Kedareswara temple, Halebidu, Hindu temple in Hassan district, India

Kedareswara Temple is a Hindu shrine in Hassan district made up of three connected sanctuaries, each built on a star-shaped floor plan that gives the outer walls their characteristic stepped outline. Perforated stone screens fill the openings between pillars, and carved friezes run across every surface of the exterior.

The temple was built in the 13th century under the Hoysala kingdom, a period when royal patronage drove large-scale temple construction across the region. It belongs to the same era and site as the larger shrines at Halebidu, which stand nearby.

The outer walls carry rows of carved figures that tell stories from Hindu texts, readable directly from the stone by any visitor walking around the exterior. The figures are arranged in horizontal bands that follow the full circuit of the walls, making the narrative easy to follow step by step.

The temple is protected as a monument of national importance and is open to visitors throughout the day. Morning or late afternoon visits work well since the light falls more clearly on the carved surfaces and the heat is lower than at midday.

Hoysala temples normally have no circumambulation path around the inner sanctum; here the raised jagati platform, five to six feet high and reached by steps, provides that walkway and also a good view of the wall reliefs. The three sanctums today stand empty of their worship images, and the towers above all three shrines are lost.