Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi

Lakkundi, called Lokki-gundi in old inscriptions, grew in importance under the Kalyana Chalukyas, who rose to power in 973 CE under Taila II. Live History India records that the town had a royal mint and became an important financial centre. According to Wikipedia, the Hoysala king Ballala II later named Lakkundi as his capital in a Sanskrit inscription of 1192 CE.

The exact date of the Kasivisvesvara temple is debated. Wikipedia sets out the views: Dhaky and Michael Meister place the present building in about 1020-1030 CE; Adam Hardy argues that it must have been finished before 1087 CE; and Ajay Sinha suggests about 1075 CE. An Old Kannada inscription of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI dated 1087 CE is carved on a beam of the temple. Older colonial-era writers such as Henry Cousens proposed two building phases with later repairs, a view Hardy considers flawed.

Wikipedia credits the work to the 'Lakkundi school' of sculptors and architects rather than to a named patron, and no patron is named in the sources consulted for this page.

Architecture and sacred features

Both shrines stand on a moulded platform and are linked by a square hall (ranga-mandapa) with lathe-turned pillars, as well as a closed hall (gudha-mandapa). Above the Shiva sanctum rises a three-storeyed tower whose top and finial are now missing. The walls carry miniature towers in several northern forms, and panels drawn from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Shiva legends, including Shiva slaying the elephant demon and Ravana lifting Mount Kailasa. Many of these figures are damaged.

The doorways are the temple's most admired feature. They are carved in many receding bands, and the lintel of the Shiva sanctum shows Shiva with Parvati between Brahma and Vishnu. The Nannesvara temple stands just across from the Kasivisvesvara, and Live History India notes that some historians see it as an earlier prototype of the larger temple.