Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi, Gadag: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi 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

Lakkundi is phonetically shortened name of the historic city of Lokkigundi, a name found in inscriptions in the village and those quite far in southern Karnataka and Maharashtra. The earliest surviving inscription was discovered by British archaeologists on a stone slab near Kanner Bhanvi – a step well in Lakkundi. The inscribed stone slab was being used by local dhobis (laundry washerman) to wash clothes at the step well. The inscription on it dates to 790 CE. This inscription confirms that Lakkundi was already in existence and significant enough for an inscription by the 8th-century. James Fergusson – the 19th-century Scottish historian known for his archaeological and architectural studies in India, reported over 30 more inscriptions from Lakkundi, in Kannada and Sanskrit, most of which range between the 11th and 12th century. Some of these were foundation stone inscriptions of Jain and Hindu temples, others gifts to different temples, to Maha-agrahara, to monasteries such as Hiree Matha (now lost), to donate step wells for the public and pilgrims, and other purposes. Though damaged, many of them include the Saka year of the inscription. The profusion of these inscriptions attests to the importance of Lakkundi as a historic city to both Hindu and Jain traditions.

Many more inscriptions on stone and copper plates mentioning Lokkugundi have been discovered far from Lakkundi. However, in this part of ancient and medieval Karnataka, Lokkugundi is among the most mentioned cities. By 1884, some thirty five Hindu and Jain inscriptions dated to between the 9th and 13th-century CE had been found that mention Lokkugundi. Though Lakkundi was an established town in the second half of the 1st millennium, its growth and wealth came after 973 CE when Taila II, a Chalukya of Vatapi descendant and chieftain appointed in 965 CE, organized a successful revolt against Karkka II of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. In regional texts, the reign that followed is called Cālukya (Later Chalukyas, Kalyani Chalukyas, or Chalukyas of Kalyana) to distinguish them from the Calukya (Early Chalukyas). Lakkundi flowered and grew with the Shiva-tradition Hindu monarch Satyasraya Irivabedanga – the successor and son of Taila II who came to power in 997 or 998 CE. This is attested by both Jain and Hindu inscriptions of early 11th-century.

Lakkundi grew to be a major city, prosperous and one with a mint. Lakkundi and several historic towns to its north – such as Rona, Sudi, Kradugu now known as Gadag, Hooli and others – attracted a burst of religious, cultural and literary flowering from the 11th to 13th century, with ever more sophisticated temple architectures, Vidyadana (charity supported schools) and public works such as step wells. These are largely in the context of Shaivism and Jainism, though a few major temples of Vaishnavism here are also from this period. In 1192 CE, after many of the remarkable temples of Lakkundi were already standing, a Sanskrit inscription of Hoysala king Ballala II re-affirms the continued importance of Lakkundi and it becoming his capital. After the 13th-century, there is an abrupt end to all evidence of new public works, temples, inscriptions and other indirect signs of economic prosperity in Lakkundi.

Architecture of Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi

The Lakkundi temples follow the traditions and experimentation in architecture and arts (vastu sastra, silpa sastra) that began in the region between northern and southern tributaries of Krishna River, particularly the Malaprabha and Tungabhadra rivers. The surviving examples of these stretch from Aihole, Pattadakal to Alampur, Srisailam and Biccavolu regions (north Karnata, Andhradesa and Telingana). These show artisans and architects from the different regions and traditions of the Indian subcontinent sharing ideas, creating and innovating new temple designs where sections of the temple, including the towering superstructure over the sanctums combine and improve upon the north and south Indian designs (spire, sikhara, vimana). The earliest Lakkundi temple, the Brahma Jinalaya Jain temple, shows a continuity with the architecture found in the Kukkanur Hindu temple. The Kasivisvesvara temple attests to a stage of rapid, bold and elaborate synthesis of different styles on an imperial scale. It exemplifies the Vesara-style Hindu temple architecture, a major innovation of the 11th-century.

The larger shrine has a three storey (tritala) vimana with beautifully rendered wall-pilasters, one with a bifacial pallavi and bharaputraka-figures in the upper section. Small kutastambhas are carved between the karna and pratikarna, capped with elaborate and rich toranas. The artwork in these kutastambhas and toranas are unique in their details around the superstructure, thus enlivening the space framed between each salilantara-depression as one circumambulates the shrines. The karna niches present Bhimija, Vesara and Dravida designs found in early Sanskrit texts.