Dodda Basappa Temple, Karnataka

                     The Dodda basappa Temple is a 12th-century Western Chalukyan architectural innovation in Dambal, Karnataka state, India. Dambal is concerning 20 kilometer (12 mi) southeast of Gadag town and 24 kilometer (15 mi) southwest of Ittagi in Koppal district. The sanctum contains a Shiva linga, the symbol of the presiding god, God Shiva. The Temple interior is a normal construction and consists of a sanctum (cella), a vestibule (antarala) and a main mantapa (also called navaranga or hall). The vestibule connects the sanctum to the mantapa. The Western Chalukya monuments, regional variants of existing dravida (South Indian) temples, defined the Karnata dravida architectural tradition.
Dodda Basappa Temple Architecture:
                       The Temple is predicated on a really original 24-pointed uninterrupted stellate (star shaped) plan and usessoapstone as its basic building material. Modern stellate plans of the Bhumija shrines in central India from where the inspiration for this Dodda Basappa Temple came from were all 32-pointed interrupted sorts. No temples of the 6-, 12-, or 24-pointed radial plans are known to exist in Karnataka or Maharashtra, with the exception of the temple, which may be described as a 24-pointed uninterrupted plan. In an ‘interrupted’ radial arrange, the radial outline is interrupted byorthogonal (right-angle) projections in the cardinal directions, resulting in star points that are skipped.
                      The basappa temple marks the mature development of the Chalukyan art that originated from basic dravida architecture of South India. Its departure from conventional dravida plan used in the Virupaksha temple in Pattadakal is so extreme that it’d be terribly difficult to find similarities while not detailed examination. A star form is obtained by rotating a sq. concerning its centre. The star points type equal projections. The angles and re-entrant angles thus formed build the perimeter of the outer wall of the shrine.
                      The star projections are carried right up the structure, giving it an exotic look, although it loses strength in comparison to the sq. superstructures found in typical dravida plans. The storied arrangement of the structure found in dravida plans isn’t simply distinguishable here The higher tiers of the seven-tiered (tala) structure look like cogged wheels with 48 dents.
       
                      The pillars in this Basappa Temple are finely well-defined and “complicated” but lack the elegance of these at the Kasivisvesvara Temple in Lakkundi. the doorway to the shrine has above it a decorative architrave with area for pictures (now missing) of the Hindu Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
                     Depending on the dedication of the Basappa Temple, either Vishnu or Shiva would take the central position in this arrangement. the doorway to the sanctum is intricately adorned on either side with designs that are floral containing little pictures of dancers, musicians and even a mithuna couple (Gemini). in the main Dodda Basappa Temple mantapa (hall) there are 3 pictures, one of the “five headed” Brahma and his vehicle (vahana), the goose, and 2 pictures are of Surya, the Sun God.
                      The Basappa Temple has 2 doorways every with a structure, one facing south and the different facing east. The east facing door has on either side the remains of what should are elegant header decoration, and an open hall type of pillared extension containing a large recumbent image of Nandi (bull) that faces the shrine.