Hoysala: Lakshminarayana Temple Hosaholalu, K R Pete

       "Hosaholalu", located  in K R pet taluk of Mandya, houses a beautiful Hoysala Temple dedicated to Lord 'Lakshminarayana' .It was built by King Vira Someshwara in the 13th century AD. The local legend states that, during the construction process of the temple, glittering gems were found buried under ground and hence the village got the name Hosa Haralu (Haralu in Kannada means Gems) and as time elapsed it became popular as "Hosaholalu".

Lakshminarayana Temple

        This temple is a Trikuta type i.e, three shrined  with a single central tower. The temple is dedicated to Lord Lakshminarayana , and the other two shrines contain sculptures of Lakshminarasimha and Venugopala . These sculptures are a perfect example of Hoyasala  art .

Lakshminarayana

Lakshminarasimha

Venugopala

        The door frames, pillars and ceilings were heavily carved . On one of the pillars, there is a carving of  a thumb sized monkey sitting in a  majestic pose and drinking 'Elneeru' (tender coconut milk ) referred as "Hebbettu Anjaneya ".

Upper Portion of the Door Frame

Door Frame

The Heavily Carved Pillars

  Pillar Top

Hebbettu Anjaneya

Ceiling 1

 Ceiling 2

 Ceiling 3

       The old pillars have been used to construct a mantap in the front in about 16 th century AD . This gives an odd look to the temple. The mantap was built with the purpose of storing Vahanas (Vehicles) used during festivals . The exterior beauty of the temple is an equal match to the interior beauty . The temple stands facing east on a raised platform and a poly angled ground plan. The temple has six pattikas having carvings of Elephants , Horses , Creepers , Puranic tales ,Crocodiles and Swans.

 Front Porch

Six Pattikas

              To increase the height of the temple, the walls were constructed in two tiers. The lower tier has sculptures  and the upper tier has small decorated single or double pillars, shikaras. The shikara of the temple is also heavily carved .

Shikara

Two Tiered Wall and the Shikara

          There are many sculptures on the outer walls of the temple mostly dedicated to various forms of Vishnu and his consort . There is sculpture depicting  the scene of Vasudeva  standing in front of donkey with folded hands probably referring to the proverb " To get one's work done , one has to prostrate even before a donkey " .  This refers to story when Lord Krishna was born and Vasudeva carried him  in the basket  outside the Jail . He saw a donkey braying actually indicating the god omen. But he didn't wanted the braying sound to awake the jail guards , so he folded both his hand and prayed to the donkey and silenced it .

Vasudeva and the Donkey

Samudra Manthana

       The  Keys of the temple remain with the priest . Though the priest was unfriendly, he obliged to come and open the temple door. The temple is nicely maintained by the ASI. No entry fees as of now.

       Directions from Bangalore - Bangalore - Mysore road  - B.R.Koppal - Right turn - Pandavapura - K R Pete - Left turn - Hosaholalu

       Distance from Bangalore: 140 kms
       Trip date: 28 Nov 2010

       Places to visit near by :  Hariharapura , Akkihebbalu , Varahanatha Kalahalli , Kikkeri , Govindanahalli , and many more

       References used :  Publications of Government of Karnataka on Mandya .