File:13th Century Frieze Of Legends From Hindu Texts At Kesava Temple Somnathpur.jpg
A: platform around the main temple for clockwise circumambulation
B: Elephants band
C: Horsemen band
D: Scroll band
E: Hindu texts band
The Keshava temple at Somanathapura show friezes of the Ramayana, the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata.
The temple, also called Kesava or Chennakesava temple, is a Vaishnava Hindu temple.
It is located at Somanathapura (Somanathpur) in South Karnataka, in a small village on the banks of the river Cauvery, about 40 km from the city of Mysuru.
The temple is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture and testament to the sophistication of Hindu art and architecture by the 12th-century. Built by 1268 CE by a commander of Hoysala king Narasimha III, it illustrates fine carvings with extraordinary details.