Channakeshava Temple is in Belur, Hassan District, Karnataka, a small town located on the banks of River Yagachi. It is around 220 Kms from Bangalore. Belur is considered as the Banaras of South and is known as Dakshina Varanasi. According to inscriptions, the Channakeshava Temple was built to memorialize the King Vishuvardhana's conversion from Jainism to Vaishnavism. He commemorated his conversion by the formation of many temples of unmatched brilliance, of which the temple of Channakeshava was no doubt the best.

The Channakeshava Temple stands tall, giving a feeling that one is entering an ostentatious royal court. As one steps onto the temple's revered platform, in a corner of the vast courtyard are tossed a golden horse and a temple chariot. The winged figure of Garuda, Lord Vishnu's carrier, stands at the entry, facing the temple, its palms touching in homage. The main structure of the temple stands as a homogenous architectural unit on a raised platform. The entire structure with its intricate ornamentation shimmers like metal.

The Hoysaleshwar Temple is in Halebidu, which was known as Dwara Samudra, the wealthy capital of the Hoysalas. The great city of Dwarasamudra flourished as a Capital of the Hoysala Empire during the 12th & 13th centuries. During the reign of Veeraballala II, the grandson of Vishnuvardhana, it reached the peak of its enormity. Veeraballala II extended his empire from sea to sea between the Cauvery & Krishna Rivers. Halebid has several strikingly beautiful Hoysala temples and Jain shrines.

The Hoysaleshwar temple, standing on platform like a casket, is a sculptural extravaganza, richly endowed with most finely detailed scroll work in stone. The figure of mortals and immortals are large and are beautifully chiseled in shinning black stone. The walls of the temples are covered with variety of gods and goddesses, animals, birds and dancing girls.

(a) The Vithala Temple is in Hampi on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra River. The most outstanding of the religious edifices at Hampi, it can be reached from the west by walking on from Hampi Bazaar along the riverbank, or from the east through the Talarigattu Gateway. The ruins of the temple are a World Heritage monument. It is in a moderately good state of preservation. The temple's unimaginable sculptural work is a height of Vijayanagar Art. The outer pillars are known as the 'Musical Pillars' as they echo when banged, although this practice is now discouraged to avoid further dent. The temple also features a flamboyant stone chariot in the temple courtyard containing an image of Garuda. The main temple was dedicated to Vishnu as Vithala. Facing east, the chamber of the god along with its axial 'mandapa' forms a long and low structural group, about 7.6 meters in height and 70 meters in length. The group comprises the open 'maha mandapa', a closed 'ardha-mandapa' with side-porches and a covered 'pradakshina-prakara' enclosing the 'antarala' and 'garbha griha'.

(b) The Hazara Rama Temple dedicated to Lord Rama was erected by king Devaraya 1 in the early 15th century and boasts of many fine bas-reliefs depicting scenes from Ramayana and Mahanavami festival. This temple is believed to have been the private place of worship of the Royal family. This land is believed to be Kishkinda, the kingdom of the monkey kings, Bali and Sugriva. When Rama and Laxman were moving southwards in search of Sita they met Sugriva and Hanuman, and Sugriva took Rama's help to defeat Bali. It is believed that it was here that Rama crowned Sugriva king of Kishkinda.

As the name indicates, this temple is famous for its many Ramayana panels. This is the only temple in Hampi where the exterior walls have boldly chiselled bas-reliefs. These bas-reliefs are narrative in nature. The Ramayana epic is carved in detail. Incidents in the story like Dasaratha performing a sacrifice to beget sons, the birth of Rama, Sita swayamvara, his exile into the forest, the abduction of Sita and the ultimate fight between Rama and Ravana are all carved in a vivid manner. In these panels, the story of Rama and through it the triumph of good over evil is brought out. The genesis of Hampi dates back to the age Ramayana when it was the monkey kingdom Kishkindha

Five continuous sculpture friezes cover the outside of the enclosure wall. The panels show (from bottom) processions of elephants, horses, attendants, soldiers, musicians, wrestlers and soldiers in procession witnessed by a few seated royal figures circumambulating the temple. These panels represent symbolically the power of the rulers and the might of their fighting forces paraded annually at the time of the Dusshera festival. The Hazara Rama temple within the ruins is a fabulous piece of ancient architecture of the Vijayanagara's sculptors .

(c) The Pampapati temple is the ancient and most holy temple in Hampi. Parts of it are older than the founding of the city and kingdom of Vijayanagar, Hampi's old name. The temple's first gate is adorned by a supercilious pyramidal tower entirely covered with hundreds of sculptures and carvings of men, women, hunting scenes, and many other representations, all retreating in size as the tower narrows toward the top. Around all these statues play hundreds of monkeys.

Passing that first gate is the great courtyard with another similar gate, only smaller, at the other end. That second gate opens into another large court with verandahs all around on pillars of stone; a hallowed elephant is cared for in a corner and in the center of this court is the house of the Bhuvanesvari shrine.

The shrine is lit by hundreds of oil lamps and candles housed in small holes in the wall. Images of different small idols are everywhere, the main one being a round stone lingam, the object of much worship. There is a larger lingam nearby in the ruined Shiva shrine between the Narasimha statue and the main Krishna temple. Pampapathi Temple attracts hundreds of devotes every year who offer their prayers religiously and with utmost devotion.

Pattadakal near Bijapur is a center of early Chalukyan art. It has a set of nine temples built almost in a single file, showing the architects' longing for experimenting in diverse styles. Pattadakal stands for the culmination of early Chalukyan art. Four of the temples here are in the south Indian Dravidian architectural style while four are in the north Indian Nagara style while Papanatha temple displays a fusion style.

The Virupaksha temple, probably the most gorgeous of all temples here is in the south Indian style and is almost a duplication of the Kailasanatha temple of Kanchi. The Virupaksha temple was built by Lokeswari one of the queens of Vikramaditya II in honor of his victorious battle against the Pallavas of Kanchi in the year 735 CE. The Virupaksha temple faces east towards the Malaprabha River.  It has carvings illustrating scenes from the puranas in each of the 18 pillars in the mukhamandapam . There is also an image of Lakulisa , showing the dominance of the Pasupata sect of the Saiva religion in the Chalukyan land.

5. Cave Temples, Badami, Karnataka

Badami situated in North Karnataka, the Capital of the Early Chalukyas. It is marked for its gorgeous carved cave temples, artificial lake, Museme & rock-cut into the cliff face of a red sandstone hill, of the 6th & 7th Centuries. It is picturesquely located at the mouth of a ravine between two rocky hills.

Its all four cave temples - all hewn out of sandstone on the cliff of a hill. They display the full range of religious sects which have developed in India. Two of them are dedicated to Vishnu, one to Shiva and the fourth is a Jain temple. The first three belong to the Vedic faith and the fourth and usual cave is the only Buddhist temple in Badami.

The cave temples of Badami which date back to 600 and 700 A.D. are engraved out of sandstone hills. Each has a sanctum, a hall, an open verandah and pillars. What makes these cave temples extraordinary, are the large number of fine carvings and sculptures.

One of the various masterpieces to be found in these caves is the well-known, 18-armed Nataraja (Shiva) who if observed closely, strikes 81 poses. Cave 4, the last cave, is the only Jain Temple in Badami. The 24th Tirthankara- Mahavira is seated in a uniquely relaxed pose here, against a cushion in the inner sanctum. On the other bank of the earliest Bhutnatha Lake, straddling whose shores the caves stand is the shrine of Nagamma, the local serpent goddess, within a huge tamarind tree. Nearby, are two Shiva temples, which deify Him as Bhutanatha, God of Souls. Within the inner sanctum, on the edge of the water, He sits in a rare pose, leaning back, in all his overwhelming majesty.

Bangalore, Karnataka, the Garden City is famous for it's the old monuments, temples, warriors and Kings. Many temples here are very old yet they haven't lost their charm. There is a halo of peace and serenity that surrounds the temples of Karnataka. Intricate sculpture marks the rock-cut temples and ancient temple complexes in Karnataka. Surprisingly, these temples have survived the rigours of time.

(a) The Bull Temple is one of the oldest in Bangalore situated in Basavanagudi dedicated to Nandi, the mount of Lord Shiva. Kempe Gowda built this temple in the 16th century. The splendid Nandi, 15 feet tall and over 20 feet long has been carved out of single granite rock. It is a typical Dravidian style temple. The Nandi bull is honored for being the vahana (vehicle) of Shiva. The popular story is that the temple was built to appease a vagrant bull, which persisted in devouring all the groundnuts grown in the surrounding fields despite the villagers' best efforts to keep it at bay. Hence, this handsome Bull Temple was built and the bull apparently took the hint and stayed away from the groundnuts. In November/December every year, when the groundnuts have been harvested, Kadalekayi Parishe (The Groundnut fair) is held near the temple. The first groundnuts are offered by the farmers to the sacred bull. Dodda Ganapati, a magnificent image of the Lord, is enshrined adjacent to the Bull temple. It is believed that the source of the river Vishva Bharti originates at the feet of the statue.

(b) The Gavi Gangadhareswara temple, an unusual cave temple was built by Kempe gowda, founder of Bangalore. This temple, located near Basavanagudi is well known for its architecture & a rare phenomenon . It has been designed in such a manner that, on the festival of Sankranti, a local festival, the rays of the sun pass between the horns of the Nandi placed outside the temple, illuminating the image of Lord Shiva. This rare phenomenon occurs generally on 14 / 15 January every year. It attracts large number of devotees. The precision of the event shows advancement in the technical and scientific knowledge of our ancestors. The architect of this temple combines 'Vastukala' with astronomy which gifts the world an amazing phenomenon.

The temple is natural monolith carved cave temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. There are two famous shrines dedicated to Lord Gangadeshwara and Goddess Honnadevi i.e. Lord Shiva and Parvati. The temple has 33 idols.

Devi Mookambika Temple is located in Kollur near Mangalore. This is a renowned temple visited by pilgrims from all over South India. The classic work Soundarya Lahiri is spontaneously composed by the great religious leader Adi Sankara.

The Jyotirlingam in front of the image of the Goddess Mookambika is of great relic. A golden line divides this lingam into two unequal parts and is noticeable only in the light of reflected sunlight pointed at the lingam. The right portion of the lingam is associated with Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva who is regarded as the conscious static principles. On the other hand, the larger left part of the lingam represents Kali, Lakshmi, and Saraswati who symbolizes the creative energy principles.

The vibrant creative energy is thus principal in this lingam and hence the Mother Goddess is the principal deity in this temple, symbolized the metal idol in the female form. Energy symbolizes feminine in Indian philosophies

Of all the images the Balamuri Ganapathi idol is the most beautiful one. It is made of white marble is beautiful and high of meaning. There is an image of a serpent bordering the idol. It is whispered that, as you move in pradakshina, if you touch this serpent and offer prayers, it results in several payback, like warding of Sarpadosha, avoidance all evils and most importantly, bestowed with good fortune.

Here pooja practices are based on two disciplines- one as per vathula, which is one of the 28 Vedas of Shaivagama, and which includes the rituals of Bali (sacrifice); secondly, as per Vijaya yagama Shastra. The five diverse poojas performed at the temple on a regular basis are during Dantadavana (brushing the teeth), morning, afternoon, evening (pradhosha) and night. Pradosha Pooja is also called as "Salam Mangalarathi".

Of the different festivals and other revels held at the temple, "Sharannavarathri" which is held usually during October, and "Brahma Rathotsava" held usually in the month of March are both very significantly observed. The two rivers Agnithirtha & Sowparnika which flow in the sanctuary of mookambika fall from Kodachadri hills.

It is thought that river absorbs the elements of 64 diverse medicinal plants and roots as it flows, therefore it cures all the diseases of those who bathe in it. Hence a bath in this river assumes importance and is considered holy.