ARCHITECTURE

 

Architecture of Chandra-mouleshwara Temple

Architecture from right side

Architecture from left side

Chandramouleshwar Four-faced
Shiva lingam, One of the face from side

The temple has unfinished architecture, yet the most marvelous and a spectacular architecture by the Chalukyas. The unfinished temple has many quarters that have left half way done yet a visual delight.

The temple is constructed in the Chalukyan era and is clearly inscribed in stones which belong to the 12th century in the Unkal village. The temple is designed in black granites. It has alluring sculptures and appealing carving that attracts many art lovers to the temple.

Chandramouleshwara temple has two shiva lingas out of that one of them is the ‘Chaturmugha Linga’ which is the four faced Shiva linga, one of the features that make the temple stand out among the various Lord Shiva temples in the state.

Another spectacular feature of the temple architecture is the dancing Lord Ganesh and the Jaladhara images on the walls of the temple. Devotees come to worship Lord Shiva here. Mondays being a special day dedicated to Lord Shiva, the temple receives numerous devotees who offer milk, curd, and sweets to the Lord to seek blessings.

The sthapathi or the sculptor of the temple could not finish the temple before the day-break, hence the temple was left half done. The wall height is around 20-25 feet out of which half of the temple is made of red stones while the other half is made of green stone, giving the temple an overall remarkable look. The temple is located on a raised place. The chancel of the temple contains four-faced Shiva linga. Unlike any other Lord Shiva temple, the temple has four doors in all the possible directions and a total of 12 doors.

The temple is a filled with finished and unfinished artistic carvings which are indeed an exemplary work of art. The walls and the pillars adorn the designs of the Chalukyan architecture. The designs and the intricate carvings are attention seekers.

The temple is a remarkable building that illustrates the sandhara plan, with a square garbhagriha that can accessed from four cardinal directions. This open from all sides plan comes with four molded walls each with decorated doors. The doorjambs are decorated with pancha shakhas (five concentric band of fine carvings), but the artisans made each door unique. The eastern door is particularly excellent, one of the best from the 11th-century. Each door has a pair of dwarapalas. The temple includes a pradakshina patha for circumambulation. It also has an antarala and a sarvatobhadra-style mukhamandapa.

The outer walls include the architectural and decorative details in major Hindu temples, but to accommodate the four entrances, the temple integrates ardha-mandapas that function as antaralas. The original temple had mukhamandapas on the north and south side for the pilgrims to gather, but that is now lost and only mutilated and damaged sections of these sections can now be traced. The details in and above the mancabandha adhistana are elegant, with a band of flowers, then alternating horse-elephant rajasena, above which is the vedikas with miniature but beautiful musicians, then gandharas framed between aedicules, topped with wood/jewel-like detail kaksasana carvings.

The jalas in this temple are of two types – gulika and puspakantha – both elegantly completed, with timber-like finish.

Originally, the temple housed the image of Chaturmukha linga at the very center so that the pilgrim could see one face of Shiva no matter where she or he stood. However, at some point, this was moved and it is now in the western side of the temple. One possible explanation was offered by Henry Cousens after his survey of this site. The temple likely suffered destruction after the 13th-century, went into disuse. The "very dilapidated" temple was later appropriated by Lingayats who moved the Chaturmukha linga and replaced it with a plain linga they preferred.

The outer walls of the temple have niches framed with pilasters. These depict a galaxy of deities and Hindu legends from all the major traditions within Hinduism: Brahma, avatars of Vishnu, and various forms of Siva. Of particular note are the Nataraja, Narasimha, dancing Ganesha, Sarasvati and Mahishasurmardini. Another notable feature here is that two of the four lalitabimbas into the sanctum have Gajalakshmi and two have Sarasvati, a fact that led Cousens to suggest that this temple may be much older than the 11th-century and might once have been a Brahma temple.