File:11th century Someshwara temple, Lakshmeswar, Karnataka India - 89.jpg

From Bharatpedia, an open encyclopedia

Original file ‎(3,388 × 4,518 pixels, file size: 4.24 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This file is from Wikimedia Commons and may be used by other projects. The description on its file description page there is shown below.

Summary

Description
English: This is a large temple complex in Lakshmeswar town, northwestern Karnataka. It is about 40 kilometers southwest of Gadag-Betigeri twin city between Goa and Hampi. Prior to the 13th-century, it was one of the large cities of this region, one that existed by the 7th-century CE evidenced by stone inscriptions and literature of Jainism and Hinduism. This city is variously referred to in Jain and Hindu texts, for example: Purikaranagara, Purigere, Puligere, Dakshina Somanatha, Huligere, Hurigere, Puligiri and others. This is one of many ruined Jain and Hindu temples found in Lakshmesvar area, and among over 80 ruined historic temples and monasteries found in the Gadag-Lakkundi-Lakshmesvar region.
  • The temple has many inscriptions that help date and attest to its significance. The earliest of these is from 1102 CE. This refers to this temple's sanctum to be dedicated to Svayambhu-Someswar, mentions a school (ghatika, shala) run by Acharya Mahendra Pandita, and grant made to support this school's students and their expenses. The inscription implies that the temple and its school was already operating for a while prior to the 12th century CE. The inscriptions mention donations by both males and females (Hindu names).
  • Several inscriptions from the 12th and early 13th century mention the temple's religious and social/educational importance, declare gifts and donations to it along with naming the head of monastery and school attached to the temple (e,g, Acharya Nageshwar). These inscriptions also suggest that there was close collaboration between this part of Karnataka and southern region of Gujarat (Saurashtra) prior to the 14th-century.
  • The temple is also called Dakshina Somanatha – an epithet it shares with several other Hindu temples in South India. The legend behind this temple states that a priest from Somnath, Gujarat escaped during a raid and destruction there, and brought with him one of the Shiva-on-Nandi statues to Puligere (Lakshmeswar). The local Hindu community and king then built a temple in its honor and consecrated it here as "Dakshina Somanatha" (Southern Somnath).
  • The temple faces east. It has a large compound with many shrines and a stepwell (pushkarni). The main temple features a large gathering hall for pilgrims and devotees (ranga mandapa), one that can be entered from three directions. This is connected to the mukhya mandapa, that has two additional entrances on its north and south.
  • The sanctum of this active temple is plain inside. The floor and walls of the sanctum area are refurbished with modern floor. The stone architecture of the sanctum, the door, the mandapa and the rest of the temple is largely original material but with significant post-1990 restoration by Infosys Foundation.
  • A notable feature of this temple is the unusual statue of Shiva riding his Nandi vahana, instead of the typical Shiva-linga that is found in South Indian Shiva temples.
  • The outer walls and carvings that depict gods and goddesses show evidence of erosion as well as well deliberate defacing and mutilation.
  • The temple has several madapas, likely associated with the school and social functions. One of them, per inscriptions here, was for utsava and nritya (festivals and dance).
  • The temple design and artwork is a mix of Nagara, Dravida and Dravida-Nagara hybrid styles. The mandapa and sanctum have a square plan, while the sikhara eleborates on the Hindu square and circle principles of architecture.
Date
Source P. Madhusudan (ticket:2021031010007171)
Author P. Madhusudan
Camera location15° 07′ 33.97″ N, 75° 28′ 24.45″ E  Heading=0° Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

Licensing

Photographs created by P. Madhusudan, Telangaana, India uploaded by User:Ms Sarah Welch are released as CC-0.

This license & permission applies only to the photographs and not to any protected works that might be depicted in the media itself. Unless stated otherwise, the content depicted in the media is in the public domain due to its age.

Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

VRT Wikimedia

This work is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose. If you wish to use this content, you do not need to request permission as long as you follow any licensing requirements mentioned on this page.

The Wikimedia Foundation has received an e-mail confirming that the copyright holder has approved publication under the terms mentioned on this page. This correspondence has been reviewed by a Volunteer Response Team (VRT) member and stored in our permission archive. The correspondence is available to trusted volunteers as ticket #2021020910004089.

If you have questions about the archived correspondence, please use the VRT noticeboard. Ticket link: https://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&TicketNumber=2021020910004089
Find other files from the same ticket: SDC query (SPARQL)

Captions

A historic Shiva temple with a monastery and Vedic school in Lakshmeshwar, Gadag district, Karnataka

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

coordinates of the point of view

15°7'33.971"N, 75°28'24.449"E

heading: 0.0 degree

inception

28 February 2021

exposure time

0.03030303030303030303 second

focal length

3.93 millimetre

MIME type

image/jpeg

checksum

89c7bcd1e828f480e75870375435bd13197d9f6a

determination method: SHA-1

data size

4,441,477 byte

height

4,518 pixel

width

3,388 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current02:51, 21 March 2021Thumbnail for version as of 02:51, 21 March 20213,388 × 4,518 (4.24 MB)wikimediacommons>Ms Sarah WelchUploaded a work by P. Madhusudan from P. Madhusudan (OTRS 2021031010007171) with UploadWizard

The following page uses this file:

Metadata

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/File:11th_century_Someshwara_temple,_Lakshmeswar,_Karnataka_India_-_89.jpg"