Nine hundred years ago, a local chieftain took charge of the sword and went on to build a renowned empire that boasted of its brave men, intricate detail-focused artisans, magnificent women and its love for art and culture.
Today, the tribe is well remembered as one that carved itself out of its subordination to the Western Chalukyas and named itself the Hoysala dynasty. And this was the time, in 1117 A.D. as per historical records, that a Hoysala leader – King Vishnuvardhana – decided to embalm the beginning of the glory of this new dynasty and commissioned the construction of the Chennakeshava temple in Belur district of Karnataka. My trip to Belur is nearly a decade old. Yet, when I read that the temple itself has been standing strong for nine centuries now, my decade seems so insignificant that memories of the visit come flooding back. It was the season of pre-monsoon showers when areas around Bangalore are usually blessed with....
