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The Tripurantaka Temple (also called Tripurantakesvara or Tripurantakeshwara) was built around c. 1070 CE by the
This temple is noted for its decorative windows and screens which consist of very intricate perforated stone work. The two sides of the doorway to the shrine have a window panels, each filled entirely by three pairs of ''
An interesting piece of sculpture near the temple in the town centre is the ''Ganda-Bherunda Stambha'' ("column of two-headed bird"). The column on which the sculpture stands is about tall and the shaft is about in diameter. The top of the column has an octagonal capital surmounted by a broad slab of stone. Upon this is mounted the statue of the mythical two-headed bird ''Ganda-Bherunda'', which, according to legend was an enemy of elephants and fed on their flesh.Cousens (1926), p. 146 The statue has the body of a human standing upright with two bird like heads, looking in opposite directions. In its hands, it holds the prey that it feeds on. An inscription at the base of the column describes its erection in 1047 CE by Chamundaraya Arasa of the Kadamba Dynasty of
The Tripurantaka Temple (also called Tripurantakesvara or Tripurantakeshwara) was built around c. 1070 CE by the Western Chalukyas
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the Deccan Plateau, western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannada people, Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalya ...
. This temple, which is in a dilapidated state, is in the historically important town of Balligavi
Balligavi a town in Shikaripura taluk Shivamogga district of Karnataka state, India, is today known as Belagami or Balagame. Its ancient names are Baligrama, Dakshina Kedara, Valliggame and Valligrame. Dakshina Kedara means Kedarnath of the Sout ...
(also called Balagamve), modern Shivamogga district
Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its administrative centre. Jog Falls view po ...
, Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
, 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 ...
. The exterior walls of the temple have erotic sculptures on frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
s. These depictions are considered rare in Chalukyan art. Being miniature in size, these are visible only upon close examination.Cousens (1926), p. 107 During medieval times, Balligavi was a seat of learning to multiple religious faiths and was home to many monuments and structures built by the Chalukyas. More than 80 medieval inscriptions have been discovered in Balligavi and belong to the Shaiva
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
, 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 ...
, Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
and Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
faiths. These inscriptions describe, among other things, the building of temples.Cousens (1926), p. 108Other sculptures
This temple is noted for its decorative windows and screens which consist of very intricate perforated stone work. The two sides of the doorway to the shrine have a window panels, each filled entirely by three pairs of ''nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
'' figures (snake). The long intertwined and knotted bodies of these ''nagas'' create a virtual mesh to fill up the panels.Cousens (1927), p. 106 Above the entrance to the shrine is a decorative architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
with sculptures of the Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Gods Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
, Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
and 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 ...
, with Shiva being depicted in his Bhairava
Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव ) or Kala Bhairava is a Shaivite and Vajrayāna deity worshiped by Hindus and Buddhists. In Shaivism, he is a powerful manifestation, or avatar, of Shiva associated with annihilation. In Trika system ''Bhairava ...
form. Other figures here are the ''dikpala
The Guardians of the Directions (Sanskrit: दिक्पाल, Dikpāla) are the deities who rule the specific directions of space according to Hinduism, Jainism and '' '' Buddhism—especially . As a group of eight deities, they are called ( ...
s'' (the guardians). Some interesting larger sized figure sculptures exist, such as the sculpture of a Hoysala
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 ...
king slaying a lion. This piece of sculpture comes with its own inscription and depicts a hunting expedition in which the king, in the company of his hunting dogs, speared and killed a wild boar. Also depicted is the king on foot, fighting a lion which sprang out of the forest.Cousens (1926), p. 107
An interesting piece of sculpture near the temple in the town centre is the ''Ganda-Bherunda Stambha'' ("column of two-headed bird"). The column on which the sculpture stands is about tall and the shaft is about in diameter. The top of the column has an octagonal capital surmounted by a broad slab of stone. Upon this is mounted the statue of the mythical two-headed bird ''Ganda-Bherunda'', which, according to legend was an enemy of elephants and fed on their flesh.Cousens (1926), p. 146 The statue has the body of a human standing upright with two bird like heads, looking in opposite directions. In its hands, it holds the prey that it feeds on. An inscription at the base of the column describes its erection in 1047 CE by Chamundaraya Arasa of the Kadamba Dynasty of Banavasi
Banavasi is an ancient temple town located near Sirsi in Karnataka. Banavasi was the ancient capital of the Kannada empire Kadamba that ruled all of modern-day Karnataka state. They were the first native empire to bring Kannada and Karnataka t ...
. Legend has it that the column may have been erected to scare away marauding elephants from local plantations.
Notes
References
* * * * {{Hindu temples in Karnataka Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century Western Chalukya Empire Hindu temples in Shimoga district 11th-century Hindu temples