Somnathpur Temple, also known as Prasanna Chennakeshava Temple, is a prominent temple near Mysore. It is located in Somanathapura town, some 35 kilometres from Mysore, and has been proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Site classification. The Chennakesava Temple is a Hindu temple in Somanathapura, Karnataka, India, located on the banks of the River Kaveri.
The Chennakesava Temple at Somanathapura, built during the Hoysala Dynasty of Karnataka's reign, exemplifies the prolific sculptors of the time. It's a massive display of Hindu scriptures carved into lifelike statues. For an artist, it is a temple where the makers have left a legacy of art for future generations. According to historians, it was an artwork that propelled the Hoysalas to the pinnacle of their architectural splendour.
The temple is referred to as a "Trikutam," or "three-shine" temple. Each shrine has its own Vimana and Sukanasi, which can be visited. The shrines, Vimanas, and Sukanasis, were built on a 16-point star-shaped pattern, and they are absolutely symmetrical. Each shrine is dedicated to one of Vishnu's three avatars, particularly Krishna. Although the Keshava idol has vanished, the other two idols can still be seen.
The names Keshava, Janardhana, and Venugopala all appear in the Bhagavad Gita in relation to Krishna. Chennakeava translates to "beautiful Keshava." The Keshava temple in Somanathapura is a Vaishnava temple, one of many Keshava temples built in or before the 13th century in India, including one in Belur in 1117 CE.
Somanathapura's Keshava temple faces east and is surrounded by a walled courtyard with a large entrance (mahadvara). A towering pillar sits outside the fortifications, just before the entrance, with a Garuda statue on top, which is now missing. Vertical standing inscription stones can be found to the left of the gate.
The inscription is written in Kannada script. Lathe-carved soapstone pillars support the tiny entrance mandapa. The temple is made of soapstone, which is a green-grey chloritic schist that is pliable in the quarry but hardens when exposed to air. This isn't available in the area and had to be imported.
The three summits of the common mandapa are exquisitely sculpted. The temple has two attics, each with carved towers between them. The walls have a variety of intricately carved stone plates and star-shaped folds. Other temple walls are adorned with sculptures of many Gods and Goddesses, as well as scenes from Hindu sacred literature such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
The entrance charge to Somnathpura or Chennakeshava Temple is Rs.5 for Indians and Rs.100 for foreign tourists. Chennakeshava Temple is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. The months of October through March are ideal for visiting this temple. It takes no more than 3 hours to explore and admire the temple's splendour, as well as to seek the Lord's graces.
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A general named Somanatha created the town of Somanathapura in the 13th century (Someya Dandanayaka in some inscriptions). He was employed by King Narasimha III of the Hoysalas. Somanatha established an Agrahara in which Brahmins were given land and resources to build and maintain temples. The patron's name, Somanatha-pura, became the name of the town (pura). Alternate spellings, such as Somnathpur, are also used to refer to the area.
Somanatha erected the Kesava temple in the middle of the new settlement and consecrated it in 1258 CE. This was a temple in the Vaishnavism tradition. In addition to this temple, Somanatha dedicated a Shaivism-related Panchalinga temple in the land grant's east-northeast corner. He also constructed a fortification wall around the area, which is now in ruins.
According to inscriptions and textual evidence, Somanatha also built the Purahara, Narasimhesvara, Murahara, Lakshminarasimha, and Yoganarayana temples in the region in the Hoysala style, but all of these temples have vanished, with the exception of the Lakshminarasimha, after wars between Hindu kingdoms and Muslim Sultanates ravaged the region.
The temple of Lakshminarasimha is likewise in ruins. The only known surviving artwork from the other vanished temples is the sanctuary image of Yoganarayana temple, which is also in a damaged state. According to 15th-century inscriptions, the Kesava temple was also severely destroyed. It was repaired in the 16th century with financial assistance and grants from the Vijayanagara Empire's kings.
Inscribed in eight stones in various parts of South India are a few of the significant historical dates and circumstances surrounding the Kesava temple. The ceilings of the veranda that surrounds the temple include two inscriptions, one at the southeast corner and the other near the northwest corner.
The eighth inscription can be discovered in the Panchalinga temple, which is located on the outskirts of the original land gift. The majority of these inscriptions indicate that the temple was in use about the middle of the 13th century. The devastation and repairs to this temple are described in two inscriptions, one dated 1497 CE and the other dated 1550 CE
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The beautiful temple serves as a model for Hoysala architecture.The western sanctum held a statue of Kesava, the northern sanctum held Janardhana, and the southern sanctum held Venugopala, all of whom are Vishnu forms. The sanctums are connected by a large communal hall. The temple's exterior walls, inner walls, pillars, and ceiling are exquisitely carved with Hindu theological imagery and feature huge friezes of Hindu literature such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavata Purana.
Inside the pillared courtyard corridor, the northern and southern rows of minor shrines each have eighteen solo shrines and one linked-double shrine. The courtyard's northwestern and southwestern corners are home to the linked-double shrine. There are fourteen small shrines in the western row, and eight single small shrines and two linked-double shrines in the eastern row. The Kesava temple is made up of 58 little shrines, four small double shrines, two entrance shrines, and the main central temple.
The main temple is constructed on a jagati, or global platform. It's roughly 3 feet tall, star-shaped, and has stone steps leading up to it on the east end allowing visitors to clamber up. There are two guardian shrines on each side of the stairs, although they are broken. The high jagati platform, which has a large strolling space, encircling the main temple. It is known as the pradakshina patha, and it is designed to be travelled in a clockwise direction in order to read the legends of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavata Purana in the correct order .
Each star point end of the platform once had a stone elephant, but only 11 of the original 15 have survived in a damaged state. There were 14 mid-size representations of Nagas and 58 images of Yakshas on the sides of the star and where two stars of the jagati platform met, but they are now all gone. Seven of the fractured parts discovered in the early twentieth century are kept on the temple grounds.
The precise shaping gives the impression that the platform is five stacks from afar. The devotee ascends four stone stairs from the jagati level into the temple's sabha mandapa on the inside. The hall is rectangular in appearance, but it is actually made up of two fused squares and a rectangle. The entry has a small square, the main square is in the middle, and a rectangle faces the three sanctums (garbha griya), all of which are supported by beautifully carved pillars. The 16-pointed star-shaped North Indian style tower rises over each of these sanctuaries (shikara).
Parallel horizontal bars of artwork are carved above the circumambulatory platform on the outside wall of the main temple. The cellar band, the wall band, and the top band are the three principal sections. The bottom band in the basement section is about 6 inches tall and depicts a row of elephants marching mostly to the left in the clockwise direction that the devotee is expected to walk.
A scroll of nature runs above the horsemen stone carvings. It features flowers, fruits, peacocks, and wildlife on occasion. The mythological frieze is the strip above it. It displays legends and spiritual stories from the Ramayana, the Puranas, and the Mahabharata. Throughout the temple, there are several panels that tell various Hindu myths and stories.
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