The Enshrined Jewel of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple at Nuggehalli

Soumyaroop Mukherjee

The Enshrined Jewel of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple at Nuggehalli

The temple of Sri Lakshmi-Narasimha in Nuggehalli, Karnataka, enshrines Sri Lakshmi and her spouse Narasimha. Narasimha was one of the avatars of Vishnu. The temple also houses some of the finest carvings on its walls.

Lakshmi Narasimha temple; Source: Creative Commons License

People say that India is a land of temples and South India is home to many such fascinating temples. The history of temple construction is fascinating in Indian history. From kings trying to bring small tribal groups under their tutelage to leaving an indelible mark on the history of the subcontinent, the purposes behind constructing temples have varied. A temple in the small town of Nuggehalli in Karnataka narrates another fascinating story of its history. The art and architecture sing about a bygone era of the mighty Hoysala kings. This temple is one of the best examples of 13th-century Hoysala architecture. It is an attraction for a large number of art and history lovers.

The splendid central shine is prominent and has a large tower. Unlike other temples in history, this one was not built by a king; as a matter of fact, it was built by Bommanna Dandanayaka, a commander under the Hoysala King, Vira Someshwara by the great sculptors Baichoja and Mallitamma.

Numerous carvings decorate the temple walls. These carvings are the finest examples of Hoysala art and architecture. They also throw light on their religious beliefs of Vaishnavism, and Shiva-Shakti worships. However, calling God to the earth to fulfil wishes stopped a long time ago here. Today, this temple is an ASI-protected monument so, no religious offerings are made. Though religious offerings are no longer offered in the temple sanctum, there is an annual Brahmotsava during March- April every year when devotees thong at this temple.

Several questions emerge from the remains of the temple. Why did the mighty Hoysalas choose a small town like Nuggehali to build such a magnificent temple? It is easy to answer this question. It was because the site was very near to their capital, Halebidu.

This temple is richly decorated and built in the trikuta vimana style with beautiful sculptures along the walls. The figurines are directly from the Hindu text, Bhagavatha. There are also animal figurines like elephant processions, horses, foliage, and mythical bears called yalis or makara and hamsa or swans. The style they followed was the Karnataka Dravida style.

This Hoysala style is an offshoot of the Chalukya style of architecture. These Hoysala temples were beautiful enough to be compared to the golden works of goldsmiths and ivory workers. The material used in the temple building was green or black-chloritic schist stone or soapstone. These stones were widely used since they were found in plenty in the Karnataka region.

From the outside, architecture specialists can claim it as an ekakuta (single tower/ shrine) temple. The towers are a later addition, a classic example of a tribute (three shrines and towers) that look like ekakuta. According to Foekema, “ water pot like decorative stone structure on top of the tower. This is often lost over the centuries and is normally seen replaced by a metallic pinnacle. Often in Hoysala temple, only the centre of the three shrines has a tower. So the term trikutha may not literally be true.” Percy Brown, the famous art critic calls this one of the distinguishing features of Hoysala art.

The plan of the temple shrine is square and the roof topping is also a helmet-like structure which is made of stone. On a close observation inside the temple complex, one can see that there are three tiers of smaller roofs which are decorative and have their own kalasha that forms the body of the main tower. There is a large open hall with ten pillars which was constructed by the later kings during the Hoysala period for making the original porch and closed mandapa which may appear as the original inner portion of the temple. The superstructure on top of the entrance hall forms the tip and has only two tiers of ornamented roofs. This is why the sukanasi looks like an extension of the main tower.

There are only two layers of ornamental roofs that make up the superstructure of the vestibules, which creates the nose. Two elephant figurines are standing in front of the inner courtyard sparking awe among the spectators. The eaves are decorated with ornate details and the architrave is marked with pilaster turrets. According to historian Kamath, this is broadly called "horizontal treatment". The three shrines of the temples depict various avatars of Vishnu including Narasimha and Krishna and his consort Lakshmi.

Knowing the rich heritage of Nuggehali, people going to Karnataka can enjoy this temple architecture and add this to their bucket list.

This temple was built on a jati or platform and the temple follows a square plan. We can assume that the original temple was small so, a large hall or mandapa was added to it. This was common to Dravidian temple architecture. There are Four lathe-turned pillars that have a deeply rounded centre supporting the mandapa's ceiling. The vimana tower is much more elaborate than the walls, being split into three horizontal portions. The shrine has a vestibule or passage that connects the temple's outer portion to the inner temple or garbhagriha.

The most prominent part of this architecture is that the vestibule also has a tower or sikhara which people can count as the ‘nose’ or shorter extension of the main tower. The style of the sikhara should be noted because it follows the vesara style or bell-shaped style instead of the Dravida style. This type of structure is known as Sukanasi. The other two shrines contain smaller towers because they have no hallway to conjoin them to the central mandapa, so they don't have any sukanasi.