The great temple of Virupaksha
The Queen Lokamahadevi of Vikaramaditya II (CE 733-745) built this temple known as ‘Shri Lokeswara – Maha – Sila – prasada’ to commemorate her husband’s victory over the Pallavas of Kanchipuram. The temple represents dravida vimana (southern) style shikhara. The devakoshtha of the garbhagriha houses images of Shaiva and Vaishnava deities like Bhairava, Narasimha, Hari-Hara, Lakulisa, etc. The pillars of sabhamandapa are embellished with episodes from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata Gita and Kiratarjuniya. The temple is built on high plinth with fully evolved mouldings. The outer walls of the garbhagriha are divided into a central projection, two intermediate projections and two corner projections with four recesses in between. Likewise, the mandapa walls on either side of the northern, eastern and southern porches are divided into two projections and two recesses.
Tags
Similar Places
Mahadev Temple,Bhatala
This Mahadev temple is located at Bhatala village, Warora Taluka, Chandrapur. It is constructed entirely in yellow sandstone masonry and has a mandap and garba gruha. Its special feature is an extremely large linga in black stone of a height of 1.25 m. The linga has a channel to carry the water out of the temple. The mandap has a Nandi facing West. The front entrance which faces East has two free standing square columns and two piers on either side. The lower part of the outer surface is largely plain and is adorned with mouldings, and niches with idols, one in the centre of each face. The idol on the South facing façade is Kartikeya, on the West face is Shiva and on the North face is Chamunda.
Bhavani Devi Temple
The Bhavani Devi temple is built adjacent to a lake in Bhatala, Chadrapur. It is a small temple built in yellow sandstone with a garbha gruha, shikhar and a mandap with a flat stone roof. The mandap is a plain rectangular structure from the outside with sculptures of deities inset. Inside the mandap are two rows of columns upto the garbha gruha. There are several idols of dieties inside and outside the temple, including a Ganesha inside the entrance.