Sculptural tales of a bygone era

I Sesunathan

Known as the ‘Motherland of Hoysala temples’, the Krishnarajapet taluk in Mandya district has a large number of shrines built during the Hoysala period. Among them, the Lakshminarayana temple is well-known for its sculptural splendour.

Situated at Hosabolalu, a tiny village about three kms towards the east of Krishnarajapet, the temple is a fine specimen depicting the glory of Hoysala architecture. The place was once an agrahara, where you can still find the remains of a Hoysala fort that was altered during the Vijayanagar period.

The Lakshminarayana Temple at Hosaholalu is equated with the temples of Somanathapur, Nuggehalli, Javagal, Hirenallur and Aralukuppe for its elaborate sculptural work. Though the date of construction is unknown, historians place the temple to the middle of 13th century, taking into consideration the style of architecture. It is a trikutachala or a three-celled temple built on a star-shaped, raised platform. The main temple rises with in the platform leaving a broad terrace around it which serves as the pradakshinapatha.

The temple has three sanctorums and a navaranga or pillared-hall in the middle. The central sanctorum has the idol of Lakshminarayana, the main deity of the temple, while the other sanctorums consist of Lakshminarasimha and utsava idols.

In the navaranga are lathe-turned pillars, where groups of dancing girls with accompaniments in impressive poses adorn their capitals. The ceilings of the navaranga decorated with fine carvings are noteworthy.

The outer walls of the temple are richly ornamented with the friezes of elephants, horses, scrolls, scenes from epics, capricorns, swans and a number of gods and godesses with their attendants. The scenes from the epics depict stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata. The figures of Yoga-Madhava, Dhanvanthri, Dakshinamurthy, dancing Saraswathi, Kalinga-Mardhana, Para-Vasudeva, dancers and musicians are highly appealing to the eye.

The outer walls of the temple are also decorated with aregambas and aregopuras. There is a five-stepped tower over the central sanctorum. The arrangement made over the roof of the temple for rain water drainage is quite interesting.

Harihareshvara and Anjaneya are the other main temples here. While the former one is in a badly dilapidated condition, the Anjaneya temple belonging to the 17th century has a 10-mt-tall garuda pillar. An annual jathra called ‘Rangada Habba’ which resembles the Holi festival is held here in honour of Anjaneya. The village also has an ancient lake from which a large monolithic Basava idol was recovered recently.