Amruteshwara Temple, Amruthapura

temple · Tarikere

Photos: Dineshkannambadi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Chidambara, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A Hoysala temple of 1196, built by Amrutheshwara Dandanayaka, a commander under Veera Ballala II, in a quiet village north of Tarikere. Smaller than Belur or Halebidu and almost never crowded, which is the point: you can take your time over the 140 panels that run round the outer hall wall — the Ramayana on the south side, Krishna and the Mahabharata on the north — and the lathe-turned pillars inside. The Bhadra reservoir is ten minutes away for the sunset afterwards.