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AMRITAPURA : Home to Amrutesvara Temple |
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Creating a marvelous space for the spiritualists and pilgrims, Amruthapura is predominantly celebrated for it’s world-famous temple named Amrutesvara. This classic city of Amruthapura is 67 km away from the popular town of Chikmagalur in Karnataka, India. Finely located on NH 206 around 110 km from Hassan and 35 km from Shimonga, Amruthapura’s temple was built in 1196 by Amrutheshwara Dandanayaka, a commander employed by Hoysala King Veera Ballala II. Being an idyllic spot, Amruthapura is based within the close vicinity of Bhadra Reservoir, which isn’t very far from the Tarikere town.
Mainly, people in Amruthapura talks about the temple, and here, even we are going to unveil few facts about this eminent temple of Amrutesvara. The temple proudly flaunts the architecture and flawless craftsmanship of Hoysala, which can be viewed at a wide open mantapa (hall). The outer wall of the temple is still unique and original with no renovations at all. Its carvings still appears magnificent and equally spaced that turns the work into a masterpiece. The surroundings near the temple are wide and mesmerizing as only palm and coconut temple can be viewed around it. Within the temple, there is merely one shrine that head-on links to the mantapa.
Being a mid-sized temple in Amruthapura, it is often compared to the Veeranarayana temple at Belavadi. In total, there are 29 bays in the mantapa that leads to another shrine in the south side via a side porch. The shrine appears beautiful and is of a perfect square shape. It’s sculptures are sharply edged and this incredible workmanship is undoubtedly unparalleled. However, below this superstructure, the panel containing Hindu deities isn’t available, which is quite surprising. Five mouldings are carved on the base of the wall, which is in older Hoysala style, whereas the Sukanasi embraces the real emblem of Sala fighting with the tiger.
The rows of the shinning lathe are the specialty of this temple that turns the pillar, which supports the ceiling of Mantapa. Adorned with the floral designs, mantapa retains myriad deeply domed ceiling structures that appear marvelous and fabulous every time you see them. On the other hand, 140 panels of sculptures depicting the Hindu epics are layered on the outer wall of the open mantapa. Unlike most of the Hoysala temples, the panels here in Amrutesvara temple are large sized. On the southern side, Ramayana is carved on the walls and the story is moving anti-clockwise. In contrast, all the depictions on the north side are clock wise in the normal Hoysala style. Here, 45 panels are unveiling the scenes from Mahabharata and rest of the 25 is based on Lord Krishna.
Visitors usually get excited to view the Amrutesvara temple that appears superb and magnificent. Even though, the city in itself isn’t very interesting. However, the tranquility is all around, which is the most beautiful part about this city. And as far accommodation is concerned then people crossing in from Chikmagalur must have enjoyed the same in the Apna Sapna Homestay for sure. |
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