TEMPLE AT BELUR. 123 



It is surrounded by four or five smaller ones and several 

 subordinate buildings, all enclosed wdthin the liif^li wall 

 of a court, about 400 feet long, and possessed of two 

 tine gopuras or pagoda shaped gateways. The large 

 temple, the porch, and the pillars are substantially 

 built, but all the other halls and compartments have 

 little to boast of Some of the stone carvings are very 

 beautiful, especially the windows and pierced slabs of 

 the porch, twenty-eight in number, each of a different 

 pattern ; also the base of the Vimiina is elaborately 

 sculptured. The middle of the twelfth century is the 

 period assigned to its erection, although it was only 

 finished two centuries later, after the Mohamedan in- 

 vasion of the Deccan in 1310. Unfortunately, repeated 

 coats of whitewash have in modern times considerably 

 marred the beautiful effect of its details. 



About ten miles from Belur, in a north-easterly 

 direction, is Halabid, the old capital of the Rajput 

 Ballala Rajahs of Mysore, which was destroyed during 

 the Mohamedan conquest, hence the unfinished state of 

 its magnificent temple, of which Sir George Bird wood 

 says, " had it been completed it would have been the 

 noblest example of the Chalukyan style," which is also 

 that of the Belur edifice. This temple of Halabid, dedi- 

 cated to Seva, is raised five or six feet on a terrace ; 



