a town and taluk in Hassan district in the state of Karnataka, India. The town is renowned for its Chennakeshava Temple dedicated to Vishnu, one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture and the largest Hindu temple complex that has survived from pre-14th-century Karnata-Dravida tradition.
This temple was created in the victory of hoysala dynasty , when a king won , he build it cause it contained a big land win , channakehava in the karnataka is called handsome , they names it after vishnu
Inscriptions
An inscription found on the east wall near the north entrance of the temple's main mandapa (hall) states that Vishnuvardhana commissioned the temple for god Vijayanarayana in 1117 CE. Some historians have interpreted this inscription as stating that the Chennakeshava Temple was completed in 1117 CE.
The Chennigaraya temple was built concurrently with the main temple, and the queen sponsored it.
Narasimha I of Hoysala dynasty made grants to the temple for its maintenance and operation.
Ballala II in 1175 CE added temple buildings for kitchen and grain storage in the southeast corner, and a water tank in the northeast corner of the temple
Reason for being famous and great sculptures
The mandapa leads to the garbha griya past the pillars and a doorway. The door is flanked by dvarapala, Jaya and Vijaya. Its pediment has Lakshminarayana in center. Below it are musicians playing 12th-century musical instruments. On the side are two makaras with Varuna and Varuni together riding on them. Inside the square sanctum is the image of Keshava, or as inscriptions call it "Vijayanarayana". It stands on a 3 feet high pedestal, is about 6 feet high with a halo.It has four hands, with chakra and shankha in the upper hands and a gada and lotus in his lower hands. The halo has cyclical carving of the ten avatars of Vishnu – Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. The temple is active house of worship, with Keshava dressed and decorated, priests present and devotees doing darshana.
Structure of temple
The Chennakeshava complex at Belur consists of a 443.5 feet by 396 feet court with several Hindu temples and minor shrines inside a walled compound
Some loses of thee temple
Some of the britishers stole many sculptures from the temple, then even the delhii sultans destroyed a part of the temple , while other parts was destroyed by humans