Kedareshwara Temple, Halebidu – The Temple

Kedareshwara Temple, Halebidu – The Temple

The temple is facing towards east with a mahadvara. The temple stands on a raised platform (jagati), a feature common to many Hoysala temples. The platform provides ample space for the devotess to circumbulate the temple. The platform can be reached by a flight of steps. The platform follows the staggered square design of the navaranga and the star shape of the shrine. Ruins of the miniature shrines can be seen on either side near the flight of steps at the entrance leading to the platform. The temple is constructed in trikutachala style, consisting of three shrines, one each on north, south and west.

The main shrine is star-shaped (stellate) with two smaller shrines that have perforated windows (called Jali) on the sides. The main shrine is connected to the navaranga through the vestibule while the other two shrines are connected directly to the navaranga. The entrance porch connects the navaranga to the platform. All these shrines are currently empty. The superstructure over these shrines have been lost. The navaranga is provided with perforated walls on all three sides to provide sufficient lighting to the interior. The navaranga is supported by lathe turned pillars.

A set of eight moldings can be seen at the base of the wall above the platform (jagati). The first horizontal molding from the jagati contains procession of elephants, second contains horsemen, creepers on the third, lions fighting with each other & Hoysala emblem on the fourth, again creepers on the fifth, depictions from the Hindu epics and puranic scenes in the sixth, makara in the seventh and friezes of swans in the eighth.

There are about 180 large intricately carved reliefs around the external walls of the main shrine. Notable among them are Narasimha, Dakshinamurthy, Gajasamharamurti, Kalingamardhana, Venugopala, Tandaveshwara, Mohini, Manmatha, Ravana lifting mount Kailasa, Surya, Brahma, Lakshmi, Mahishasura Mardhini, Saraswathi, Krishna, Varaha, Vamana, Ganesha, Bhairava, Varadaraja, Govardanagiri Dhari and a huntress. The temple has beautiful landscape garden in its own enclosure wall with a mahadwara on the north.