Chennakeshava Temple, Turuvekere

According to the art historian Adam Hardy, the temple plan is a distinctive dravida (south Indian) single vimana (one sanctum and superstructure over it, called ekakuta) structure built on a semi-stellate base (semi-star shape). The building material is the standard Soap stone and the hall (mantapa) is a closed one.^[2]

The temple has all the basic elements of a standard Hoysala temple and comprises a sanctum which is connected to a closed hall by a square vestibule (sukhanasi). The entrance into the hall from the outside is through a porch (mukhamantapa). Typically, a closed hall in a Hoysala temple has no windows. The porch consists of an awning supported by two decorative half pillars with two parapets on both sides. The shrine has a tower (called shikhara). The vestibule has its own tower (also called sukhanasi) which appears like a low extension of the main tower over the shrine. Art critic Gerard Foekema calls it the "nose" of the main tower. From the outside, the walls of the vestibule are inconspicuous and appear like a short extension of the shrine wall.^[4][5][6] The ceiling of the closed hall is supported by four lathe turned pillars. These pillars divide the ceiling into nine highly decorated bays.^[5] Between full pilasters, the outer walls of the hall and shrine are decorated with turrets and miniature towers on half-pilasters (aedicula). Below these, forming the base of the temple, are the five horizontal moldings.^[7]

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• Gerard Foekema, A Complete Guide to Hoysala Temples, Abhinav, 1996 ISBN 81-7017-345-0
• Kamath, Suryanath U. (2001) [1980]. A concise history of Karnataka: from pre-historic times to the present. Bangalore: Jupiter books. LCCN 80905179. OCLC 7796041.
• Adam Hardy, Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, Abhinav, 1995, New Delhi, ISBN 81-7017-312-4.