Somnathpur Keshava Temple

 Somanathapura:

Keshava Temple of Somanathapura/Somnathpur (ಸೋಮನಾಥಪುರ): This temple is a perfect example of the Hoysala style of architecture built in 1268 A.D. It has three sanctums on the west, south and north to Keshava, Venugopala & Janardhana, all connected. It is an ornately carved temple of magnificent craftsmanship depicting Vishnu, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, Rati-Manmatha & Mahishasura. The ceilings and door jambs leading to the sanctum sanctorium are exquisitely carved. The temple is in the care of the Archeological Survey of India as a protected heritage site

Somanathapura is just 50km away from the Shivanasamudra waterfalls so both can be covered in a single day from Bangalore. Nearest city is Mysore just 35km away.

Keshava temple has one of the best preserved stone carvings of ancient architecture of India, in a very good condition.

Keshava Temple of Somanathapura

 Stone carvings on the wall of The Keshava Temple

Basement Frieze Animated riders top a band of elephants that rests upon the temple platform. Elephants are often found on the lowest course of the walls, as here, where they are considered to symbolically support the temple on their backs.In another section of frieze, horsemen wielding swords and spears trample fallen warriors underfoot. Below, a convoy of elephants carries baskets and fruits. Almost every person and animal in this frieze, including the fallen warriors, is given an individualized attribute or posture.

Section of frieze at Keshava Temple

On the left, dancing Ganesh; on the right, Vishnu seated "at ease" on Ananta. Between the panels is a female drummer

Lord Ganesha & Lord Vishnu

Indra, the king of the gods, rides with his consort Shachi on the royal elephant. Among his attributes is a vajra (thunderbolt) held aloft in his right hand. The elephant is probably caparisoned like the real elephants of the time; its tusks are filed, as was often done to prevent injury to the animals' riders and keepers.

Indra

Stone carved pillars inside the temple; each of them has distinctive design

Pillars

The entire fabric of the temple is covered with sculptures; hardly a square inch of space has escaped the carver's hand. The main panels, which are elaborately-worked Vaishnava images, rest at shoulder height atop a banded frieze of processional figures and scenes from the Ramayana; above, a second band of sculptures underlies the richly carved sanctuary roof.

Corbeled Dome of Keshava Temple.

It was so dark inside the temple that only a flash light can make the roof visible.

Intricate Craftsmanship at temple's roof

Statues of Lord Keshava, Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu

Lord Keshava, Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu

Garuda - Vishnu's mount lacks obvious bird-like features in this sculpture. With his legs in flying posture, he supports Vishnu and Lakshmi on a spray of lotus.

Garuda 

Krishna Playing the Flute - Krishna, surrounded by attendants, plays the flute beneath a tree. His dress and crown are richly ornamented. The typically rococo (ornate and intricate) manner of such sculptures makes the Hoysala one of the easiest styles to recognize in Indian art. 

Krishna Playing the Flute

Timings: 9:00AM to 5:30PM

Related Posts

Belur - Temple Complex

Belur Chennakeshava temple

Belur Chennakeshava temple Interiors

Belur Chennakeshava temple Madanikas

Hoysaleshwara temple of Halebeedu - Interiors

Hoysaleshwara temple Sculptures - Exteriors

Hoysaleshwara temple Nandi Mandapas and Museum

Kedareshwara temple and Parshwanatha Jain Basadi

Somnathpur Keshava Temple

Mysore weekend Tourism

Mysore weekend Tourism (A tourist hotspot):

One of the most visited places in Karnataka, and the most popular weekend getaways for Bangaloreans, with over 20 recognized destinations around Mysore. Some of these were visited on my visit to Mysore.

Mysore Dasara Exhibition

About Mysore:

Mysore the City of Palaces is a world famous destination having the most visited palace in India and 2^nd most visited in the world, one of the largest Tiger reserve in the world - Bandipur also the vicinity. Not to mention it has the most popular Birds Sanctuary in Karnataka – Ranganathittu. The Mysore Zoo is one more place to look out for as the best in Karnataka. The most popular being the Dasherra/Dasara Festival carnival held In between Oct-Nov. With over 2.7 million annual visitors for Mysore Palace it is the most visited tourist destination in India after Taj Mahal.

Tourist places:

Ranganathittu, KRS Dam-Brindavan Gardens, Srirangapatna-Tippu’s summer palace-sangama-Nimishamba Temple, Nanjangud, Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mysore Palace, Chamundeshwari Betta/Hills, Mysore Zoo,.

Routes:

You need at least 3 days to cover some of these routes. The best route suggested from Bangalore is on day1 Srirangapatna- Ranganathittu -KRS and night halt at Mysore, on day2 Mysore palace-Zoo and Chamundeshwari hills and night halt near to Himad gopalswamy hills and day3 early morning visit to the HG hills to see the sunrise and later in the afternoon Bandipur for safari and then in the evening to Nanjangud and back to Bangalore.

Route 1: (2 days) Bandipur National Park, Nanjangud, and Himad Gopalswamy Betta/Hills

Route 2: (1/2 days) Nagarhole National Park

Route 3: (1 day) Srirangapatna, Ranganthittu, KRS

Route 4: (1/2 days) Mysore city-Palace-Zoo, Chamundeshwari Hills

Travelogue:

We had planned for a 2 day trip so we couldn’t cover Mysore Zoo and HG hills.

Day1: Bangalore-Srirangapatna Tippu’s Summer Palace-Sangama-Nimishamba-Ranganathittu-Brindavan Gardens-KRS Aquarium-Mysore Palace(Night Illuminated)-Chamundeshwari Hills-Night halt at Mysore.

Day2: Mysore-Nanjangud-Bandipur- Mysore Palace (Day visit inside the palace)-Bangalore

Day1:

River Kaveri, Nimishamba

We started our journey from Bangalore early morning thinking the traffic would be less, but for our surprise the traffic at 5-6am was hectic as it was a long weekend during dasara festival.
By the time we came out of Bangalore it was already 6am. And we halted at Maddhur for Breakfast at Maddhur Tiffin’s.
Maddhur is famous for breakfast in south India style with Maddhur vada/vade being the most popular in that region.

Gumbaz

Just after you pass by the river Kaveri over the bridge you need to take a left at Srirangapatna which is at a distance of 125km from Bangalore,
We started our first destination at Nimishamba Temple, which is on the banks of the river Kaveri at a distance of 3km from the highway.
The Place as should have been a very picturesque for being on the river banks but disappointingly it was not well maintained.

The Mausoleum Of Tipu Sultan 

Just a little further around 1.5km is Gumbaz/ The Mausoleum Of Tipu Sultan which has some nice views around.

We then moved to what is called as Sangama around 1km from Gumbaz, which is not the one near Mekedatu. This Sangama is not so scenic but worth a visit since it is just a 5min drive from Srirangapatna.
It is the place of union of 3 holy rivers Kaveri River, Kabini River and Hemavati River.

Daria Daulat

We then moved to Tippu’s Summer palace/ Daria Daulat (Best part of Srirangapatna) and had a decent time spent on the well maintained lawn’s. The palace has some old paintings of Tippu’s era.
The palace comes on the way back towards the Highway around 3.5km from Sangama.

Tippu’s Summer palace

All these places come on the left side of the Blore-Mysore State Highway, all these places fall at less than 5km in distance with each other so can be covered in 2-3hrs.
One can visit Ranganatha temple which is on the right side of the Highway and is the most popular destination of Srirangapatna.

Ranganthittu Park

Way back to the highway took left towards Mysore and we then we could see a boarding written as Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary which falls on the right side of the Highway. You should take the KRS road on the right and further moving on the KRS road there is one more diversion on the right towards Ranganthittu; it is just around 5 km from the Srirangapatna junction. Ranganthittu is a decent place to spend some good relaxed time with the family.

Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

There is a well maintained park area in the entrance where u can relax or even have your homemade food on the places provided for having food. Also there is a large car parking area.
We had our lunch here which we got from home, and then started to walk towards the river where you get some spot different species of birds, most popular over there being River tern, Black headed Ibis, Painted Stork, Open bill Stork and also this place is famous for Crocodile, so playing in water is banned here but one can go in a boat ride provided from the Karnataka Tourism.

Crocodile

River Tern

Boating at Ranganthittu

Though the boats are big in size they are not motor boats reason being to maintain silence for the birds around and to have a smooth ride around the birds. The major drawback of this being no life jacket provided, even though it is maintained by the Government. 
Apart from the views from the boating you can also explore the river and the birds by going along the riverside with plenty of watch towers built along the river banks. 

Bridge towards KRS

You've to come back around 600m to reach the KRS road and then take right towards KRS on the KRS road. KRS is around 25km and takes 1hour drive from Ranganthittu and spent some good time watching the lawn and the fountains. 

Once you park the vehicle you can take the right side through the Ferry for Musical Fountain or can walk on the bridge, and KRS dam and Brindavan Gardens on the left side. There is also an Aquarium near the parking place which is worth a visit. 

Chamundeshwari hills

We then moved towards Chamundeshwari hills which is around 35kms from KRS and there are 3 routes to reach the hill from KRS, we took the Hunsur Road. On top of the hill is Sri Chamundeswari Temple and once you take the route down you come across a Huge Nandi statue carved out of single stone. 



We then came down the hill and visited Mysore Palace to have a night view with lights illuminated. Later in the night we halted at Mysore.

Day2:

On the day 2 we started our day with Bandipur in the morning which is around 80km from Mysore, though not so great for safari but a decent one. On safari you can spot Wild boar, Elephant, deer, Gaur, Peacock and Langur in large numbers. The place is one of the largest Tiger reserve in the whole world, it stretches 874sq km. Might be it is quite conserved for limiting the safari only to the nearby places and not in the deep jungle, so quite a lot of big cats and wild animals were not visible.  As per the Forest department The numbers are among the big cats there are over 75 Tigers and 88 Leopards in Bandipur reserve Forest, and the numbers are healthy when it comes to Elephants at over 3,500 and Gaur around 2,500. Though the major part of the forest is covered from Chital and Sambar.

Karnataka houses the highest number of Tiger Reserves in India, which includes Bandipur, Dandeli, Bannerghatta, Kudremukh, BR hills, Bhadra, and Nagarhole.

We then moved towards Nanjangud which was very attractive and well maintained temple at the banks of the river Kabini/Kapila. It is around 55km from Bandipur towards Mysore. Major attraction over there is Srikanteshwara Temple, there is also a big Shiva statue newly built at the place. 

We then moved towards Mysore and had lunch at kamat in the outskirts and the last place to be visited was kept preserved to be seen in the end of the trip. As it was said Mysore Palace is the 2^nd most visited Palace in the whole world it was surprisingly the best place to visit and a place not to miss in one’s life. Mysore Palace, rated as one of the 31 must-see places on Earth by New York Times. In 2010, Mysore Palace had a domestic visitor footfall of 3.1 million and another 70,000 from abroad. Well the place was so awesomely beautiful that it can be described only by seeing it from your eyes. As it was heavily crowded but still didn’t disappoint with its mesmerizing wall paintings and the royal doors and windows. Bottom-line is you must have seen it from outside but see it from inside to get to know why it is so popular. Camera’s and footwear are not allowed inside the Palace so one have to get a locker at the entrance to keep them inside the locker and visit the palace bare foot with hands free from your camera. Photography is strictly prohibited inside with CCTV’s watching you from every corner, don’t make a mistake by taking a pic from your mobile as you’ll be easily caught and taken into custody from the security personnel’s.

With the most delightful views for the eyes which last for a long time, we ended our journey back to Bangalore.

Related Posts

A Visit to the Ooty Gardens

Wayanad Greens