Bangalore to off-the-beaten track Hoysala temples - 2

The spell cast by Hoysala temple architecture and its history never wears off! There is always something new to marvel at.

My sister and I have journeyed through several hidden Hoysala architectural gems. I've featured some of them in my earlier blogs and I'm yet to catch up on the ones I missed writing. This time around I decided to blog again.

 As always, we want to thank C K Nagaraja Rao’s research books “Pattamahadevi Shantaladevi", "Veeraganga Vishnuvardhana" and "Dayada Daavanala”  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._K._Nagaraja_Rao) as inspiration to all our visits to the lesser-known Hoysala temples in Karnataka that offer architectural splendour away from the heavy crowds of Belur and Halebidu.

Idea was a short 2N/3D trip, to cover about six temple towns near Hassan city  (attention span issues if you try to squeeze more). After some search on the net, decided to make Hassan as base and go around using local taxi. Selected Hoysala Village Resort (7 Kms from the city on Halebedu Road) for our stay. This is a heritage look and feel kind of place.  As usual booked one way drop Savaari Taxi (One way drop is such a convenient road travel for us & have been doing it for few years now)  and off we went on June 16^th 2026.

Day-1: Left home by 6:45AM from Bangalore to Hassan, a 200 km comfortable ride. We had a good breakfast at Dhruvathare on NH75. Since we travel only on weekdays to avoid weekend crowd, there is usually less traffic & hotels are OK for earlier check-in as well.  

We had a traditional welcome at the hotel with Arthi, kunkuma and flower 😊It is a beautifully done property in Kerala/South Canara architecture and has a good landscape – As per the manager, it was an absolute dry land 20 yrs ago. After check-in, enjoyed authentic tasty Maland style lunch. Had some rest before we took off to see 2 temples by the hotel arranged taxi.

First temple was 24 km from the hotel in Mosale – known as Mosale Twin temple of Nageshwara (dedicated to Shiva) and Chennakeshava (dedicated to Vishnu) in a single complex next to each other. Probably showcasing harmonious coexistence of Shaivism and Vaishnavism under the Hoysalas.  It was built around 1200 CE during  the King Vira Ballala rule. 

Hoysala Emblem

Temple gopura have Hoysala lanchana/emblem (the sculpture of the legendary warrior "Sala" fighting a lion). Built in the classic Hoysala architecture in soapstone (each temple has a small porch leading into a closed square hall (navaranga) with pillars, a vestibule (sukhanasi) and the main sanctum). Outerwall have intricate carving of sculptures.

Mosale Twin Temple

Outerwall

 It started pouring as soon as viji opened her camera to start her clicks 😊.  We walked around in the rain, thankfully we had umbrellas. No one except us was there. Watchman’s wife was on site and opened Nageshwara temple for us.

This has Shivalinga and idols of Goddess Chamundeshwari, Saptamarthike, Durga, Ganapati & Sharada. The outer walls are filled with intricate carvings. 

Interestingly, Nageshwara temple is open to everyone and allowed inside garbagudi/sanctum. There is a Lingayat priest who performs pooja every morning & anyone can do pooja if they want to . In contrast, Chennakeshava temple was closed and we could only peep inside the garbagudi – Madhava priest does the pooja in the morning & locks the door. Watchman does not even have the key to open.  I guess, original intent of Hoysala rulers gone with the wind.  This temple has idols of Garuda, Keshava, Janardhana, Venugopala, Madhava and Bhudevi.

Although this complex is under ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) as a protected monument, it is not well maintained ☹saw an blue ugly drum next to the idols.

Our second stop was Doddagaddavalli  about 36 km from Mosale - Lakshmi Devi temple.Believed to be one of the oldest (or the oldest) of Hoysala temples. Built in 1113 CE by a wealthy merchant Kalhana Ravuta and his wife Sahaja Devi during the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana’s rule. 

Lakshmidevi Temple

It is a well-maintained soapstone complex.  First impression is that, it is not in a typical Hoysala architecture. it’s gopura is in North Indian style of Nagara shikhara and temple is not on a platform like their other temples. Outerwall has no intricate carvings either. Some researchers say it has lot of pre-Hoysala elements as well. Hoysala emblem is on top of the gopura.

The main temple has four-shrines that share a common mantapa each sanctum being a square and aligned to a cardinal direction. The eastern shrine houses the Mahalakshmi, the northern shrine is dedicated to Kali, the western to Shiva (worshipped as Lakshmi’s brother) and the southern shrine, once dedicated to Vishnu (worshipped as Parvati’s brother to keep her calm) now is empty due to widespread vandalism and destruction. This complex also has a separate Bhairava shrine.

Devi Kali

Betala

In front of Kali on either side is a stone statue of skeleton/goblin-Betala.  To us this was the highlight as you can’t find this anywhere else. Although Parvati is in Kali form, she is Sowmya roopi. There are carvings on ceiling.  It has a very serene atmosphere inside the main hall.

Main Hall

Devi Lakshmi

A beautiful leisurely temple visit ended and back to the hotel.  I must say, hotel has an awesome restaurant if you like vegetarian authentic Malnad food. 

Day 2: - Today, we planned to visit temples in Koravangala, Harinahalli, Arasikere & Javagal. Hope to see more historic temples in-between if our taxi driver is local & knowledgeable.

Breakfast was finger-licking good – Amazing authentic native spread served on a bale yele/plantain leaf. This restaurant is open to all…a must try if you are on this route! It was a sunny & bright morning with lot of birds.

Bucheshwara Temple

Our first stop was Koravangala – Bucheshwara temple, which is about 17 kms from the resort. Bucheshwara temple was built around 1173CE during the rule of Hoysala King Veera Ballala by a wealthy patron “Buchi”.  As we reached the temple complex, from the outside looked small but awesome with its striking Hoysala emblem on the top.  It is a dvikuta (two shrines) that face each other. These shrines are connected by a closed mantapa (hall) and an open mantapa. The smaller one houses Bhairava. 

Shiva

Surya

Inside the garbagudi there is also a Surya deva idol, sort of rare I guess & main bigger temple has Shiva linga. Pillars inside are shiny. It has a three storeyed garba gruha, a gudha-mantapa and a ranga-mantapa There are other idols inside main hall. Saraswati/Sharada in particular attracted me – graceful stance with Japamala in one hand and Vedas & water pot in another. Unfortunate that although under ASI control…as recent as 2020, Ganesha idol from the main hall is chipped off and stolen.  Extremely sad that earlier it was the invaders who stole idols but now it is our own people stealing and destroying our own heritage.

Devi Saraswathi

Ceiling

Simple pillars

Exterior wall of Bucheshwara 

Exterior wall is splendid and has Bhairava, Saraswati, Durga, Narasimha, Bramha & Venugopal among others. Many images are mutalated or stolen. 

Ruins

Next to this temple is a twin temple complex in ruins. (Nageshwara temple dedicated to Shiva and Govindeshwara dedicated to Vishnu) commissioned around 1160 CE during the rule of Hoysala King Narasimha I by Govinda (Govindayya) and Naka (Nakimayya), who were elder brothers of Buchi.   Both these temples are in complete shambles and idols stolen.

Bare temple structure & an intact shilasana/inscription exist. It is used by locals to tie their cows ☹ 

Next stop was Haranahalli which is 30 km from Koravangala.  Here there are two temples (Lakshminarasimha temple & Someshwara temples within 100 meters distance) built around 1235CE by Hoysala King Vira Someshwara.

Keshava Temple

While entering Lakshminarasimha temple, it looked magnificent with lot of carving on the the Outerwall & in its niches. Even the gopura had lot of intricate carvings.  This is a typical ornate trikutachala (triple-shrine) style of Hoysala temple architecture standing on a platform dedicated to Lakshminarasimha, Venugopala and Keshava. There is a well-preserved inscription which states, this temple was dedicated to Keshava and was called Keshava temple earlier.  Noticed a Varahi sculpture on the Outerwall - Varaha is common but rare to see Varahi.

Carvings

Varahi

Someshwara temple gate was locked as the main Shiva lingam was stolen just few years ago ☹.  From outside the gate, temple looked similar to Lakshminarasimha temple with lot of carvings on external wall.  Local vendor next to temple stated a new lingam is being sculpted & almost complete and its prathishtapane/installation is to happen soon. We headed towards our next destination Arasikere, which is about 9 km drive.  Here is where you get to see one of the most complex Hoysala temple architecture!

Chandramouleshwara

Side view

Chandramouleshwara temple (Also referred as Ishwara temple) was built around 1220CE during the rule of Hoysala king Narasimha II. There is a 16 point star shaped mantapa with domed ceiling with 21 pillars and benches at corners.  Unfortunately, ceiling is collapsing and repair work is yet to start. We were not allowed to enter the mantapa. Main temple has Siva lingam with mukuta and a beautiful devi. All other idols are stolen.  Pillars are magnificent.

Interior

 There are exquisite carvings on the external wall. During 14^th century it is believed many idols and carvings were mutilated and/or stolen. There are inscription stones and veera gallu/hero stone in the temple complex

Inscription and Veera Gallu@site

It also has two simple and non-ornate Veereshwara and Bukeshwara temple next to the main temple.  

Lakshminarasimha

Our next stop was Javagal, it is about 26 km from here. We delayed our lunch plan as we wanted to reach Javagal and see the most decorated Lakshminarasimha temple before it got too hot.

 External wall has lot of intricate carvings and beautiful idols. This magnificent temple was locked but we could walk around the complex. Contact number of the priest was on the door (common in most of the lesser known temples) and usually they come when you call. There were lot of people waiting at the entrance and since no one had called, I tried and that priest said he was out of town after his morning pooja and that only he has the key. Due to thefts, he does not give key even to ASI’s employee – its watchman (go figure! 😊)

It was about 2PM and we told our taxi driver to stop for lunch at Itihakala restaurant for pure-veg Joladha roti plantain leaf meal on Halebedu route  towards our hotel (have been to this place couple of yrs ago- tried & tested :-) ) it is an unassuming simple place with decent food) after lunch we stopped by Pulikere/Hulikere.

Here you have the famous private pond of queen Natyarani Shanthala (wife of Vishnuvardhana famous king of Hoysala). Viji had reference to this pond from Dr CK Nagaraj Rao’s book back in 2015 when we first started some of the off-the-beaten track Hoysala temples journey, we searched and searched for this in Chikkamagaluru & found a Hulikere but no pond. Town had ancient idol near garbage (my Chikkamagaluru blogs post has details) Only later in 2017 we found this Hulikere is different and closer to Halebedu & not the one near Chikkamagaluru.

Artifacts found at pond

Pond

This is an elaborate and ornate pond and is in three level and has 30 steps. It is said that this pond is designed as a confluence of astronomy & architecture.  At mid height on all four sides, you can see ornate shrines representing Steller constellation, some of these shrines have shikara and some don’t/or ruined. An Incredible peaceful place to visit. With this, we concluded our amazing date with the Hoysalas.

Back to hotel! After some rest and going around the property, had authentic Karnataka dinner which was delectable.

Day 3: Woke up leisurely to the musical sound of birds chirping & good filter coffee.  An hour after scrumptious plantain leaf breakfast, we tried their Ayurvedic spa’s Shirodhara treatment.  It was indeed a relaxing wrap-up to a wonderful 2N/3D adventure & ready to head back to Bengaluru.

A pleasant surprise during check-out! They made us sit and again did Arathi, kunkuma & flower and gave a thambula bag with blouse piece, pack of their estate coffee powder and cinnamon sticks.

Left by 1:30 PM & reached Bangalore around 5:30 PM and as always, was welcomed by pot-holes, traffic jams & honking noise! So annoying but reminded me of the famous line from a Vachana by 12^th Century poet Akkamahadevi - ಸಂತೆಯೊಳಗೊಂದು ಮನೆಯ ಮಾಡಿ, ಶಬ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ನಾಚಿದೊಡೆಂತಯ್ಯ? ( Living in a house in market and how can you get scared /shy of noise) Now we should add a line beyond noise referring to Bengaluru in particular 😊

As usual I have to end with my 2 cents - Breathtaking craftmanship never ceases to mesmerize – Although only less than 500 Hoysala temples have been identified/discovered out of 1500 built during Hoysala rule, other than three popular ones (Belur, Halebedu and Somnathpur) none is given care & maintenance they deserve by ASI & citizens. Sad to see even their most complex architectural design temple in Arasikere is falling apart.  It was heart-breaking to hear about idols being stolen in this decade by our own people. I feel, culture and history anchor a thriving society. We need to come together as a society to be proud and safe guard our heritage, culture and history!

Boulders of Karnataka - Part 2

In our zest to trek as many hills/betta/gudda as we can within 150 Kms radius from Bengaluru as day trips, my sister Viji and I decided to visit Avani Betta and a couple of  heritage temples in this region. It is about 100 Kms from Basavanagudi, Bengaluru in the Kolar district of Karnataka.  One of the reasons we chose this - it is less travelled betta.

To appreciate the rocks of  Kolar, a little bit of information about its Geology. The Kolar greenstone belt of Archean age is a narrow north south trending zone of mafic volcanic rocks. They are massive and pillowed tholeiitic basalt, gabbroic sills, pyroxenites and minor interflow clastic.  Boulders in Avani Betta like most of Karnataka boulders are couple of billions of years old and belongs to Eastern Dharwar Craton. 

On 7^th Nov 2023, we started early by 6AM from Bengaluru as it can get too hot to climb if you reach later in the day. With a quick humble breakfast stop on the highway, we reached Avani village by 8:45AM.

In ancient times, Avani village was called as Avanthika Khestra. According to legend, this hill was residence of sage Valmiki, the author of Ramayana. This place is mentioned in a Bana inscription from 339 CE (The Bana or Vana was a dynasty based in South India, who descent from king Mahabali. The dynasty takes its name from Bana, the son of Mahabali). In another, it is referenced as “Gaya of the South” There is a 10th century CE Ramalingeswara temple at the base of Avani Hill.  A little distance from here is the starting point of the trek and its peak has a Sita Parvati temple. 

Starting point

 Once we reached the starting point, a local by the name Venkatesh offered to be our guide for 500 Rs which we rejected as path looked straight forward. He said it is not just the path it is the fine details he knows😊we refused!

Story of this place goes -  (no historical facts so, take it with a grain of salt) In threta yuga Laxmana (Rama’s brother)  left Sita here at Valmiki Ashram after the exile and it is here she gave birth to Lava and Kusha. Later as teenagers they tied the Ashvamedha Kudhure of Rama and fought with his brother and his army here.  Sita later went inside the Bhoomi at the top of this hill where we have the Paravti & Sita temple. Avani in Sanskrit means Earth – Some say since Sita is daughter of Bhoomi/Earth and later went into Earth at this place, is called Avani.

Our four-legged new friends

Near the starting point we were accompanied by 4 stray dogs and they were with us through out.  They did not look violent like Bengaluru strays so we did not chase them away. In fact, they were very cute and friendly – stopped when we stopped & walked when we walked, always by our side. Royal guards for us, as only we two were there!

     Some of the betta steps are carved from the rock and some proper granite steps till you reach mid-point.  It is about 350 steps till here.  At the mid-point terrain suddenly opens-up with huge boulders of various shapes. It is an exuberating experience to see and touch these boulders - If only, they can speak about these billion years!! one can see the marks and signs of natural erosion on them. 

Magnificent Boulder

trek mid-point

View thro' boulders

Prayer stones

Here you come across small stacks of stones put together all over the place. These are prayer stones, assembled by childless couples who frequent the Sita Parvati temple at the peak, wishing for a child of their own. Mid-point is a good resting area with nice breeze. You have to walk on the boulders around here. There are some caves believed to be Valmiki Ashram and where Lava Kusha were born. The mud here is considered sacred and is believed to have medicinal properties. Local villagers collect this mud, soak it in water and then drink in the belief that it will cure their illness.

Valmiki Ashram

Inside the ashram cave

Holes in the cave ceiling

At this point we decided to call the guide to come up 😊 as we did not see path to go up with grass grown too high and also to hear his version of fine details about the caves we saw. It was interesting indeed! One of the caves had lot of holes/openings  in the ceiling and Venkatesh told us “This used to be the cave where Sita cooked and raised Lava and Kusha. When he tapped inside the hole, one made sound of copper vessel which he said was a hande (copper vessel for hot water for bath) and some made clay pot sound.  Viji asked, how they stored water as opening was facing down. Well, he had an answer for that too…😊 he said Hanumantha after Sita went inside Bhoomi/Earth, got upset and turned the cave upside down!  This cave also has a unique double linga in the room where Lava Kusha believed to have prayed. Now, do not ask me why this is not inverted like other things😊

footprints

A little way on the boulder he showed foot prints of diff size and said they are Lava Kusha’s from childhood to teenage.  From here through the tall grass was a small path heading towards the peak.  At this point, you see beautiful small waterbody between rocks – story goes, Lakshmana with his bow and arrow created this for Sita.  Near this point you see some awesome massive boulders smaller ones above larger ones.  Apparently, Hanumantha created

Laxman Theerta

this ensemble so that Sita can watch Lava and Kusha (who captured the horse of the sacrifice/Ashvamedha Kudhure} wage war and they defeated Rama's brothers and their army. 

Hanumantha's boulder ensemble

Each boulder has unique shapes here in Avani Betta and there is equally nice matching story.  You find a huge boulder called   Kudure gundi which is believed to be the place where lava -kusha tied the horse of Ashwamedha Yajna.  Another huge boulder called  Ururlu bande – Belief is if you roll down underneath this boulder any back pain will be relieved.

Kudure Gunde

Boulder walk

It is 300 steps from here to the peak. Temple was closed but we could see Sita and Parvati idols. It is believed that Sita worshiped Parvati here and the idol is from Threta yuga. Years later Adi Sankaracharya dreamt of Goddess Parvati instructing him to worship Sita Devi here. Hence the name Sita Parvati Temple. There is a Shankar Mutt in Avani village and a Jambuvantha temple (was closed for renovation).  You can see these from top of the betta. 

After spending some time here – started to climb down. Total time we spent was 2hrs. It is an easy climb up/down – just keep some water. It was a perfect day for this short trek!

After we came down, first thing we did was go to a small shop which sold biscuits for our new four-legged friends. They were not leaving us till we fed them well. They were jumping up & down with tails wagging to catch biscuits.

From here we headed straight to Kolar to see Someshwara and Kolaramma temple which are inside Kolar town.  Although I had heard about ancient Anjaneya temple nearby somehow, we did not want to miss seeing other two temples as most the temples close between 11:30 AM & 12:30 PM and it was already 11 AM) It is 28 Km from here in Kolar town. Our first stop was Kolaramma temple.

 

    

Kolaramma Temple

Kolaramma temple - Built by Cholas. this Granite temple is small and has a Dravida Vimana Style of architecture with more than 30 inscriptions from 1012 CE in Tamil and Kannada. Goddess Kolaramma is worshiped as Goddess Durga/Chamundi. Temple has two shrines- one is Kolaramma and the other is Saptamatras. A common entrance is shared by both the shrines, the main temple faces east and the other shrine faces north. Since the eight arm Durga is not in Sowmya/calm rupi, we are to see the reflection in the mirror. Another deity here is Chelamma/scorpion goddess, it is believed that a person will be saved from the bites of a scorpion if you pray here. Mysore  Wadiyars (kings of Mysore) frequented this temple as Chamundi is their family deity. Temple is very well maintained.  It has the look and aura of an ancient temple.

Someshwara temple 

Someshwara temple is very close-by.  We knew it would be closed but did not realize it is not just garba gudi that they close but its entire complex. It was extremely disappointing that we could not even see till garba gudi.  Although small, it is supposed to be beautiful and ornate 14^th century CE temple originally built by Cholas then Hoysala & Vijayanagara has done lot of work and add-ons.  Supposed to have a wonderful Kalyana Mantapa with 16 faced 64 pillars with fine carvings.

Antaragange is one of the mountains in the Shathashrunga Mountain range. It is located about 3 Kms from Kolar town. This is where we headed next! This is a beautiful area with boulders, caves, and forest. 200 steps from the starting point you come to Kashi Vishveshwara temple also known as Dakshina Kashi and has spring water flowing from Basava’s mouth throughout the year at its Kalyani/well. Source of this water is still unknown.

Sthala purana/Legend says “This mountain is associated with Lord Parasurama and Jamadagni. The killing of Kartaviryaarjuna by Parasurama followed by killing of Jamadagni m by sons of Kartaviryaarjuna and the self-immolation of Renuka happened here. Parasurama took a vow to kill the entire Kshatriya race.”

Kalyani

Behind the temple kalyani is the start of the 4Kms trek to top of the mountain. This mountain contains several volcanic rocks of various sizes and naturally carved caves around it. I am told a clear view of entire town of Kolar can be seen from the top of this mountain. Combination of rain and no prior planning & no guide inhibited us to do the trekking to the peak. We were advised not to go without a guide as path is tricky.

Monkeys!! Monkeys!!

How can I forget to write the most important incident here? As we headed towards the temple, decided to ditch backpack and just carried a sling bag and camera. As soon as we entered the starting point, I was attacked by a gadava/big male monkey for the sling bag. I had no food, just cash, cards and mobile. It started pulling the bag and I was pulling it back (I was so impressed with myself that I was fighting back with a gadava who was showing all his teeth and growling) and did not throw the bag to him and run  - house keys, ID, cards everything was in it 😊😊and Viji came to chase him away but it went towards her to attack. It did not care for her expensive camera around her neck but only interested in my sling bag.  By now I ran back to our car and got both of our trekking poles and threw the bag in the car and carried only small water bottle.  By then, Viji had chased him away after some fight – Battle of the titans! Whew!! What an action drama it was 😊

Pathway to the temple

There is lot of greenery on both sides all the way to the temple accompanied by wild monkeys of all sorts from a new born to pregnant mothers to teenagers to gadava rascals. Somebody had put a whole bag of carrots for the monkeys but we saw very few little ones there. Amazing is that they did not come to us even though I had water bottle this time in my hand. I wonder if it was the stick or they are trained to snatch wallets and mobiles!!!!???? We reached temple with no new monkey attack!

An angel among Gadavas

Ancient Shiva temple

 

As per the priest, the Linga inside this old temple is from Parashurama period/Threta yuga. An unassuming temple it is. Decided to come back to this place again for a planned trek to the peak with a guide. Headed back to the car. We were hungry by now and could not find any decent place inside Kolar town. Google referred us back to National Highway about 5Kms away.  There are few on HW and we just went to one closest for a simple south Indian meal – Boy! Was it hot/spicy!!  I heard people in this region eat very hot food. So be careful!

It was 2PM, we asked our driver to take us to the much talked about Kotilingeshwara temple in Kammasandra village of Kolar district.  This is when our driver said we are doing unnecessarily back and forth. Apparently, this is closer to Avani village which meant we had to go in opposite direction again and may be some 30 Kms extra.  Road was not that good and took us about 50min to reach the place.

Kotilingeshwara 

Kotelingeshwara - This temple complex has the tallest and largest linga@33 mts and Basava@11mts.  This linga is surrounded by lakhs of lingas of different size. This temple is a not historic one and is from 1980’s. It was a dream of a swamiji to have one crore lingas installed here.  It is still not one crore yet but getting there. It receives lot of pilgrims during Shivarathri and a popular destination.

It is a very commercial temple with many small temples inside. Lot of good marketing happens to persuade you to get a linga installed – starting from 6k to 1lakh+ INR depending on size and options. I must say, flower decoration in this temple were very elaborate & nice! Like Hindu temples in the western countries, you have all gods here. There are many helpers who double-up as marketing folks 😊. We were not that impressed with this place although I liked their laddu prasada that, one can buy.  An OK visit for just one time visit.  It was 4PM and we decided to head back to Bengaluru. 

We reached KR Puram within 1hr 45min and it took us another 2hrs from this point to Basavanagudi.  Horrible it was, as we came bang during peak hours.

Better planning would have been – Go to Avani first, do the local ancient Anjaneya and Ganesh temple (which we did not go) in Mulubagalu, have lunch and next head to Kotilingeshwara which is only 10 Kms from here. I am sure it will be 4PM by the time you see this and lastly, do Someshwara and Kolaramma temple in Kolar town as it is in Bengaluru direction and they re-open at 5PM. Timing wise (as most of the temples closes by noon and reopens at 5PM) this is optimal and best option to cover more historic places. Unless you just want to do ½ day Avani Betta only.

All in all – it was a great one-day trip! I recommend this less travelled Avani Betta with wonderful boulders combined with nearby ancient temples as an energy booster trip.  

Stay tuned for my next lesser-known betta experience! So many bettas and so little time!