Did you know that the Lakshminarayana temple at Hosaholalu in Mandya district is considered one of the ornate examples of Hoysala architecture built in the 13th century built by King Vira Someshwara of the Hoysala Kingdom?
The Lakshminarayana temple at Hosaholalu in Mandya district of Karnataka is a well preserved Trikutachala or three - celled temple of Hoysala architecture, built using Soapstone (chloritic schist). The shrine and the tower over it, called a Vimana, follow a stellate design style. The temple was built in 1250 A.D. during the reign of King Vira Someshwara ( (1234–1263) of Hoysala Kingdom. Hoysalas were a medium sized kingdom who ruled in Karnataka from 12th to 13th centuries. The sophisticated architectural style adopted by the Hoysala rulers for building temples of Vishnva and Shaiva tradtitons was based on the rich tradition that already existed in Southern India called the Dravida traditon of temple architecture which had emerged in southern India during the 6th and 7th centuries. The Vaishnava temples were intially influenced by the sage Ramanuja who converted the first ruler of Hoysalas, Bittideva of Jain denomination into Vaishnavism and renamed him as Vishnuvardhana.
Though called a trikuta shrine (vimana) the temple has only the central shrine with a tower (superstructure or Shikhara) on top. The two lateral shrines have been merged into the ranga-mandapa (a pillared hall or navaranga) towards the east, which are are square in construction with five projections and no special features. The interior of the temple consists of a closed hall (navaranga) of modest size with four polished lathe-turned pillars supporting the roof. The four central pillars, lathe tuned and polished divide the hall into nine equal 'bays' (compartments) and nine decorated ceilings. Each pillar is beautifully carved with sculptures of young dancing girls in various graceful and elegant poses. The main shrine is dedicated Lakshmi Narayana, the southern shrine is dedicated to Venugopala, and the northern one to Lakshmi Narasimha; all forms (Avatar) of Vishnu.
The adhisthana or Jagati or basement of this temple, rising to a height of 4.5 feet (1.4 m), in a stellar layout, has panels of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. as seen sculpted in layers of decorative moldings. Jagati extends well beyond the main shrines of the temple on all sides, thus providing an integrated pradakshinapatha (circumambulation passage)
The midsection of the temple is richly decorated with sculptures of various Gods, incarnations of Lord Vishnu, dancing Saraswathi, Brahma, Ganapathi, Yoga - Madhava, and many other deities.
There are 120 wall images in total and 6 strips of running frieze around the three sides of the temple. Nearly all of the images are Vaishnava. Among them are 24 depictions of Vishnu standing straight, showing all 24 permutations of the position of his four attributes of a conch, a wheel, a lotus and a mace.
The temple also includes panels from Shaivism and Shaktism, such as one of Mahisasuramardini stamping on the buffalo-demon.
The temple of the ornate type is amzingly complete with traditional decorations but sans a kalasa and a Hoysala crest.
The art critic Gerard Foekema, had noted that that the temple as a whole exhibits the "new style" and belongs to the 2nd phase of Hoysala building activity (13th century), with two sets of eaves, and six moldings at the base of the outer wall. The first eave is located where the superstructure meets the temple outer wall and the second eave runs around the temple and about a metre below the first eave. In between the two eaves are decorative miniature towers on pilasters (called Aedicule), with sculptured wall images of Hindu deities and their attendants below the second eave.
Lakshmi Narayana Temple at Hosaholalu is at a distance of 16 km from Kikkeri, 25 km from Melukote, 26 km from Shravanabelagola, 55 km from Mysore, and 69 km south east of Hassan.
-Narasipur Char
