History, Importance, Timings, Festivals, Architecture, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Chennakeshava Temple, Somnathpura, Karnataka, India
The Chennakeshava Temple also known as Keshava Temple is located in Somnathpur in Mysore district of state of Karnataka and just 35 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore. This temple is solely dedicated to Chennakeshava, the beautiful Lord Vishnu and has sculptures depicting all avatars. Chennakesava temple one of the masterpiece of Hoysala architecture and located on the bank of the River Kaveri. This holy temple was built in 13th century by Somnatha, the commander of Hoysala Army under the reign of Hoysala king Narsimha Raja III. Chennakeshava temple of Somnathpura is different than the Chennakeshava temple of Belur which was commissioned by King Vishnuvardhana. Currently this historical Chennakeshava temple is managed and maintained by Archaeological Survey of India. You can see the ancient Kannada inscription on a stone slab at the entrance of this majestic temple which showcase the history of this temple.
The temple, like most of the temples of Hoysala rule, is star shaped in structure connecting 16 corners. The temple being in trikuta style has three shrines with idols of Lord Venugopala, Lord Keshava and Lord Janardhana, various form of Lord Vishnu. All three shrine has its own Vimana and Sukanasi. Significant events of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita are sequentially carved on the wall of the temple. There are 100 intricately carved sculptures including the Tandava Ganpati, Saraswati holding Vedas on the veena, a scene of cows and the people surrounding Krishna who is playing flute. The temple is made up of soft stones. This temple construction is still a challenge for the recent engineers to carve it. This temple stands very unique in the World. Some pillars of the temple look like they are built from the single stone but none of them are; they are carved in such a way that look like a single stone but they are not. The temple specialty lies that the shrine is triple; in Sanskrit called as TRIKUTA. One for Venugopala, second for Keshawa and the third for Janardhana. As the temple was damaged twice no puja takes place from the 11th Century. From 1958 the temple was declared as a monument.
There are two beautifully intricate and decorative eaves on the temple. The lower eaves feature a running frieze containing approximately 200 panels that depict the various Hindu deities. The other eaves depict a series of panels decorated with scenes of the great Indian epics.
Somnatha gifted a Land to the Brahmins and gifted many resources to build and maintain temples therein, thus village named after him as Somnathpur. During the initial period the temple was followed under the Vaishnavism tradition. Somnatha consecrated a Shaivism tradition in the east – northeast corner of the land grant. He also protected the temple by creating the wall surrounding it. The most of the part of the temple was destroyed during the war between the Hindu kingdoms and Muslim sultanates during the 13th Century. The temple was renovated during the 16th Century when financial aid was provided from the Vijayanagara Empire. This temple was again ruined during one of the wars in the 19th Century and again was listed for reconstruction in the 20th Century by the government.
October to March is the best time to visit Chennakeshava temple.
How to Reach Chennakeshava Temple, Somnathpura, Historical and Religious Site near Mysore, Karnataka, India
Chennakeshava Temple is located on bank of river Kaveri and in heart of Somnathpura. As Somnahtpura is one of the important historical and religious site near Mysore in state of Karnataka and home to several ancient temple. Thus, it is easily accessible via road, rail and air network. Mysore has major railway station from where you can get train to all major station of India. You can get government and private vehicle from nearby cities to reach here by road. The nearest airport from Somnathpura is Bangalore Airport at 170 km. There are regular flights to Bangalore from all major cities in the country. Somnathpura is located at just 35 km from Mysore, 36 km from Srirangpatna, 8 km from Bannur and 42 km from Pandavpur.
