House of Clay
Realm of punishment described in a
verse in the Rg Veda(7.89), the earliest
Hindu religious text. As described in this
verse, the House of Clay is a place to
which evildoers—particularly those
guilty of speaking falsely—will be sent
by the god Varuna, who is considered
the guardian of righteousness and cos-
mic order (rta).
As its name indicates, the House of
Clay is a gloomy and joyless place. What
is notable in the original verse is the lack
of any notion of reincarnation (sam-
sara), which later became a central
Indian assumption. At the time it was
seen as an undesirable and permanent
state after death.
House of Lac
In the Mahabharata, the later of the two
great Hindu epics, this is one of the
stratagems through which the epic’s
antagonist, Duryodhana, tries to kill the
five Pandava brothers, who are his
cousins and the epic’s protagonists.
Duryodhana builds the Pandavas a
magnificent palace, without telling
them that it is constructed completely of
lac, a highly flammable substance. After
the Pandavas have settled into the
palace, Duryodhana has his minions set
it on firein an effort to burn them alive.
The Pandavas are saved by the sagacity
of their uncle Vidura, who not only
warns them of the danger, but has con-
structed an underground passage allow-
ing them to escape from the house and a
tunnel to convey them far away without
being discovered. When the house is set
afire, the Pandavas escape through the
tunnel and for some time are safe from
Duryodhana, since they are presumed
to have died in the fire.
Hoysala Dynasty
(11th–14th c.) Southern Indian dynasty
that ranged over the southern part of
the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The capital city was Dorasamudra,
which is now called Halebid.
The Hoysalas were originally hill
chiefs who were vassals to the
Chalukyas (a central Indian dynasty
that ruled from the seventh to eighth
century C.E.), but who became indepen-
dent in 1093. At their peak they ruled
much of the states of Karnataka and
northern Tamil Nadu, but by the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century had seen
their power decline. By the middle of the
century, their kingdom had been
annexed by the Sangamas, whose capi-
tal was at Vijayanagar.
The Hoysalas are most famous for
the magnificent temples they constructed
at the cities of Belurand Halebid, which
are treasure-houses of medieval south-
ern Indian sculpture.Hoysaleshvar Temple
Largest and most magnificent of the
Hoysala temples at Halebid, the
dynasty’s capital city; the temple itself
was built in 1141–1182. The
Hoysaleshvar Temple is dedicated to
the god Shiva, in his form as “Lord of
the Hoysalas.”
Hoysala temples were built from a
particular type of stone—variously
described as chlorite schist, steatite, or
soapstone—that is quite soft when
newly quarried, but gradually hardens
with exposure to air. This initialHoysaleshvar TempleSightseers at the Hoysaleshvar Temple in Halebid.
The temple is known for the detailed and
elaborate stone carvings that ornament its facade.