Chennakesava Temple at Belur is a wonder with numerous beautiful sculptures. They can be found on the temple walls as you walk along the platform around the main temple. Some of the most intricate ones are the Madanikas places on brackets angled between the upper walls and the over-hanging eaves (see my post here). But there are many that can easily be missed between these beauties. This post is on some of them.

My wife and I were visiting the temple again to see all the 42 Madanikas that adorn the Chennakesava Temple. But as we walked around the temple sighting of each of them, many sculptures caught our eye. They too were intricate. Many of them depicted characters or stories from the Indian mythology. Thankfully we were able to get some info from a book available with us. Here are the ones that caught our attention:

1. Shiva-Jalandhara

Shiva holding a fork like spear and trampling a demon under his feet

2. Poothani

A demon holding a variety of arms in her hands. She is also depicted with a scorpion and a snake on her stomach to show that she has venom. She had been sent to kill Lord Krishna when he was an infant

3. Ravana Lifting the Kailash Mountain

Ten-headed demon, King Ravana is holding up Kailash Mountain, the abode of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is seen sitting atop the mountain with his beloved Parvathi

4. Chamundi

The Goddess Chamundi is shown killing the demon Mahishasura

5. Brahma

Lord Brahma depicted in a intricate carving

6. The Sun God

The Sun God is coming upon his seven-horse drawn chariot

7. Narasimha

The Narasimha incarnation of Lord Vishnu

8. Arjuna’s Shooting

Arjuna is shooting the eye of the fish by looking at the reflection in the bowl below.

Want to know more about the magical temple itself? Click here.