Belur

Town in the state of Karnataka, about
sixty miles northwest of the modern city
of Mysore. As at its sister site, Halebid,
Belur is known for a magnificent collection of temples built by the Hoysala
dynasty, which ruled western Karnataka
from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries C.E. At both sites the temples were
built from a particular type of stone—
variously described as chlorite schist,
steatite, or soapstone—that was quite
soft when newly quarried but gradually
hardened with exposure to the air. This
initial malleability made the stone easy
to carve and facilitated the lush detail
characteristic of Hoysala temples.
Architecturally speaking, these temples
have certain unique features: a central
hall connecting three star-shaped sanctuaries, and temple towers (shikharas)
composed of well-defined horizontal
tiers rather than the continuous upward
sweep characteristic of the northern
Indian Nagara architectural style.