Monday, January 14, 2013

Chennakesava Temple Panorama, Somanathapura

I had not visited this place only because of the fact that this place is always crowded. Just like Belur and Halebidu, this place attracts too many tourists. Last week, I had an opportunity to visit this masterpiece on a weekday and absolutely enjoyed the visit. Although there were only a few people (mostly foreigners), thanks to the school (supposed to be educational) trips, within no time the place got crowded. 

Somanathapura is a town located 35 km from Mysore city in Mysore district, Karnataka, India. Somanathapura is famous for the Chennakesava Temple (also called Kesava or Keshava temple) built by Soma, a dandanayaka (commander) in 1268 CE under Hoysala king Narasimha III, when the Hoysalas were the major power in South India.The Keshava temple is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture and is in a very well preserved condition. The temple is in the care of the Archeological Survey of India as a protected heritage site. (source: Wikipedia)

(Click on the photographs for the enlarged view)

All the epic stories that you know are on the walls!

Chennakesava Temple, Somanathpur

I was amazed to see those intricate carvings. The best of all.

Carvings on the walls

Gopura and its stories

Every story has a wall here and the viceversa


Panorama of the Chennakesava temple from the East 

Close up of the carvings on the walls. Absolutely marvellous

(C) Srikanth Parthasarathy

3 comments:

Narasim Katary said...

All the photographs are excellent. The morning light makes the sculptures come alive.

The gopura and its stories is simply magnificent.

We need to enclose the entire compound in a geodesic dome before natural erosion destroys the incredibly beautiful sculptures.

Aravind GJ said...

Beautiful snaps!!

Soujanya said...

the gopuram snap is simply "beautiful" ..... cant stop looking at it... :)