Moole Shankareshvara Temple, Turuvekere

The Moole Shankareshvara Temple, also spelt Shankareshwara or Sankaresvara, is a Shiva temple in Turuvekere, a small town in Tumakuru district about 77 miles from Bengaluru. Turuvekere began in the 13th century as an agrahara, a centre of learning, and the temple was raised around 1260 under the Hoysala king Narasimha III. It is protected by the Karnataka division of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The art historian Adam Hardy describes its plan as Bhumija Nagara, a north Indian form, set on a semi-stellate base. Built of soapstone, it follows the usual Hoysala layout: a sanctum linked by a square vestibule to a closed hall entered through a porch with half-pillars and parapets. The tower over the vestibule looks like a low projection of the main shikhara, which Gerard Foekema likens to its nose. Inside, four lathe-turned pillars divide the hall ceiling into nine ornate bays, and outside the walls carry pilasters and miniature towers above six horizontal mouldings.