Page 547 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

K ARNA T AK A  545

Aihole: Durga Temple VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
The largest and finest monument at Aihole, the Durga Practical Information
Temple is also the most unusual because of its apsidal N of Archaeological Museum.
Open daily. & covers all
sanctuary surrounded by an open colonnade. The temple main temples.
is elevated on a lofty plinth, with steps at one end leading
to a porch with elaborate carvings of sensuous couples and
guardians on its columns. Other sculptural masterpieces,
of Shiva with Nandi, Narasimha, Vishnu with Garuda, Durga
and Harihara, are placed in the niches lining the colonnade.
The interior of the hall is plain by contrast, and the circular
plinth within the sanctuary is empty. The temple’s name is
a misnomer, as the identity of the image that was
once worshipped here remains unknown.
The semicircular sanctuary of the
Naga Ceiling Durga Temple
A ceiling panel in the mandapa The entrance porch
depicts a naga with a coiled has columns
serpent body. embellished with
intricate carvings.

The capstone
(amalaka), a ribbed
disc, has fallen down
from the tower.

Shikhara
Little remains
of the tower Column Carving
Durga that once rose This depiction of an
This niche shows above the amorous couple, carved on
a multi-armed inner sanctum. one of the columns in the
Durga slaying the porch, is a masterpiece of
buffalo demon. Chalukyan art.

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