Showing posts with label Amruthapura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amruthapura. Show all posts

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Poetry in Stone - 22

This is twenty-second in the series on the rich cultural heritage of ancient temples in India. The ancient temples are richly carved and they behold ones attention for their craftsmanship. 



The external walls of the 10th century Amrutesvara Temple, Amruthapura are beautifully carved various patterns. The symmetry in the design at the corner is very exclusive.



In the 16th century Aghoreshwara Temple of Ikkeri there are many beautiful sculptures. One such sculpture of Lord just outside the main sanctum that has been carved out with utmost care.



The external walls of 10th century Mukteshwar Temple at Bhubaneshwar has been carved at every inch. On the wall above there are patterns, snake design, humans have been carved beautifully.



On the left is sculpture of elephants with lions on top of it at the bottom of a pillar near the entrance of Rajarani TempleBhubaneshwar. On the right is a carving of musicians on the top of the Lakshmi Devi Temple, Doddagaddavalli.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Amrutesvara Temple, Amruthapura

Amruthapura is a small village located 35 km from Shimoga on NH 206 towards Bangalore. This place is known for the Amruteshvara temple that was built sometime in 1196 by commander Amrutheshwara in the army of Hoysala Dynasty.

This midsized temple showcases excellent craftsmanship of Hoysala architecture. The temple has large open mantapa and a closed mantapa connects it to main shrine on top which is a beautifully carved single tower. The open mandapa has 29 bays and the closed mantapa has 9 bays.
The shrine tower is richly decorated with sculptures, miniature towers.The wall below the tower does not contain panel of Hindu deities which has been later Hoysala style of temples. Instead the wall has various design patterns. One can also see the original Hoysala emblem of Sala fighting the tiger. The outer wall of the temple has interesting equally spaced circular carvings.

There are 140 panels of sculptures depicting the Hindu epics on the outer parapet wall of the open mantapa. If the South side wall panels portray story of epic Ramayana, the North side wall panels portray story of epic Mahabarath and life of Lord Krishna.

The ceiling of the mantapa is well supported by rows of shining lathe turned pillars.