The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c29.s3: The Temple of Sōmēśvara
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c29.s3
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The Temple of Sōmēśvara
c29.s3.1
This temple, which, at some period in the distant past, had been desecrated, and consequently abandoned as a regular place of worship, has, of late years, been used to house a small private school. It is situated in the middle of the town not far from the police *chāvaḍi*. It is a good specimen of a fully developed Chālukyan temple, but has lost its forward open hall, if, indeed, it was ever built, together with the cornice over the south porch and the upper storey of its tower. It is fully decorated, but, although the ornament itself is rich and good, it is far too crowded, especially over the basement, for good taste. The architects were fond of the frequent repetition of detail, and indulged in this propensity of theirs to its utmost extent. The pilasters along the walls, with the constantly repeated niches and miniature *śikharas* become almost painfully monotonous, while the string courses of high lights and deep shadows in the basement run round the whole building with the most perfect regularity (Plates CXIX and CXXI).
c29.s3.2
The doorways are richly decorated, the eastern one being more so than the southern, but neither so elaborately as those of Kāśiviśvēśvara at Lakkuṇḍi. Over the outer eastern doorway is Gaja-Lakṣmī; over the others are images of Śiva, but so roughly and clumsily cut that it is possible they are the handiwork of the Liṅgāyats.
c29.s3.3
Upon either side of the antechamber doorway there has been a panel of fine flowing perforated arabesque, but most of it has been broken away, and the rest is covered with dirty oil which has dried and caked all over the surface.
c29.s3.4
The ceiling of the southern porch is beautifully worked. On the south side of the shrine, projecting from the wall outside, is a very neat little basin, into which the water flows out from the washing of the *liṅga* by a channel through the wall. But this is not the usual side for the exit for water from the *liṅga*, which should be on the north. It is quite likely, therefore, that this *liṅga* is not the original occupant of the shrine (Plate CXXII).