Kadalekalu Ganesha Temple

The huge seated Kadalekalu Ganesha, carved in the round out of a massive boulder, is about 4.5 mts high and is housed in a large shrine with a fine open pillared mandapa in front. The tall, slender and graceful pillars are of the ornate cubical Vijayanagara type with solid early Pushpa-Podigai corbels. The mandapa is singularly classical in its architectural proportions and has been admired by many architects and critics. The temple also forms one of the important vantage points from which a good and picturesque view could be had of the Hampi monuments.

The tall, slender and graceful pillars are of the ornate cubical Vijayanagara type with solid early Pushpa-Podigai corbels. The mandapa is singularly classical in its architectural proportions and has been admired by many architects and critics.

The basement on which the Mahamandapa columns stand is more ornate: Upana, Padma, ribbed Kumuda, Kantha, and petalled Kapota with foliated kudus and reduced inverted Padma. The blocks are separated by sixteen-sided sections with octagonal bands; nagabandhas and buds mark the corners. Pushpapotika brackets support beams with petalled frieze; no eave is preserved.

This east-facing temple is located on the ridge above Hampi, immediately north-west of the gate-way. The temple enshrines an east facing, 4.5 m high monolithic Ganesha image. The garbhagriha containing the monolith was built first, and then the antarala and maha mandapa, the last with six by three columns, with an additional line of four columns, on the front and two more at the two western corners. The central bays of the hall are widened in both directions.

The garbhagriha and antarala walls are elevated on the massive basement: angled upana, jagati , tripatta-kumuda, kantha and pattika. Plain walls are capped with an upward-curve moulding and kapota cornice with blocked out kudus. Doorways to the garbhagriha and antarala have dvarapalas bearing Shaiva emblems beneath, shakhas with grooves and Gajalakshmi or medallion on the lintel blocks. Part of the basement of the east wall of the garbhagriha is seen inside the antarala. The interior is otherwise massive and plain.