Friday April 10 was "Good Friday" and it was also a Holiday here in Bangalore. We decided to make an overnight trip to the 3rd major Hoysala Temple in the region and also see a couple places in Mysore that we missed the last time (You can read about Halebid and Belur temples in our Feb. report and Mysore from December, 2008.)
We left Bangalore about as early as we could on Friday morning. We made one short stop along the Mysore road for some coffee and a bathroom. We noticed an awful lot of people stopping and suspected that Mysore might be crowded with tourists taking the long weekend off. We turned off the Mysore road to take some smaller and much poorer roads to end up at Somnathpur. It is a small town and the temple is protected by a wall and security people who try to prevent vandalism and theft. It was getting hot by the time we arrived around 11AM. We paid the large fee that foreigners pay compared to Indians,
though some friends said that if we carry our registration papers with us we might get the low rate paid by Indians. Still, it was just $2 each. We paid for Joseph, our driver, too, as he has some interest in history. Once inside we were immediately approached by a very nice fellow who offered himself up as a guide. Having learned from our experience at Belur, and noticing that he had a sort of official looking badge, we agreed to his service. We should have asked the fee right away, but did not. At the end he told us it was 350 Rs (about $7), which we felt was worthwhile and we tipped him extra too.The Guide's name was Ramakrishna, which he told us are two of the thousand or so names for Vishnu (Rama and Krishna)- and this temple was made for Vishnu. He said that the three major Hindu male Gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three primary female ones are P...., Lakshmi and S.... - we may add the primary names later. They also each have many names and many incarnations.
We walked around the perimeter walls where we saw 64 small temples that are mostly empty because the statues were stolen or otherwise removed long ago.
The temple was built in 1268. Since he said it took 64 years to build we don't know if that is the starting date or finishing date.Next we walked around the outside of the temple. It was about 11:30 and quite hot in the sun. The outside is decorated with thousands of small and large sculptures- like Halebid and Belur. There are 6 rows of small sculptures all around the base of the temple that show elephants, stories from history, stories of gods and other things.
At last we went inside and were surprised to find it very hot and while we walked around outside a large group of young women had entered the temple. The inside was duller than the other temples- partly because it is much smaller. There are 3 shrines inside- each has a different incarnation of Vishnu. The main one was "Keshava", but this one was destroyed or damaged long ago and has been replaced. The guide said that when the main image has been damaged, then temple normally
is "decommissioned" and no longer used for worship. Such is the case here. Photos are permitted, though we wonder why it is still necessary to take shoes off before entering. There are some very nice ceiling carvings inside, but it was so hot we did not stay long.We took the rough road on to Mysore. We had Lunch at the Lalitha Palace Hotel- a grand old place but a bit expensive. We then to the Cauvery store- this is the government crafts emporium. It was a little disappointing. We then went to find a woodworking shop we heard about. We had spoken to the owner a couple weeks earlier about coming to visit and finally found the place. The owner is of European origin and he came to Mysore becase they have an industrial based for doing wood inlay work- marquetry. He showed us some spectaular work they were doing and gave us a short lesson in the history of the art. We were very tired and went to our hotel for the rest of the night.
On Saturday Morning we got a late start, but went to the Jaganmohan Palace that was used by the Maharaja as an auditorium or something. It is now a sort of art museum, which houses mainly art of more modern origin plus a lot of interesting and unusual objects like mechanical music devices, clocks , weapons, games, toys, dishes and musical instruments. Since it was a bit late, it was also hot inside. Janet left early while Jim prowled around a bit more. We left the place and considered leaving for home since it was hot. However, we went to a craft shop that is air conditioned instead. It is a place we visited the last time and has very nice things. They are generally reasonably priced, but maybe a bit more expensive than you might find if you searched hard. We had fun looking and they gave us soft drinks and some pizza for lunch.
We finally left Mysore about 4PM- perhaps an hour later than we might have wished. The ride back to Bangalore was ok until we go to the city limits, then it was awful for about 45 minutes. However, we arrived home safely and found Ziggy and Zoe in good spirits and happy to see us.
Overall we were disappointed in Somnathpur compared to Halebid and Belur. It is a more complete temple- with the tall "towers" on it that are missing from the other places, but the stone carving seemed a bit less intricate and in worse repair. It is also smaller. However, it was good to see this gem. It was also nice that there were few people there- except for the large group of young college or high school girls. The season is turning hot and this temple is a bit out of the way. So, those things probably helped keep it peaceful.
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