Lakshmi Devi Temple, Doddagaddavalli

Doddagaddavalli is about 16 KM from Hassan on the Hassan - Belur highway,The temple build in 1114 C E commissioned by a merchant called Kullahana Rahuta and his wife Sahaja Devi,a gold merchant from Kolhapur ,The Lakshmi Devi temple found here is a small and modest monument, placed in the centre of a walled courtyard, This temple is  unique because its a mix of Hoysala, Kadamba and Chalukya artitecture , The temple is a chaturkuta model , and this is the only chaturkuta Hoysala temple I have seen , 

The plan of this small temple is an exceptional one, because it has four shrines placed around a common centre. Three of them share a small open hall, and at the fourth side of this hall there is an oblong extension providing two lateral entrances to the temple and connecting it with shrine number four. Near to the main temple complex there is a fifth shrine facing the south , dedicated to Bhairava , a terrifying form of Siva . there are four more shrines , small once situated in the corners of the courtyard, with two of their sides embedded in the compound wall. Altogether the ensemble shows nine towers, all of them with nose and all of them crowned with kalasa and Hoysala crest.Eight of these towers are of the same simple kind, only one tower is different, the eastern one of the main temple. It is in this eastern shrine that we come across the Hoysala architecture consisting of tiers of miniature roofs and that is the main shrine of the temple dedicated to Lakshmi , The idol is in standing position a close resemblence with the idol of Mahalakshmi temple Kolahapur , The other shires are for Vishnu , Shiva and Kalli , Vishnu Idol in the temple is missing in the temple only remains we can see is the Vishu peed .The idol of Bhairava has moved to this shrine now , The fourth Shrine is dedicated to Kali , and form is Soumya Kali ( peaceful  form of kali) and uniqueness of this shrine is the two demonic living corpses or Vetalas as dwarapalakas