Kirti Narayana Temple, Talakad, Near Mysore

Talakad, also known as Talakadu, a small town near Mysore city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried under the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan. To know more about the town, visit my post on Talakad.

Talakad has three temples of Lord Shiva and one temple for Lord Vishnu. The temples of Shiva - Vaidyanatheswara temple, Pataleswar temple and Maleswara temple belong to Pancha Linga sites. Lord Vishnu's temple is considered one of the five Vishnu temples (called Pancha Narayana) established by the great Vaishnavite saint Ramanuja in the 11th century CE. It is also believed that this temple of Lord Vishnu, called the Kirti Narayana temple, was constructed by the Hoysalas to commemorate their victory over the Cholas. This is the only Hoysala architecture found in Talakad today.

The magnificent temple of Kirti Narayana is intricately carved and has stunningly beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, the temple is in ruins now. The archaeological department has been excavating various stones and images of this temple and trying to reconstruct the temple as it was initially present. The current temple has just one shrine dedicated to Lord Vishnu - a tall image of about 8 feet. He has, Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi, on either side.

A big Nandi icon and a few excavated icons are found in the temple surroundings. 

Happy travelling.

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