File:Kirtinarayana Hindu temple, Talakad Karnataka.jpg

English: This is a JPEG format plan and architectural drawing of a historic Indian temple or monument. An alternate SVG format (scalable vector graphics) version of this file – for web, design studies, print, dynamic and interactive applications – has also been uploaded to wikimedia commons.

The drawing:

• Talakad is a major Vaishnava pilgrimage site in Karnataka. It is a historic city referred to as Dalavanapura as well as Gajaranya in Sanskrit texts dated between the 4th century and the 10th century. It served as the capital of the Ganga dynasty. Now in Mysuru district, it is sometimes spelled as Talakadu or Talkad. It is home to many major Vishnu temples, many of them built or expanded in the 11th to 12th-century.

• The Kirtinarayana temple, also spelled Keertinarayana or Kirti Narayana temple is from the Hoysala period (Vishnuvardhana). Inscriptions establish that it was consecrated with the current floor plan in the second half of December, 1117 CE on the left bank of Kaveri river.

• The floor plan of this intricately carved temple in Hoysala style is shown above. It has three entrances, stands on a platform. It once had two towers and many other architectural elements, many of which were destroyed in regional Muslim-Hindu wars that devastated this region after the 12th-century.

• The temple's architectural plan follows the square and circle principle found in historic Sanskrit texts.

• 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.

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