Kote Venkataramana Temple, Bangalore

Kote Venkataramana Temple is a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in Krishnarajendra Road,

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

dedicated to the god

Venkateshwara Venkateswara (, ), also known as Venkatachalapati, Venkata, Balaji and Srinivasa, is a Hindu deity, described as a form or avatar of the god Vishnu. He is the presiding deity of Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati. His consorts, Padmavati and Bhud ...

. The temple was built in 1689 in

Dravidian Dravidian, Dravidan, or Dravida may refer to: Language and culture *Dravidian languages, a family of languages spoken mainly in South India and northeastern Sri Lanka *Proto-Dravidian language, a model of the common ancestor of the Dravidian lang ...

and

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () is a city located in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka state in India.Vijayanagara

style by King
Chikka Devaraja Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar II (22 September 1645 – 16 November 1704) was the fourteenth maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1673 to 1704. During this time, Mysore saw further significant expansion after his predecessors. During his rule, cent ...

Wodeyar The Wadiyar dynasty,() also referred to as the Wadiyars of Mysore (also spelt Wodeyer, Odeyer, and Wadeyar), is a late-medieval Indian royal family of former maharajas of Mysore from the Urs clan originally based in Mysore city. The Wadiya ...
, then ruler of
Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
.

Temple plan
The late 17th century Venkataramana temple is located near the old fort ("fort" is ''kote'' in Kannada language) adjacent to what was once the residence of Mysore Wodeyar royal family, and later became the palace of
Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...
, a later ruler of the
Mysore Kingdom The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in South India, southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted su ...
.Michell (1995), p. 71 The temple consists of a sanctum (''
garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' () is the innermost sanctuary of Hindu and Jain temples, often referred to as the "holy of holies" or " sanctum sanctorum". The term ''garbhagriha'' (literally, "womb chamber") comes from the Sanskrit words ''garbha'' for ...
'') which is connected to a central hall (''
mantapa A ''mandapa'' or ''mantapa'' () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture and Jain temple architecture. ''Mandapas'' are described as "open" or "closed" dependin ...
'') by a vestibule. The walls of the sanctum and vestibule (antechamber) are plain but for a row of deity sculptures in
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
at the base. On the whole the temple exudes modest decorative work and follows the general plan used in the temples within the palace complex in Mysore. The hall ceiling is supported by pillars that have "clusters of colonettes" alternating with '' yalis'' (mythical beasts from Hindu legend) in all four directions. This appears on each of the central columns. The main festival celebrated here is
Vaikuntha Ekadashi Vaikuntha Ekadashi () is a Hindu occasion and festival. It is primarily observed by Vaishnavas, who regard it to be a special ekadashi. It coincides with Mokshada Ekadashi or Putrada Ekadashi. It is observed on the 11th lunar day of the wax ...
when thousands of devotees throng the temple. This temple provided the setting for the treasure hunt in the book Riddle of the Seventh Stone

Gallery
File:Mantapa (hall) in Kote Venkataramana Swamy Temple at Bengaluru.JPG, Ornate mantapa (hall) leading to the sanctum in Kote Venkataramana temple in Bengaluru (Bangalore). Central ''Yali'' pillars support ''mantapa'' ceiling File:Mantapa (hall) pillars in Kote Ventakaramana Swamy Temple at Bengaluru.JPG, Close up of ''Yali'' pillar inside the mantapa in Kote Venkataramana temple in Bengaluru File:Gopura (tower) over shrine in Kote Venkataramana Swamy Temple (17th century) at Bengaluru.JPG, A
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 ...
(tower) in the Kote Venkataramana temple in Bengaluru File:Yali Pillar of mantapa (hall) in Kote Venkataramana Swamy temple at Bengaluru.JPG, ''Yali'' pillar at Kote Venkataramana temple in Bengaluru

References
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Notes
{{Hindu temples in Karnataka 17th-century Hindu temples Hindu temples in Bengaluru Venkateswara temples 1689 establishments in India