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.
