Harihareshwara Temple

On our way back from the Utsav rock garden on the NH4 we took a diversion on the left side into Harihara town (Davangere Dist.) before the Tungabhadra river crossing. About 3.5km drive inside the town is the ancient Harihareshwara Temple. This temple is built in Hoysala architecture in 1224 A.D by Polalva, a general of the Hoysala king Narasimha II.

Harihareshwara Temple

The temple is located on the right bank of the river Tungabhadra, and has entrances to its North, South and East. The main shrine has an image of Harihara, with the left portion of the image represents Vishnu with the attributes of Chakra and Shankha in the hands and the right half representing Shiva has attributes Trishula and Japamala. This Kirata exhibits both Vaishnava and Shaiva elements of Karandamakuta and Jatamukuta, which is rarely seen.

Side view of the Harihareshwara Temple

Sculptures carved on the walls of the temple

Interesting patterns were carved intricately on the roof of the temple.

At the entrance of the temple

Carvings on the roof of the temple.

The most attracting aspect of the temple structure is the 56 circular lathe-turned pillars.

What I feel about the architecture of this temple is it has elements from both Hoysala and Vijayanagara architecture.

Beautiful Lathe-turned Circular pillars

Don’t miss to visit this temple if your passing by NH4, it’s definitely worth to visit.

On our way back to Bengaluru, just before Chitradurga we stopped at the beautiful Katral Lake which is on the NH4. The view can be enjoyed on the Highway and we started back our journey back to Bengaluru.

Katral Lake on NH4