Turuvekere town ( Tumkur district ) grew out of the taxfree land granted by the Hoysala King Narasimha to learned brahmins in the 13 th Century . His wife Lokambike , being a native of this region commissioned some philanthropic works for the benefit of the settlers here .
The town , Sri Sarvajna Vijaya Narasimhapura , came under the adminstration of Narasimha's Dandanayaka ( Governor) Somanna .
Inspired by his Lord Master Narasimha's commissioning of the awesome Chennakeshava Temple at Somanathapura , Dandanayaka Somanna seems to have followed suit ! In 1258 , he built a small ekakuta shrine , in the same standard hoysala stellate plan , to the same Chennakeshava , in Turvekere . A lithic record gives the fact that the temple was built to secure Sadgati ( salvation ) and Brahmaloka prapti ( abode of eternal peace ) for his forefathers .
This Chennakeshava aka Chennigaraya temple was the first monument we set out to find , upon arrival in Turuvekere .
The hunt for Chennigaraya in the small town was not so easy . With no sign boards to direct and clueless shopkeepers to contend with , one had to fall back on google maps and eagle-eyed lookouts .
Finally.....spotted .
The compact , model-like shrine stood at the end of an alley , in the back of nowhere , unheralded and locked .
What brought life to the somnolent stones was a lively gathering of school children , all full of beans , engaged in a Geetha Recitation competition .
Thanks to those bright faces and sweet recitals, we hardly noticed the total absence of figurative carvings on the walls, base and spire of the little shrine . The walls did have symmetrical pilasters and stiff aedicules , but little else to look at . Discounting graffiti , ofcourse .
From the evasive answers of the locals , we could surmise that though the temple had prefunctory daily poojas , it was mostly locked up .
A signboard outside the gate indicates that it is a monument protected by ASI ( State). But without any obliging caretaker with ready keys .
So there was no way for us to see the the decorative pillars ,the ceiling bays and the icons in worship in the inner cella .
The small porch though , is quite lovely with two squat " lathe-turned" pillars holding up a simple ceiling with floral decoration.
The doorway is bordered on either side by pillars with angular "accordian folds" type of ornamentation , with a rather simple lalatabimba ( lintel ) .
Above the lintel are found a few lines of dense inscriptions , probably giving details of the temple's origin.
The Handsome Lord ( Chenniga raya ) will , hopefully , give us another appointment for a more fulfilling meeting .
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