The
Amruteshvara temple also spelt as "Amrutesvara" or
"Amruteshwara" is located in the village of Amruthapura, in Tarikere
Taluk of the Chikkamagaluru district. The temple is one among the few of the
most beautifully preserved Hoysala temples. As per the inscriptions found here,
this temple was built around 1196 AD by Amruteshwara Dandanayaka, an army
general of the Hoysala king Ballala II. This ekakuta design temple built
according to Hoysala architecture with a wide open mantapa, has an original outer wall
with unique equally spaced circular carvings. The temple has a closed mantapa
(hall) that connects the sanctum to the large open mantapa. The open mantapa
has twenty nine bays, and the closed mantapa has nine bays with a side porch
that leads to a separate shrine on the south side.
The outer parapet wall of the open mantapa has a total of hundred and
forty panel sculptures with depictions from the Hindu epics. Unlike many
Hoysala temples where the panels are small and carvings are miniature, these
panels are comparatively larger. The Ramayana is sculpted on the south side wall on seventy panels,
with the story proceeding quite unusually, in anti-clockwise direction. On the
north side wall, all depictions are clockwise, a norm in Hoysala architectural
articulation. Twenty five panels depict the life of the Hindu god Krishna and the
remaining forty five panels depict scenes from the epic Mahabharata.
Twenty five panels
in the north depict the birth and childhood of Krishna from Bhagavata purana in
the clockwise direction.It almost touches all major incidents which happened
and the artists have carefully considered the details to the maximum extent. Some
of the panels relating to Krishna's childhood at Mathura are
L: Yashoda receiving Baby
Krishna from Vasudeva in the presence of cows and calves.
R: Baby Krishna's birth being celebrated with musicians on flute, drums and tambour and cows led
by a cowherd.
L:Baby Krishna in a cradle below the cart and kicking at it, thus
killing the demon Sakatasura.
R:Krishna being placed in a cradle
suspended by ropes by gopikas amidst cows. A calf is seen drinking milk
from its mother.
L: Krishna killing demons in the birds form
R: Krishna killing Vatasura who had disguised as calf and mingled with calves by holding his hing legs
L: On being scolded by Yashoda for eating mud Krishna shows the
universe in his mouth.
R:Krishna,tied to a mortar by a rope tries to unrope
himself by passing in between the two trees where the mortar gets stuck.
L:Krishna climbs on to a mortar and loots butter from pots suspended from
the ceiling and is watched by gopikas
R: Krishna stealing butter from the pot being churned by a
gopika, who seems to be unaware.
L: Cows and gopikas are attracted by the flute of Krishna( Venugopala).
R: Krishna dancing on the hood of the snake Kalinga who had come to poison river Yamuna (Kalingamardhana).
L:- Krishna killing the bull demon Aristasura who had entered Vrindavana to cause destruction.
R: Krishna lifting Govardhana giri to protect the people and cows from the destructing rain.
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