The Saumyakeshava temple (also spelt Sauymakesava or Soumyakeshava) at

Nagamangala Nagamangala is a PuraSabhe in Mandya district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The history of the town dates back to the period of Mahabharatha. Arjuna' son Babruvahana is said to have ruled this area, the town was earlier known by names Uluchi ...

was constructed in the 12th century by the rulers of the

Hoysala empire The Hoysala Empire was a Kannada people, Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, India, Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially loca ...

. Nagamangala is a town in the

Mandya district Mandya District is an administrative district of Karnataka, India. The district is bordered on the south by Mysore district, Mysore and Chamarajanagar district, Chamarajangar districts, on the west by Hassan District, on the north by Tumkur Di ...

of Karnataka state,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located 62 km from the historically important town

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, on the

Srirangapatna Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Tehsil, Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian States and territories of India, State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna, Ranganthaswamy ...

- Sira highway.B.L. Rice (1887), p.286 Historically, Nagamangala came into prominence during the rule of Hoysala King

Vishnuvardhana Vishnuvardhana (r. 1108–1152 CE) was a king of the Hoysala Empire in what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India. He ascended the Hoysala throne after the death of his elder brother Veera Ballala I in c.1108. Originally a followe ...

when it became an important center of

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

faith and received patronage from one of his queens, Bommaladevi. During the rule of

Veera Ballala II Veera Ballala II ( kn, ವೀರ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ 2) (r. 1173–1220 CE) was the most notable monarch of the Hoysala Empire. His successes against the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Southern Kalachuris, the Pandyas of Madurai and the wani ...

, Nagamangala prospered as an ''

agrahara An ''Agraharam'' or ''Agrahara'' was a grant of land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family in India, for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land or a pilgrimage site and to susta ...

'' (place of Hindu religious studies) and had the honorific ''Vira Ballala Chaturvedi Bhattaratnakara''. The temple is protected as a monument of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Temple plan

Gopura (main tower) of Saumyakeshava temple at Nagamangala

According to art historian Adam Hardy, the basic plan of the shrine (''mulaprasada'') is stellate (star shaped). It stands on a platform called '' jagati'' and is constructed with

Soap stone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...

material. According to historian Percy Brown this is a Hoysala innovation.Brown in Kamath (2001), p.135 Overall, the temple exhibits the ''nagara'' features (northern Indian influence) seen in a few other Hoysala temples such as in the

Sadasiva Temple, Nuggehalli The Sadasiva temple at Nuggehalli is a 13th-century Shiva temple with Hoysala architecture in Nuggehalli village, Hassan district, Karnataka, India. The temple is one of the best illustrations of the Hoysala era Nagara temple with the stellate s ...

.Hardy (1995), p.339 According to art historians Gerard Foekema and Percy Brown, ''nagara'' features are seldom seen in Hoysala temples.Foekema (1996), p.29 The temple is a large structure and has received patronage by multiple dynasties and reveals features of the later day

Vijayanagara empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

whose rulers added the entrance and tower over it (''mahadvara'') and bounding walls (''prakara''). Some post-Vijayanagara features are also visible. The tower over the entrance (''

gopuram A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' ( Tamil: கோபுரம், Malayalam: ഗോപുരം, Kannada: ಗೋಪುರ, Telugu: గోపురం) is a monumental entrance tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the South I ...

'') is a 7-story tall lime and brick structure that is adorned by Hindu gods, goddesses and other decorative structures in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

. The temple is three shrined (''trikutachala''),Typically ''trikuta'' means three shrines each with a tower, though quiet often only the central shrine has a superstructure, Foekema (1996), p.25 has a ''

garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the ''murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the ''M ...

'' (sanctum), and a

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

(''

antarala Antarala (Sanskrit: अन्तराल, lit. ''intermediate space'') is a small antechamber or foyer between the garbhagriha (shrine) and the mandapa A mandapa or mantapa () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian arch ...

'') that connects the sanctum to the a closed ''

mantapa A mandapa or mantapa () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture. Mandapas are described as "open" or "closed" depending on whether they have walls. In temples, ...

'' (inner hall, ''navaranga'') which opens into a large pillared gathering hall (''mahamantapa''). According to Percy Brown and Gerard Foekema, these are standard features in a Hoysala temple.Brown in Kamath (2001), p.134Foekema (1996), pp. 21-25 The closed hall has two lateral shrines, one in the north and the other in the south. To the east, the large hall opens onto the platform that is meant for clockwise

Circumambulation Circumambulation (from Latin ''circum'' around and ''ambulātus ''to walk) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in S ...

by devotees since the inside of the temple does not provide any such feature.Foekema (1996), p.25 On the platform, the base of the temple (called '' adhisthana'') consists of moldings that take the stellate form of sanctum but become staggered square at the ''mahamantapa''. The outer wall of the shrine and the large hall are single

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

ed walls. The tower over the shrine (''

shikhara ''Shikhara'' (IAST: '), a Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the Hindu temple architecture of North India, and also often used in Jain temples. A ''shikhara'' over the ''garbhagriha'' chamber ...

'') is plain without the typical ornamentation giving the temple as a whole an austere look. The temple gets its name from the "serene" (''lit'', "Saumya") six feet tall image of ''Keshava'', a form of the Hindu god

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

that stands on a ''

garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is a ...

'' (eagle) pedestal.Foekema (1996), p.20 The roof of the closed ''mantapa'' is supported by lathe turned pillars, a standard feature in Hoysala constructions.Kamath (2001), p.135 These pillars divide the ceiling into "bays" (four central pillars create 9 bays in the closed hall) that are exceptionally well treated.Foekema (1996), p.22 A Ceiling inside the shrine in Saumyakeshava Temple at Nagamangala

A Ceiling inside the shrine in Saumyakeshava Temple at Nagamangala

Notes

References

*Gerard Foekema, A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples, Abhinav, 1996 * * *Adam Hardy, Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, Abhinav, 1995 . * *{{cite web, url=http://asibengalurucircle.org/mandya-8.html, title=Saumyakeshava Temple, work=Archaeological Survey of India, Bengaluru Circle, publisher=ASI Bengaluru Circle, accessdate=3 April 2013, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522003900/http://asibengalurucircle.org/mandya-8.html, archivedate=22 May 2015 Hindu temples in Mandya district 12th-century Hindu temples