The Hoysala Empire ruled most of what is now the state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu, both of which still have the remnants of the magnificent temples that were constructed.
In the year 1258 CE, Somanatha Dandanayaka, a general of the Hoysala King Narasimha III built a temple to Sri Krishna at Somanathapura which in later centuries would come to epitomize the best of Hoysala architecture.
A little over fifty years after the temple was consecrated, it was attached by Islamic invaders. The first attack was by Malik Kafur, Alauddin Khilji’s general in 1311 and in 1326 Muhammad Bin Tughlaq destroyed the remaining structures.
The invaders forced the king Veera Ballalla III to submit, and looted him of 312 elephants and 20,000 horses, besides jewellery. The king fled to Tiruvannamalai, but died in Madurai, while fighting the invaders. The account of Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan traveler who was in the court of Muhammad Bin Tughluq, the reigning Sultan at the time says: The captured king was slain and skinned; his skin was stuffed with straw and hung from the top of the walls from Madurai.
As Will Durant, the American historian and author of the seminal work Story of Civilization says:
"The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within."
Situated less than a kilometer from the banks of the river Kaveri, the route to Somanathapura from the historical town of Srirangapatnam is lined with paddy and sugarcane fields and does not have any indication of the bloody battles that were part of its history.
The entrance to the temple does not provide an indication to the treasures it holds within.
Some parts of the temples were restored by Vijayanagara Kings and later by Wodeyars of Mysuru. The patchwork done after it was taken over by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is clearly visible.
The temple has three shrines - the central east-facing shrine dedicated to Keshava, the south-shrine dedicated to Venugopala and the north-shrine dedicated to Janardhana, all different manifestations of Sri Krishna.
The temple stands on a three-feet high platform - jagati - which also serves as the pathway for circumambulation - pradakshina around the shrine.
The Hoysala temple builders selected a stone of fine grain, a kind of greenish or bluish-black choloritic schist which could take carving as delicate and minute as the work of a smith in gold or silver.
As with most Hoysala temples, it consists of the sanctum sanctorum - garbagriha, a vestibule - sukanaasi, a pillared hall - navarangi, and an open-aired pavilion - mukhamandapa.
The entrance to the temple, like many Vishnu temples, is guarded by Jaya and Vijaya - Dwarapalas - the gate guardians.
They are adorned with the signs and emblems of Vishnu such as the tilaka on their fore heads and urdhvapundra (Nama) on their faces, arms, chest etc.. They carry in their upper hands the conch (shankha) and discus (chakra); and in the lower hands, the mace (gada) and a noose (pasha). The gestures of their fingers and the look in their eyes caution one to behave properly in the presence of the divinity.
The outer periphery of the entire temple is lined with these motifs: the lower layer of elephants - 540 in all - symbolizing strength, the women warriors above them depicting agility and the flowers on top symbolizing beauty. The fourth layer has depictions from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The courtyard corridor has 64 sub-shrines which are now empty - the statues in the smaller shrines were defaced, their limbs broken or destroyed as a result of the invasions.
The corridors are also lined by the lathe-turned pillars which are a prominent feature of this temple.
The outer walls contains a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, primarily related to the Vaishnavite tradition.
Vishnu in meditation, with the two icons he is associated with - the conch in His upper right hand and the discus in the upper left hand.
Another unusual depiction of Vishnu shows him sitting, in contrast to the more common depiction of Him in repose, on the 7-hooded Ananta, one of the primal beings who exists even when the universe has ceased to exist.
Also present is a rare depiction of Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, in a dancing pose with drummers providing accompaniment near her feet. She is shown holding corn and a lotus flower in her hands.
The exuberance continues with a depiction of dancing Ganesha.
An extremely rare depiction of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge.
She holds among other items, a Veena, a rosary and the Vedas in her hands. The icon is partially damaged, but the vitality and the dynamism of the Goddess are clearly visible.
Indra accompanied by his wife Sachi, seated on Airavata the celestial elephant.
This is one of the most striking statues - the upraised hand of Indra holding his weapon, the thunderbolt, the bent foot of the elephant and the garland apparently swinging around the neck give it a sense of dynamism that is unmatched.
There are two statues of Narasimha, the fourth avatar of Vishnu, in two of his aspects. Both the icons have been damaged, but the power and beauty of the Lord still shines through.
The north-eastern wall of the temple has what might have been one of the most striking icons before it was vandalized - Goddess Durga as Mahishasura-mardini - the killer of the demon Mahisha who was in the form of a buffalo. The sculptor was so proud of his work that he autographed it at the bottom.
The interiors of the temple are lighted by the stone windows present on the northern and southern sides.
Each section of the roof has a different pattern - some with lotus buds, some with banana plant buds, which have lost the original striking colors they might have had when crafted initially.
The pinnacle of the artistry is the three deities in the temple.
Venugopala in the southern shrine
Janardhana in the northern shrine
The attacks sustained by the temple resulted in the deity in the main shrine being vandalized and removed and an empty space left in its place. The ASI has placed another depiction of Keshava in the shrine, but it most likely is a poor replacement of the original which would have been resplendent in the center of the temple.
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