The Temples of Halshi

Halasi was called Palasika in ancient times and the Bhoo Varaha Laxmi Narasimha Temple is one of the best examples of the Kadamba style of architecture. The tower is 50 feet tall. According to historians, it was built during the Kadamba period or 5th century AD, and inscriptions inside the temple also support this. As per the records, it was built by Shivachitta.

There are two garbhagruhas facing each other. In the right one is the four feet idol of Lord Shri Vishnu in a sitting Padmasana posture. The idols of Suryanarayana and Mahalaxmi are just behind the main idol. The entire temple complex is surrounded by a stone wall which encloses the temple structure (besides a kunda/water tank and a well) and opens to arched exit/entrances in four directions.
The main temple has a distinctly Kadamba style pyramidical shikhara (vimana) which is plain, layered and having a teethlike (ribbed) segmentation which goes on decreasing in as it goes on the ascent akin . There is a pot like finial (kalasha) atop the pinnacle. Just below the finial is a figurine of a God in a seated posture on a carved plate, probably Lord Vishnu , to whom this temple is dedicated.
The wall has coloured clay sculptures of saints and deities in its various niched sections.

Outside the temple one finds the Tulsi Vrindavans facing the doorways.
There is a veranda on either side of the main structure and is covered by a slanted stone roof and supported by solid columns. The temple has an exterior cirum-ambulatory for the pupose of a ritual ‘pradakshina’ (a walk around the sanctum with folded hands).

Halshi is 42 kms from Belgaum and 4 kms from Nandgad, Khanapur Taluka.

Inputs: Wikipedia

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