The wall will not let you move quickly
You arrive expecting a temple. What you find at Belur is a wall that refuses to be seen all at once. The Chennakeshava temple's outer surface is divided into horizontal friezes running the entire circumference, elephants at the base for stability, then horses for speed, then a scroll of foliage, then scenes from the epics, then the figures of women in postures so specific and so unhurried that sculptors from the 12th century seem to have been making a point about attention. The point is: slow down. You are not built for this pace yet.
