The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c8.s6.10

c8.s6.10

Upon the dedicatory block above the shrine door is Garuḍa, who holds the ends of the tails of two Nāga figures which trail down the door mouldings to the bottom of the door on each side, where they reverse upwards again with human bodies, each crested by a three-hooded snake. There is a great dressed block of stone still lying in the otherwise empty shrine which has the appearance of having been part of a square altar or seat on which an image had been placed; it is certainly not part of a *linga*. There is little doubt but that this temple was, like the others that have been described, originally Vaishṇava. There is a *dvārapāla* upon each pilaster on either side of the entrance to the shrine. That on the north side is Śiva, but the one on the south side has been mutilated; it was probably Vishṇu.