Keshava Temple –Aralaguppe

The Old Testament there was a physically glorious work which was replaced by a spiritually glorious work. We sea that it was harder for those who saw the previous temple (Kalleswara) to be content when they saw the Chenna Kesava temple in Arasikere.

 

This temple was constructed in 13th century AD during the Hoysala period and its stands on a raised platform (4 feet high Jagati) in the centre of the village.

 
This is Ekakootachala temple a single celled temple, with its star shaped Garbhagriha and tower is of a simple ground plan consisting of an Antarala (vestibule), Navaranga and an entrance Ankana with an entrance porch at east and it fitted with pierced stone windows, which allows subdued light into the temple. The temple follows the contours of the Vimana and has a flight of steps in the front flanked by two miniature towers on each side.

 

A separate shrine is built for Narasimha at south. The wall decorations are as profuse as in any other ornate Hoysala temple the upper half of the wall shows varied forms of miniature towers, turrets on pilasters. The basement of the temple consists of the friezes of rows of elephants, Horses, Scrolls and Depiction of Puranic scenes. The walls are embellished with sculpture of Vishnu in his 24 forms flanked by other secular themes all under Patralata-torana.

The noteworthy sculptures are Naryana, Lakshmi, Dancing Ganesh, Mohini, Shadbuja-Saraswati, Venugopala, Krishna, Lakshmi-Narasimha and Ugra-Narasimha etc. Many of these sculptures have the name of the sculpture as Honnoja inscribed below them.

The Garbhagriha has a beautiful Shikara in 4 tiers of Vesara type. It is decorated with miniature turrets. At the interior the Navaranga has beautiful pillars of Hoysala architectural features. The niches on the walls have sculptures of Ganesh and Mahishamardini. There is also a sculpture of Keshava about 6 feet high. The central celing (Bhuvaneshvari) has a row of Yakshas and sculpture of Narayana flanked by Miniature turrets.

 

The Garbhagriha houses sculpture of Keshava of Hoysala period. The Prabhavali has miniature sculptures of Dasavataras of Vishnu. The pillars that support the navaranga and the ceilings are elaborately worked. The fine workmanship of the pillars is eye-catching.

 

 

 

The Vimana of this temple is in the shape of 16-pointed star and consists of Koota aedicule each one rotated by 22.5 degrees, 45 degrees, and 22.5 degrees successively. The tower of the Vimana with four Talas has a Vedike and Koota roof at the top, which follows the contours of the sanctum below. The top Kalasa is missing.

The Old Testament there was a physically glorious work which was replaced by a spiritually glorious work. We see that it was harder for those we saw the previous temple (Kalleswara) to be content when we saw the Chenna Kesava temple in Arasikere.