Chennakeshava Temple, Hullekere

The Chennakeshava temple in Hullekere village, Arasikere taluk, about 22 km from Arasikere, is dedicated to Vishnu. A minister of the Hoysala king Narasimha I built it in soapstone in 1163, and it is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.

It is a single-shrine (ekakuta) temple. Visitors enter through an open pillared porch with parapets on both sides, then a closed hall whose ceiling rests on four lathe-turned pillars that divide it into nine decorated bays; a vestibule leads on to the sanctum. The ornament on the parapets, ceiling, lintel and pillars is notable. The shrine's plain square inner walls contrast with an outer face of projections and recesses carrying kirtimukhas, miniature towers, deities and pilasters. The tower rises in diminishing tiers to a large ornate dome, the biggest sculpture in the temple, and a kalasha, while the tower over the vestibule bears the Hoysala emblem of a warrior stabbing a lion.