File:Chenna Kesava temple, Dharmapura village, Karnataka.jpg

Object location	12° 14′ 18.07″ N, 76° 22′ 45.72″ E	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap	12.238354; 76.379366

Dharmapura is a village about 15 kilometers east-southeast of Hunsur in Mysore district. The Hunsur 137 – a 12th century inscription – states that the Hoysala general Bittiyanna formed a town named Dharmapura from three hamlets, provided a water tank for the residents, issued a grant for the Vishnu temple (Chenna Kesava temple above) and a Shiva temple. Of these, the most ornate Hoysala temple is the Chennakesava Swamy temple. This inscription implies that the Chennakesava temple pre-existed, and thus it must be complete before the year of the inscription (1162 CE). Architecturally, this is likely a late 11th-century temple (c. 1100 CE).

This Vishnu tradition temple is notable for Hoysala artwork, including reliefs of Kumara (Kartikeya), Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, Indra, Ganesha, Ishana, Hanuman, Durga and others. In the sanctum is Chennakesava with Dasavatara depicted on the prabhavali around him. The depicted avataras are – Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna and Kalki.

One of the lintel preserved in this temple is exquisitely carved, but it is from some other lost Hindu temple in this region of Karnataka. It was likely brought here by regional Hindus given its exceptional details and beauty. It shows Vishnu flanked by Garuda and Hanuman, attesting to the Hindu traditional belief that Hanuman was an avatara of Garuda serving the Rama avatara of Vishnu. This legend must therefore been in existence by the 12th-century.

This is a JPEG format plan and architectural drawing of a historic Indian temple or monument. The relative scale and relative dimensions in this architectural drawing are close to the actual but neither exact nor complete. The plan illustrates the design and layout, but some intricate details or parts of the temple may not be shown. In cases where exact measurements were not feasible, the drawing uses best approximations and rounds the best measurements feasible.