The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Somanathapura, Karnataka · 12.2772°, 76.8858°
The most perfect and best-preserved statement of the Hoysala style: a compact three-shrined temple on a star-shaped platform, every band of its walls carved — elephants, cavalry, scrolls, epics, and deities — like lathe-turned jewellery in stone. The last great Hoysala temple, finished a lifetime before the dynasty fell.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
Its sculptors signed their work — names like Mallitamma appear under dozens of panels, a rare medieval assertion of individual artistry.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Hoysala
Answers only from cited records
Opening the line…