The Dancing Queen • 11th Century
Hoysala Dynasty
Belur, Halebidu, Shivagange
“This is the most famous sculpture of the Chennakeshava temple,” says the guide, pointing at a voluptuous dancer, etched in the ceiling of the entrance. “Shantala built the surrounding spaces of this temple. She was a genius at mathematics and a gifted dancer and musician.”
Shantala, the talented daughter of a general in the Hoysala kingdom, was the main queen of Vishnuvardhana, King of the Hoysala Empire. Her figure recurs itself repeatedly in the world famous Belur temple, in Karnataka – one of the nest creations of the Hoysala Kingdom, built in 1117 CE.
Stories say that when King Vishnuvardhana first saw her dance, he instantly fell in love with her. However Shantala refused the marriage, insisting that she had danced for him with her best friend Lakshmi, and maintaining that she was a Jain, while the king, a Vaishnava. To appease her, Vishnuvardhana married not only her and Lakshmi, as co-wives, but five other girls from the same community, while allowing Shantala to keep her faith. Appointed as his main queen, Shantala helped Vishnuvardhana in the administration of the kingdom, building several temples all around their capital city of Belur.
However after many years of marriage, Shantala remained unable to conceive a male heir for the kingdom. Despite her appeals, Vishnuvardhana refused to denounce her or assign Lakshmi, pregnant at the time, as his main queen. Unable to find peace with this and torn by the fact that she couldn’t conceive, Shantala is rumored to have committed suicide by jumping off Shivaganga, a tall hill near Bangalore, now railed and protected as “Shantala Drop”.
The dancing girl and Hoysala queen, remains revered by the people of Belur as Shantala Devi; goddess who protects the Belur temple, continuing to shield it for generations to come.