmm... point to ponder about.
Turning and the lathe.
A lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material so that when abrasive, cutting, or deformation tools are applied to the block, it can be shaped to produce an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis of rotation. It is a bigger and badder version of the pottery wheel. In pottery you place the clay at the center of a wheel. Turn the wheel, and the blob of clay at the center also turns, now while the wheel is turning, you can shape the clay with your fingers into a symmetrical vase or pot or anything else you fancy.
The temple interiors are adorned with several load bearing pillars. No two pillars being alike. In Belur especially, the pillars are cylindrical, i.e. circular in cross section. The surface of these pillars is so smooth, you could be excused for mistaking it for polished metal. Even after all these years you can see your reflection in the dark stone. How did they do that? How did they get that perfect circular cross section? No one had a lathe back then.
The guide informed us that they used an elaborate contraption consisting of a giant pottery wheel, some horses to pull/rotate the wheels and an abrasive. Now let loose your imagination. I can almost drift back in time....
The clamor of chisel on stone fills the hot summer afternoon. Bare chested sculptors sitting in line, leaning over a section. A section they have worked on for more than ten years. Somewhere in the background you hear an elephant trumpet. The sound of protest as he pulls and heaves a massive block of stone. A little closer, you can hear the stomping hooves of an angry horse.
He should have been out in the field, training with the rest of the army. If only he hadn't thrown his rider off during the army selection. Luckily for him, he was still alive. They said hard work would break him in. But what kind of a life was this? All he did was pull. He pulled all day, and he pulled in circles. His life literally revolved around that black stone. When he had started a year and a half back the stone was a mere block. Now, under the watchful eyes of the temple architects, it was slowly taking a circular shape....
Ah... how idyllic life must have been back then. Simpler times, but one must remember the average life span was no more than 35, so i'd be over middle aged by now. :P Anyways, imagine how long it must have taken to get that 10 feet high 3 feet dia pillar into shape. Imagine the amount of coolant that must have been used. Did they use water? did they use some vegetable/animal oil? Questions, questions, and more questions. I can only wonder and speculate. Perhaps one day, some one will show me a blog with the answers, for I am too lazy to read an ancient history book ;) Or, for that matter, even search on google for the answers :)
Ball bearings
As if having cylindrical pillars was not enough, they decided to have a rotating pillar inside the temple as well. Like those revolving book shelf/tower that most book stores seem to sport these days. What did that thing have to do with the temple? For what joy did they install this revolving pillar? Was it a Tibetian Buddhist prayer wheel rip off? I can't even imagine, neither could the guide.
And guess how those things revolved? Its ok. Take a wild guess. Yes sir. Ball bearings. The pillar doesn't turn anymore. Why? Because the ASI damaged the top of the pillar during renovations some time in the early 20th century. So now all that remains is an old story, passed down from one generation to the next, of the revolving pillar. A story you'd want to believe when you see the pillar.
More tid-bits as an when I remember them.... I need some pictures of the circular pillar and the revolving pillar.
The grit and foresight of the Hoysala rulers is something a lot of us can do well to learn. ( I hate to sound preachy! ) It took them three generations to complete these temples, (well, one is still incomplete). The first generation most likely never lived to see the completion of the work they commenced. What motivates one to do such things? I don't know, but it most certainly isn't greed.
The ancient engineering techniques all seem so simple, uncomplicated, yet they have endured a thousand years. A thousand years which has seen the region plunging in and out of chaos, and these structures have seen them all. They will see the future unravel, for longer then any of us will. Humbling thought.
I am no historian, so my versions may be a little skewed. I am not a gifted writer either, so my accounts may not be as vivid as I hope they will be. I advice you to make time and visit these places. That is the only way you can remotely comprehend this splendor from ancient India.
Slip and slide
The figurines that adorn the exterior walls of the temple are not carved into the walls. Neither are they carved on the structural elements directly. Instead, they are carved onto a panel, and this panel fits into the wall. Like a LEGO brick!
.jpg)
Of course, it isn't exactly like a LEGO brick, maybe wall hanging is a better description. The front of the panels were sculpted and the rear had two hooks. The wall had receptacles where these hooks could fit in. Sounds like a very configurable temple! Wonder if they placed the statues at different locations for different occasions...In the ancient days, people were not keen on stealing from a temple. You know, face the wrath of God was not what you wanted to do those days. Ever since the figurines started fetching a handsome price in the auction homes of Europe, perhaps the God's wrath idea started sounding like an old wives' tale. And pieces started disappearing with alarming regularity. Such was the severity of the problem, that the Archaeological Survey of India stepped in and cemented the remaining figurines into place.
Take a look at this image. They have connected two slabs of stone, as a carpenter would, using something similar to a sliding dove tail joint. Those slabs must have been heavy. They must have used elephants / mules to do the lifting or pushing. This totally impressed me.
.jpg)
PlacementAgain, the placement idea was quite a hit those days. They even took a huge pillar and placed it. Yeah! Placed it. No mortar, no binding agent, just placement. Now, take a pen, and place it vertical on the table. Like that.
.jpg)
The temple vicinity doesn't experience high winds it seems, and even at the winds the temple experiences, the pillar has been stationary for the past 1000 years. How cool is that! Our guide informed us, that the only thing capable of felling this pillar is an earthquake. Hmm... point to ponder about.
Turning and the lathe.
A lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material so that when abrasive, cutting, or deformation tools are applied to the block, it can be shaped to produce an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis of rotation. It is a bigger and badder version of the pottery wheel. In pottery you place the clay at the center of a wheel. Turn the wheel, and the blob of clay at the center also turns, now while the wheel is turning, you can shape the clay with your fingers into a symmetrical vase or pot or anything else you fancy.
The temple interiors are adorned with several load bearing pillars. No two pillars being alike. In Belur especially, the pillars are cylindrical, i.e. circular in cross section. The surface of these pillars is so smooth, you could be excused for mistaking it for polished metal. Even after all these years you can see your reflection in the dark stone. How did they do that? How did they get that perfect circular cross section? No one had a lathe back then.
The guide informed us that they used an elaborate contraption consisting of a giant pottery wheel, some horses to pull/rotate the wheels and an abrasive. Now let loose your imagination. I can almost drift back in time....
The clamor of chisel on stone fills the hot summer afternoon. Bare chested sculptors sitting in line, leaning over a section. A section they have worked on for more than ten years. Somewhere in the background you hear an elephant trumpet. The sound of protest as he pulls and heaves a massive block of stone. A little closer, you can hear the stomping hooves of an angry horse.
He should have been out in the field, training with the rest of the army. If only he hadn't thrown his rider off during the army selection. Luckily for him, he was still alive. They said hard work would break him in. But what kind of a life was this? All he did was pull. He pulled all day, and he pulled in circles. His life literally revolved around that black stone. When he had started a year and a half back the stone was a mere block. Now, under the watchful eyes of the temple architects, it was slowly taking a circular shape....
Ah... how idyllic life must have been back then. Simpler times, but one must remember the average life span was no more than 35, so i'd be over middle aged by now. :P Anyways, imagine how long it must have taken to get that 10 feet high 3 feet dia pillar into shape. Imagine the amount of coolant that must have been used. Did they use water? did they use some vegetable/animal oil? Questions, questions, and more questions. I can only wonder and speculate. Perhaps one day, some one will show me a blog with the answers, for I am too lazy to read an ancient history book ;) Or, for that matter, even search on google for the answers :)
Ball bearings
As if having cylindrical pillars was not enough, they decided to have a rotating pillar inside the temple as well. Like those revolving book shelf/tower that most book stores seem to sport these days. What did that thing have to do with the temple? For what joy did they install this revolving pillar? Was it a Tibetian Buddhist prayer wheel rip off? I can't even imagine, neither could the guide.
And guess how those things revolved? Its ok. Take a wild guess. Yes sir. Ball bearings. The pillar doesn't turn anymore. Why? Because the ASI damaged the top of the pillar during renovations some time in the early 20th century. So now all that remains is an old story, passed down from one generation to the next, of the revolving pillar. A story you'd want to believe when you see the pillar.
More tid-bits as an when I remember them.... I need some pictures of the circular pillar and the revolving pillar.
The grit and foresight of the Hoysala rulers is something a lot of us can do well to learn. ( I hate to sound preachy! ) It took them three generations to complete these temples, (well, one is still incomplete). The first generation most likely never lived to see the completion of the work they commenced. What motivates one to do such things? I don't know, but it most certainly isn't greed.
The ancient engineering techniques all seem so simple, uncomplicated, yet they have endured a thousand years. A thousand years which has seen the region plunging in and out of chaos, and these structures have seen them all. They will see the future unravel, for longer then any of us will. Humbling thought.
Amazing post; loved it...
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