Chandrashekhara Devastana, Hampi

This is the first temple one gets to see if Hampi tour is started from Kamalapur side. The temple stands in open space. The temple is enclosed in a quadrangle with a gateway with a Gopura on the eastern side. The enclosure itself has enough open space around it. As you see the temple is well preserved, no signs of major restoration work, so this must be the original condition. The temple has four sections- Mukhamantapa, Sabhamantapa, one east-facing Garbhagriha and one south-facing Garbhgriha. Since there are two sanctums, this is a Dwikutachala. The Mukhamantapa is a 24-pillar open hall.

Side view of the Mukhamantapa. Structural build quality is good, simple aesthetics, functional aspect was the priority for this temple builder. Except four pillars, the other twenty pillars are devoid of images of animals, birds, humans and imaginary creatures normally seen in Vijayanagara temples and Mantapas.

We'll continue looking at the southern side of the temple. The Sabhamantapa has two doors, the main one being the eastern and the one seen here is the side entrance. I have no idea what deities occupied the Garbhagriha here. However, going by the name, this was a Shiva temple, so most likely a Linga was present. The other deity must be Parvati. With two doors for this temple, people would've entered through the main door, had darshan of the deities and exited through the side door. The other aspect is cross ventilation, since there are no other openings like ventilators or windows.

The rear portion. So far all the walls seen are plain but follows the temple building norms i.e. the different layers in the walls. In this picture, we get a glimpse of the enclosure wall. That's typical Vijayanagara style.. brick core sandwiched in granite blocks and capped with granite slabs. The temple Shikhara, a brick and mortar pyramid, is almost intact, the plaster is missing though.

On the south-western corner of the enclosure is a four-pillared mantapa built on a platform. This is an incomplete structure. The platform corner stone has a shallow square pit - that's where a column would've been positioned. So this would have been a eight or twelve pillared mantapa. Probably a Kalyana Mantapa.

A close look at the damaged wall. This could've happened naturally or some treasure hunters might have pried it open.

The south-facing Garbhagriha exterior and Shikhara. Even the gutter protrusion looks intact. Actually this is a fine looking structure. Neat and tidy, no frills. The Mukhamantapa height is ideal for people to sit on it without having to enter the hall.

A view of the hall. The central four pillars have images on their faces. On the pillars and wall surfaces is remnant of white paint, could be lime, not sure if its recent or ancient. There are red lines on the white layer. Most likely this is ancient paint.

The main entrance has decoration. The heavy columns flanking the vestibule has floral murals. The door frame is three staged and has a pair of Dwarapalas. The columns in the foreground are also ornate, the front faces carry images of a sage and a well built man who could be a warrior. For some reason the door threshold is broken, not really a common occurrence.

Finally we come to the temple Mahadwara and 3-level Gopura. Talking about Gopuras, wondering when the practice started. Looking back to Chalukyan times, they did not build Gopuras, they were Shikhara experts. Same with Kadambas. The practice seem to have started either by Hoysalas or Vijayanagara.

The last picture here was shot in Aug-2017. Pushpa and I stopped to see Anegundi and Hampi on the way from Hyderabad to Dharwad. The exterior wall is also damaged, looks like treasure hunters' work again.

Behind the temple is the Queen's bath house and two minutes walks to the right of this temple, are two monuments- Sarswati Devastana and Octagonal water pavilion. Behind the pavilion are ruins of ancient residences, possibly of noblemen since this space is immediate neighborhood of the royal enclosure.
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