Chennakeshava Temple –Hullekere

 

A small village in Arasikere Taluk has a dilapidated Channakeshava Temple. A neat structure and fine specimen of Hoysala architecture was built in 1163AD. Chennakeshava temple here stands majestically bearing testimony to the skills of architects of Hoysala era. When we reached the village the temple was closed and there was no entry to go inside the temple.

 

Though we enquired some villagers but to our bad luck priest and his family were away from home and they forgot to give the Temple Key to their Neighbor’s house. Already we had wasted enough time so our teammate Ashok found one small Ladder & he climbed the compound with its support and I also followed him and we climbed the compound which was 10 feet height.

 

Against our strong will and great enthusiasm all problems turned as ecstasy. We were able to get some great rare shots of the temple which was never taken before. We succeed to capture beautiful upper panel arts in very clear and close distance.

 

The height of the ladder was a problem for Rajesh Sir but he succeeded by bring another bigger ladder from the villagers with the help of our driver and finally he also joined us with great effort and it helped us to climb-down to the inside part of the temple. We pulled up the ladder and laid it on the other side of the compound wall; all descended inside the compound.

The temple was smaller in size but with full gem of arts. Some statues faces were damaged but upper part and the ceiling design was pleasing to the eye. At the main entrance there are two mammoths and a huge inscription in stone.

 

 

The Garbagriha doorway is beautiful carved. The Navaranga has eight elegantly carved niches with Dwarapalakas at the sides. All the ceilings of the temple show elegant workmanship. The ceiling panels inside the temple are a treat to watch, especially the central one. There are also fine figures of Vishnu alternating with well executed turrets and pilasters.

 

Even though the sculptural features on the surfaces of the outer walls are not much, there are 12 forms of Vishnu on the southern side and the 12 remaining forms on the northern side. On the west there are the sculptural works of Dharani-Varaha. Over the head of the temple there is an attractive Shikhara. In the Shikhara the special feature of Sala's brave posture is incorporated as the main symbol of the Hoysalas.

The architecture of this temple is superb in every way the fertility of the design, the thorough finish, the richness of ornamentation and the elaboration of details are unparalleled. It appears as though the hard stone had turned out to be pieces of vax in the hands of these master craftsmen.

The village also has historical temples of Saptamatrikes, Iswara and Anjaneya but we missed them.