Navalinga Temple, Kukkanur

The Navalinga temples stand in the town of Kukkanur (Kuknur), Koppal district, 6 km north of Itagi and about 40 km east of Gadag. Built in the 9th century under the Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha I or his son Krishna II, the group takes its name, 'nine lingas', from the Shiva linga in each of its nine shrines.

The shrines are placed loosely, with no clear order, each topped by a South Indian dravida-style tower. Four halls serve the group, three in an east–west line opening onto the shrines. The sandstone is of poor quality and much surface decoration has worn away, but the finish was once rich: the hall pillars are finer than those at Pattadakal, and a surviving architrave shows two makaras with scaled bodies and florid tails. Gajalakshmi appears over the shrine doorways. Two old-Kannada inscriptions survive in the complex, and others in the town record grants to goddesses such as Chamundi, Sarasvati and Kalikadevi, prompting the idea that the temples were first dedicated to them.