Temple Description

A Hindu shrine called Kodandaramaswami Temple is situated at Hiremagalur, close to Chikkamagaluru, in the district of Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka, India. The temple god, known as Kodandarama, is shown clutching arrows beside his brother Lakshmana.

The temple is State protected and appears to have been created in three stages, with its garbhagrha and sukhanasi buildings in the Hoysala style. The remaining sections are Dravidian-style extensions. This 14th-century navaranga is what it is today. However, the mukhamandapa can date to the sixteenth century. The vestibule and garbhagruha’s outside walls are raised on a square basement with six cornices. Brick and mortar are used to construct the navaranga and mukhamandapa’s outside walls. The vestibule projection is visible.
In the garbhagrha on a standard Hanuman pedestal, 1.5 ft high, there are idols of Kodandarama with Sita to his right and Lakshmana to his left. With their left hands, Rama and Lakshmana hold strung bows while their right hands are full with arrows. It seems that the idols are not from the Hoysala period, but rather from a later era.

In the prakara (enclosure) of the temple, there are small shrines containing the figures of Yoganarasimha, Sugriva, Kalinga, Mardhana, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Vedanta Desika, and some alwars. Yoganarasimha, so called because his meditation posture, measures 1.06 metres (3½ ft.) high having a prabhavati on which the 10 incarnations are sculpted. But after Rama, Balarama and Krishna are engraved, with the Buddha missing. This is common in many Srivaishnava representations of dashavataras as they give prominence to Balarama, here measuring 4 ft. with four hands and in a pre-Hoysala style, resembling Badami Chalukya workmanship. While his right lower hand has a short round staff, The waist is where the lower left is located. The outer-walls of the garbhagrha and sukansi include, besides pilasters and turrets, two rows of statues portraying predominantly Vishnu and his Avatars such as Hayagriva, Narasimha, Lakshminarayana, Venugopala, Kalinga-Mardana and Govardhanadhari. Additionally, there are images of Ganapati, Hanuman, Garuda, and Lakshmi. Near Agni Bhagavan’s entrance on the Gopuram is a stunning murti with two heads, seven tongues, and three legs. Each year in February or March, there is a one-day yatra held at the Kodandarama temple. A pond that was close to the temple is now dry.