Chikmagalur is a famous hill station known for having the highest peak of Karnataka and for the rich culture surrounding the famous getaway. There is a small village named Belavadi located around 20kms from Chikmagalur famous for Hoysala architecture temple. The place is not too crowded by tourists.

Enjoy my photo feature and do comment about it.

Quick Facts

Location	Belavadi, Karnataka
Nearest Station	Devanur
Religion followed	Hinduism
Built in Year	1200 CE
Entrance Fees	None

It is preferable to take your own vehicle to visit this temple and you can add this place in your itinerary with the Chikmagalur trip.

The Story

As such, there is no mystical story for this temple, but the three-shrine temple was built by Hoysala Empire King Veera Ballala II during 1200 CE. The three shrines are dedicated to different avatars of Lord Vishnu i.e. Narayana, Venugopal and Yoganarasimha.

Hoysala Empire was a grandeur empire with great architecture and intricate carvings covering the whole Karnataka and a part of Tamil Nadu. Hoysala Empire reigned from 1026 to 1343. The capitals of this empire were located near Belavadi, Belur and Halebidu, which are   great tourist attractions.

The Architecture/ Photo walk

All the Hoysala temples are made of Soapstone. The Entire temple is intact and doesn’t have many carvings as compared to the Belur and Halebidu temples. Still this temple is one of the great architecture examples of Hoysala Empire and one of the largest temples built by the Hoysala kings.

So now, I will explain the architecture of the temple by taking you through every part of the temple with me.

As we enter the temple form the main gate, we can see a huge entrance with slanting roofs covering it. The entrance is guarded by two carved elephants on both the sides.

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As we proceed further, crossing the main entrance, we witness the huge temple with two gopuras on both sides having around 100 feet distance between them. The view from this place was worth watching and can’t be described with words.

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Again, you have two carved elephants at the entrance of the main temple. Once you enter the temple, you will witness that all the pillars are lathe turned pillars and they shine like they have been built yesterday. This lathe pillars construction is still a mystery as how the era must have built this without the help of any machines.

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As we enter, on the right side we have the yoga Narasimha avatar of Vishnu facing south and on the left side we have the Venugopal avatar of Vishnu facing north. (I don’t have the photos as we are not allowed to take photos of the deities). The two shrines are not as old as the main shrine and have a different layout; one has a square plan while the other has a star plan.

The towers of all the three shrines are decorated/carved completely, which gives them a different look.

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Upon walking further, we again encounter with another Mandapa with 22 pillars which has two more sides to approach i.e. from north and south. After this mandapa, we have the main shrine of Veer Narayana who stands with four hands, holding the Pashankusha in his right hand, Gadha in his left.

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It is said that the temple was constructed in two phases i.e. the main shrine was constructed first and then the remaining part of the temple was constructed later. As we take the pradakshina around the temple, we can find various images of Vishnu Avatar, Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati, etc. carved outside the temple peripheral.

The temple has a total of 108 lathe tuned pillars.

How to Reach ??

The roads connecting this temple from Chikmagalur and Belur are well developed. The frequency of government bus coming to this place is too less. So, the only two options available are either take a rikshaw from Chikmagalur or come via private vehicle.

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Do Watch the below Video to get the glimpse of the temple

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