Somanthpura :-Sri Ugra Narahimha Swamy Temple- Part1

South India is famous for its larger than life temples but I heard a very little about this Temple , but once I was there, I felt I need to write about this place and this temple particularly.  

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Picture 1. Lord Narahimha Swamy killing Hiranyakaspu.

Come let explore the "Somnath Temple" , near Mysore. Don't go by the name its a Vishnu Temple (not a Shiva Temple). The name of the village where this temple is, is Somnathpur. And also according to some Somnath was the guy who built this temple there. This Temple is built in "Hoyasala style".

Somnathpur is a small village on the banks of the river Cauvery that was founded by the commander of the Hoyasala , Somnath.

  

As I said this Temple is built in honor of Hindu God Vishnu,
In this is temple you can see all the avatars of lord Vishnu. The platform of the temple is in the form of a Star, if you notice in  this pic above.

In this post I will try to provide as much as detail I remember but guys I must say be there to feel the synergy.

The architect of this temple wanted to create a harmony between North Indian style of temple and South India of temple construction . This is evident from the many sculptures in this temple as the pictures below

The Steeple of the  dome called "Shikhara" in Sanskrit, of almost all the temples in northern india are constructed as shown in picture ( example Kedarnath Temple) .

Notice the "Shikhara" in the second picture is little different from the earlier one. This is how temples are constructed in Southern Indian states.Now the common thing in both the above picture is the  "Lion"  or "Shima"  and that was the royal emblem of the "Hoyasala Kingdom "

 The Picture above is royal Emblem Of the "Hoyasala Kingdom".

The above picture is very interesting and symbolic too. Okay here is test ..try decoding it before reading.

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This is work done all round the temple at bottom most layer. Here the elephants at the bottom layer indicates the strength  to carry the weight of the structure. In other word is signifies a very very strong foundation. The second layer depicts soldiers and horses , its for the security of the temple. Indian temples were very rich that point of time with lots of golds and diamonds which also became one of the major reasons for their destruction in future.  

Well the third layer depicts ornamental flowers which signifies the aesthetics or decoration of the temple.

So these were the three foundation on which the temple was construction .   

"Strength-Security-Beauty" is what the above piece of work means.

There is so much to tell about this temple...

Catch up in the next post 

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