Context

Recently, the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, which includes three temples in Karnataka, has been inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

• With this several other sites has also been nominated to get included in the list.

About the recent nominations:

• At the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the UNESCO has released a tentative list of sites.
• The Hoysala Temples will be India’s 42nd UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal, was also included as a world heritage site.
  
  

The Hoysala Temples:

• The Hoysala Temples, built in the 12th and 13 centuries by the Hoysala kings, are dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.
• The three temples include;
  • The Chennakeshava temple, the main temple in the complex at Belur (Hassan district), located at the centre of the traditional settlement
  • The Hoysaleswara Temple on the banks of Dwarasamudra tank in Halebidu (Hassan district), and
  • The Keshava Temple at the centre of Somanathapura village (Mysore district).

• The excellence of the sculptural art underpins the artistic achievement of these temple complexes, which represent a significant stage in development of Hindi architecture.

Hoysala Kingdom:

• The Hoysala rulers ruled over parts of Southern India from the parts of Southern India from the 11th Century to the 14th Century.