Famous Temples in India

Architecture

Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple is facing in East direction and Hoysala style of architecture. The mahadvara about 18 Feet high about 7 Feet wide, made up of granite slabs,is typical of Vijaynagar period construction. The sanctum has a lotus dome carved out of a single slab, a small mantapa bearing a 1515-dated inscription in its ceiling is situated to the northwest of the main temple. The temple is small hence has a closed mantapa, enclosed by walls up to the ceiling and decorated well in the outside. Mukhamantapa has a small seating arrangement with very less numbers of pillars. The Navaranga contains 4 bell-shaped Hoysala pillars.

Temple Walls : There are 140 wall panel images, each made with attention to fine details. Seems like each figure has a story to tell. The base has six equal width rectangular moldings.

• Starting from the top, the friezes depict; hansa (birds) in the first frieze.
• Makara (aquatic monsters) in the second, epics and other stories.
• In the third (usually from the Hindu epic Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and stories of Krishna).
• Leafy scrolls in the fourth, 5.horses in the fifth 6.elephants in the sixth (bottom frieze).

Decoration and sculptures - The decorative plan of the outer walls of the shrines and the mantapa (hall) is of the "new kind", with two eaves that run around the temple. According to art historian [Gerard Foekema, the wall panel images (one hundred and forty in all), and the reliefs and friezes that abound in this temple have a relaxed quality of workmanship about them, and in no Hoysala temple do these appear more "folkish in character". In the "new kind" of decorative articulation, the first heavy eaves runs below the superstructure and all around the temple with a projection of about half a meter. The second eaves runs around the temple about a meter below the first. In between the two eaves are the miniature decorative towers (Aedicula) on pilasters. Below the second eaves are the wall panel of images of Hindu deities and their attendants in relief. Below this, at the base are the six equal width rectangular moldings (frieze). Starting from the top, the friezes depict, hansa (birds) in the first frieze, makara (aquatic monsters) in the second, epics and other stories in the third (usually from the Hindu epic Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and stories of Krishna), leafy scrolls in the fourth, horses in the fifth and elephants in the sixth (bottom frieze).