Ishvara Temple, Arasikere

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Keywords: Hoysala Temples, Ishvara Temple, Arasikere

The Ishvara temple is located at a short distance from Haranhalli.

Location: Ishvara Temple, Arasikere

The Ishvara Temple (also spelt Ishwara or Isvara) in Arasikere town of the Hassan district in Karnataka state, India, dates to c. 1220 CE rule of Hoysala Empire. Arasikere (lit "Queens tank"; Arasi means "queen" or "princess" and kere means "tank" in the Kannada language) is located 140 km north of the historic city of Mysore and 41 km east of Hassan city. The temple, which is dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, though modest in size and figure sculpture, is considered the most complex one in architecture among surviving Hoysala monuments because of its ground plan: a 16-pointed star shaped mantapa (hall), in addition to an asymmetrical star shaped shrine, whose star points are of three different types.


The temple faces east as in all Hoysala constructions, uses soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) as its basic building material, and is a ekakuta shrine (single shrine or cella) with two mantapas (hall), one open and one closed.


All three units are connected to form a unity. The sanctum (garbhagriha) enshrines a linga, the universal symbol of the Hindu god Shiva. 


The shrine has a tower (superstructure or Shikhara) which is intact, though the finial (a decorative water pot like structure called Kalasha) is a recent replacement.


The outer wall of the shrine is stellate, but the star points are not identical, rather they form three different kinds of star points, making the design complicated and unusual. The open hall, with its 16-pointed star plan is most unusual design built by Hoysala architects. The central ceiling in the closed mantapa and the vestibule are decorated elaborately.



Relief articulation on outer wall of shrine in Ishvara temple can be seen throughout as like all other Hoysala temples.


(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishvara_Temple,_Arasikere)

This temple was unique in terms of its architecture in comparison to other Hoysala temples. After spending some time in the temple, we returned back to Bangalore via Arasikere- Tumkur - Bangalore road. This is a single lane raod and has heavy traffic especially if its a Sunday.

Finally, we concluded our first hoysala heritage trip with lot of good memories and unique experiences.





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