The Chennakesava Temple in Somanathapura is a Vaishnava temple that was built in the 13th century by Somanatha Dandanayaka, a general of the Hoysala King Narasimha III.The Temple of Chennakesava is one of some 1,500 Hindu and Jain temples designed by the kings of the Hoysala Empire in different parts of their kingdom.Somanatha built an Agrahara, which gives Brahmins land and dedicated resources to build and maintain temples therein(Somanatha pura).
Somanathapura's Keshava temple faces east and is surrounded by a big gate in a walled courtyard. A tall pillar, which once had a Garuda statue on top, stands outside the walls before the gate. Vertical standing inscription stones are within the doorway, to the left. These stones have the shape of hero stones, with the top decorated with Hindu iconography as well as Keshava, Janardhana and Venugopala miniature reliefs.
In old Kannada, the inscription is. The small entrance mandapa is supported by soapstone pillars that are lathe-carved. Soapstone, a green-grey chloritic schist material that is soft in the quarry but hardens when exposed to sunlight, is carved from the temple. This is not available locally and must have been shipped from a certain region of South India. It helped the artists to shape the artwork and carve out intricate details.
The temple of Chennakesava is a temple of three temples, Trikuta. There is one Vimana and Sukanasi in every shrine. The porch is lined with turned pillars. The Vimanas and Sucanasis are the three shrines in perfect symmetry. On a raised platform are installed the shrines. The three shrines have been designed in a plan formed by 16 points.Eightteen Single Shrines and a linked double shrine are located in the north and south rows of the small shrines inside the pillared courtyard.The outer wall of the main temple is created by parallel horizontal artwork bands carved over the circumambulatory platform.The basement, the wall band and the top band have three key parts.
The three buildings are all equal in height. Their scheme uses lotus with an oblong projection, four sets of ornamental towers, which reduce the height rhythmically and have a steep kalasa capped.The three shrines are three of Vishnu 's forms. They once housed Keshava, Janardhana and Venugopala's beautifully carving idols.
In Somnathpura city, Chennakesava Temple is located. It lies approximately 35 km from Mysore and 137 km from Bangalore.