Arakeshvara Templa, Chamarajanagar: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Arakeshvara Templa is open every day, usually from early morning to late evening with a break in the afternoon. Darshan and aarti timings change with the season and on festival days.

• MorningOpens early morning (around 5 to 6 AM)
• AfternoonShort break around midday at many temples
• EveningEvening aarti around sunset, closes by about 8 to 9 PM

Ask the temple office on arrival for the day's aarti schedule.

Dress Code & Temple Rules

• DressModest, traditional clothes covering shoulders and knees
• FootwearRemove before entering; use the shoe stand
• PhotographyNot allowed inside the sanctum
• Not AllowedLeather items, tobacco, alcohol, non-veg food
• QueueFollow queue lines and staff instructions on festival days

The temple has a simple plan characteristic of Western Ganga constructions. It has a sanctum (garbhagriha), a vestibule (called sukhanasi) that connects to the sanctum a large well sculptured closed hall (navaranga or mahamantapa) and an open, elevated and detached mantapa outside facing the shrine containing the sculptured image of nandi (the companion of the Hindu god Shiva) facing east (called the nandimantapa). The base on which the temple is raised (called adhishthana) is a simple set of moldings.

The overall decoration is simple with dancing celestial maiden (apsaras) within volutes of scrolls (lata-patra, lit, "creeper leaf") which extend over the door jamb and linel. On either side of the entrance doorway are two tall rectangular vertical slabs reaching up to the lintel, divided into four panels with relief friezes depicting male drummers (called dola-nritya). The top panel has rustic male dancers who appear to dance to a musicians' ensemble who play the drum, violin, rudra veena, flute and the kanjira. According to the historian Sarma, in no contemporary temple are such native (desi) forms of dance depicted. The most interesting bas-relief sculptures in the temple, according to Sarma, are the ones on the rounded pillars in the nandimantapa and the closed mahamantapa. These relief vividly depict the victory of Butaga II over the Chola prince Rajaditya, in addition to themes from the Hindu epics, mythical figures and demi-gods. The high point of the relief work, in the closed mahamantapa is the ashtadikpalaka grid ("guardians of eight directions") in the ceiling with a central dancing Shiva (called natya shiva). There are several independent sculptures in the closed hall, including Mahishasuramardini (version of the goddess Durga slaying an asura), Yago Dakshinamurthy (god Shiva as "the teacher"), Saptamatrika (seven celestial mothers) and other sculptures that adhere to the 8th-9th century Ganga-Chalukya sculptural idiom.