page_title: Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura
section_title: Ramayana
hierarchical_section_title: Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura / Description / Outer walls: lower levels / Ramayana
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a derivative work on the following image available on wikimedia commons with creative commons license: Chennakesava Temple Sculpture detail (3924883715).jpg A: platform around the main temple for clockwise circumambulation B: Elephants band C: Horsemen band D: Scroll band E: Hindu texts band The Keshava temple at Somanathapura show friezes of the Ramayana, the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata. The temple, also called Kesava or Chennakesava temple, is a Vaishnava Hindu temple. It is located at Somanathapura (Somanathpur) in South Karnataka, in a small village on the banks of the river Cauvery, about 40 km from the city of Mysuru. The temple is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture and testament to the sophistication of Hindu art and architecture by the 12th-century. Built by 1268 CE by a commander of Hoysala king Narasimha III, it illustrates fine carvings with extraordinary details.
context_page_description: The Chennakesava Temple, also referred to as Chennakeshava Temple, Keshava Temple or Kesava Temple, is a Vaishnava Hindu temple on the banks of River Kaveri at Somanathapura, Karnataka, India. The temple was consecrated in 1258 CE by Somanatha Dandanayaka, a general of the Hoysala King Narasimha III. It is located 38 kilometres east of Mysuru city.
  The ornate temple is a model illustration of the Hoysala architecture. The temple is enclosed in a courtyard with a pillared corridor of small shrines. The main temple in the center is on a high star-shaped platform with three symmetrical sanctums, set in a square matrix oriented along the east–west and north–south axes. The western sanctum was for a statue of Kesava, the northern sanctum of Janardhana and the southern sanctum of Venugopala, all forms of Vishnu. The sanctums share a common community hall with many pillars. The outer walls, the inner walls, the pillars and the ceiling of the temple are intricately carved with theological iconography of Hinduism and display extensive friezes of Hindu texts such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana.
context_section_description: Only the early parvas of the Ramayana are depicted. A few shown at the Kesava temple include:
  Dasharatha makes ritual offerings and prayers for children. Rama and his brothers are born.
  Babies rocked in cradles, another frieze shows Rama and his brothers crawling on all fours.
  School life, martial lessons.
  Young Rama slays Tataka to protect the Rishis.
  Vishvamitra, Rama and Lakshmana at Janaka's court. Another shows Sita marrying him.
  Married Rama and his brothers in Ayodhya.
  Rama, Lakshmana and Sita leave for their exile. They wander in forests and meet various sages.
  Viradha attacks Sita, Rama slays him.
  Surpanakhi episode.
  Golden deer legend.
  Ravana abducts Sita. Another frieze shows him slaying Jatayu.
  Hanuman and Sugriva meet and join Rama.
  The rest of the Ramayana is not depicted, and the Bhagavata Purana starts thereafter.
caption: The various bands on the lower part of the outer wall at the main Kesava Temple. A: the platform; B: marching elephants; C: marching horsemen; D: nature scroll; E: friezes of Hindu texts.[25]
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