The Chennakesava Temple originally called Vijayanarayana Temple was built on the banks of the Yagachi River in Belur, an early capital of the Hoysala Empire. Belur is 40 km from Hassan city and 220 km from Bangalore, in Hassan district of Karnataka state, India. Chennakesava means "handsome Kesava". Belur is well-known for its marvelous temples built during the rule of Hoysala dynasty. Belur along with near by Halebidu is also one of the most favored tourist destinations in Karnataka. Belur is an important Vaishnava pilgrim centre. Visitors are often humbled by the beauty of the sculptures that are present here which are popular with Hoysala architecture and craftsmanship.
History
The temple was commissioned by Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana in 1117 CE. Scholars hold their own opinions regarding the reasons for the construction of the temple. The popular belief is the military success of Vishnuvardhana was the reason.
[1] Some scholars opine that Vishnuvardhana commissioned the temple to surpass the Hoysala overlords, the Western Chalukyas who ruled from Basavakalyan, after his victories against the Chalukyas
[2] while another theory is he was celebrating his famous victory against the Cholas of Tamil country in the battle of Talakad after which the Hoysalas took control of Gangavadi (southern regions of Karnataka).
[3] Yet another explanation pertains to Vishnuvardhana's conversion from Jainism to Vaishnavism, considering this is predominantly a Vaishnava temple.
[4] The Hoysalas had many brilliant architects who developed a new architectural idiom. A total of 118 inscriptions have been recovered from the temple complex covering a period of 1117 to 18th century which give details of the artists employed, grants made to the temple and renovations.
Temple Complex
The main entrance to the complex is crowned by a Rayagopura built during the days of Vijayanagar empire. Within the temple complex, the Chennakesava temple is in the centre, facing east and flanked by Kappe Channigraya temple and a small Lakshmi temple on its right. On its left and to its back is an Andal temple. Of the two main Sthambha (pillar) that exist, the one facing the main temple was built in the Vijayanagar period and the one to the right was from the Hoysala time. While this is the first great Hoysala temple, the artistic idiom is still Western Chalukyan, hence the lack of over decoration unlike in other later Hoysala temples including the Hoysaleswara temple at Halebidu and the Keshava temple at Somanathapura. During later years, the Hoysala art took an inclination towards craftsmanship, with a weakness for minutia. The temple has three entrances and the doorways have highly decorated sculptures of doorkeepers (dvarapalaka). While the Kappe Channigraya temple is smaller than the Chennakesava temple, it is architecturally equally significant but lacks any sculptural features. This became a dvikuta (two shrined) with the addition of a shrine to its original plan. The original shrine has a star shaped plan while the additional shrine is a simple square. The icon inside is also Kesava and was commissioned by Shantala Devi, queen of king Vishnuvardhana.
Main Attraction
The Chennakesava temple is built with Chloritic Schist (soapstone) and is essentially a simple Hoysala plan built with extraordinary detail. What differentiates this temple from other Hoysala temples of the same plan is the unusually large size of the basic parts of the temple. The temple is a ekakuta vimana design (single shrine) of 10.5 m by 10.5 m size. A large vestibule connects the shrine to the mandapa (hall) which is one of the main attractions of the temple. The mandapa has 60 bays. The superstructure (tower) on top of the vimana has been lost over time. The temple is built on a jagati (platform). Hence there is one flight of steps leading to the jagati and another flight of steps to the mantapa. The jagati provides the devotee of an opportunity to do a pradakshina (circumambulation) around the temple before entering it. The jagati carefully follows the staggered square design of the mantapa and the star shape of the shrine. The mantapa was originally an open one. A visitor would be able to see the ornate pillars of the open mantapa from the platform. The mantapa is perhaps the most magnificent one in all of medieval India. The open mantapa was converted into a closed one after about 50 years during the Hoysala rule. This was done by erecting walls with pierced window screens. The window screens are on top of 2 m high walls. There are 28 such windows, with star shaped piercing and bands of foliage, figures and mythological subjects. On one such screen, king Vishnuvardhana and his queen Shanatala Devi are depicted. An icon depicts the king in a standing posture
Shrine
The vimana (shrine) is at the back of the mantapa. Each side of the vimana measures 10.5 m and has five vertical sections: a large double storeyed niche in the centre and two heavy pillar like sections on both sides of that niche. The two pillar like sections adjoining the niche are rotated about their vertical axis to produce a star shaped plan for the shrine. The pillar like section and the niche bear many ornate sculptures, belonging to an early style. There are some 60 large sculptures and are of deities from both Vaishnava and Shaiva faiths. From the shape of the vimana it has been inferred that the tower above would have been of the Bhumija style and not the regular star shaped tower that follows the shape of the vimana. The Bhumija towers are present on the miniature shrines at the entrance of the hall and are actually a type of nagara design (being curvilinear in shape). This shape of tower is quite uncommon in pure dravidian design. The shrine has a life size (about 6 feet) image of Kesava (a form of Vishnu) with four hands, each hand holding an attribute namely, the discus (chakra), mace (gadha), lotus-flower (padma) and conch (Shanka) in clockwise direction. The entrance to the shrine is flanked by life size sculptures of door guardians (dvarapalaka).
