Hosaholalu Lakshmi Narayana temple is one among the many Hoysala temples scattered around the Hoysala territory. A lesser known Hoysala temple compared to Belur, Halebid and Somanthpura temples. It is said to be bulit by Hoysala King Vira Someswara in 1250C.E.
Temple is built on a platform and is a Trikuta Vimana Architecture. The main shrine is for Lakshmi Narayana while the other two are for Venugopala and Lakshmi Narasimha. Temple has a Navaranga with well polished pillars. The roof is carved exquisitely to look like an inverted flower.
Outer walls of the temple are filled with carvings. Base of the temple has six friezes. Bottom frieze has elephants, the one above it has cavalry. On top of which is a floral pattern with Kirtimukhas at the corners. Above it is the depiction of Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Top frieze has Hamsas, while the one below it has Makara.
Above the friezes are images of Vishnu in his various forms.
Hosaholalu is in Mandya district. It is 60kms from Mysore and 70Kms from Hassan. It is 40kms off Bangalore-Mysore Highway from Srirangapatna.
Visavad is a small village that lies on the Dwarka-Porbandar Highway. Visavad is an ancient place which used to be called Vishnupad. It is famous for the Mool Dwaraka temple. Adjacent to the temple complex is a stepwell, built in the 13th century, similar in design but much smaller in proportion to that of Adalaj Vav in Ahmedabad. Locals call it Jananavapi. It has an L-shaped plan, with stairs leading down to the well. The entrance to the well is through a mantap which has a pyramidical tower on top and a bench with backrest on either side. As one descends the stairs and at the turn is the first of the three pyramidical towers covering the three pavilions of the longer side of L. The middle tower has a storey, while the last and the third one has two storeys. The niches in the vav have idols of deities including Vishnu, Brahma and Surya.
