Veeranarayana Swami, Belavadi

The Veera Narayana swamy temple also called as Viranarayana temple is located in Belavadi and is a triple Hindu temple. This temple was built with the Hoysala architecture style and was completed around 1200 CE. This is a large Hoysala monument which has three seperate square sanctums connected through a large square called ranga mandapa which is around 103 feet. The main temple is east facing and is dedicated to Viranarayana (lord Vishnu). The north facing shrine is dedicated to Gopala(Krishna), the south facing shrine is dedicated to Yoga Narasimha(lord Narasimha). The temple was likely expanded in stages. 

Significance

This temple got damaged in 14th century and some features were added to protect the temple from any other destructions in future. The features of this temple include its ornamented shikara. The ceilings too depict about lord Krishna.This temple is nationally protected monument of India and is managed by Archaeological Survey of India.It is a trikuta temple with three shrines built with soapstone material. Each of the three shrines has a complete tower on top of shrine and is one of the largest temples built by the Hoysala kings.

The temple plan is different as two of the shrines face each other and are located on either side of a open spacious mantapa. This is a Vaishnava temple and all three shrines have idols of lord Vishnu in different forms. The central shrine has an 8 ft tall idol of Narayana with four hands.  The southern shrine has a 8ft tall idol of Venugopala and the northern shrine has a 7 ft tall idol of Yoganarasimha sitting in a yoga posture.

How To Reach

Belavadi bus stop is just 350 m from this temple and you can reach easily by walk.