The Veeranarayana temple in Gadag city was built around AD. 1117 is a Hindu temple built by King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala Empire. Gadag city is the headquarters of Gadag district in the state of Karnataka. The primary deity of the temple is the Hindu god Narayana or also known as Vishnu.
Veeranarayan Temple is 417 km from Bangalore, 59 km from Hubli city and 3.5 km from Gadag city by road and only 02 km by railway.
Veeranarayan Temple is open from 08:00 AM to 08:00 PM.
History says that when Ramanujacharya cured a Hoysala princess of an illness, king Bittideva was influenced by him and changed his name to Vishnuvardhana, renounced his Jainism and joined the Srivaishnava sect and became Ramanujacharya’s disciple. It is believed that the Hoysala ruler Bittadeva was initiated by Sri Ramanujacharya and after becoming a Vaishnava he built the Sri Veeranarayana temple in 1117 as per the orders of the Guru. This is one of the Panchanarayan temples built by him. Sri Veeranarayan Temple is a beautiful confluence of Chalukya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara sculptures.
Veeranarayana Temple in Gadag is an amalgamation of Chalukya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara architectural periods of various kings. A Vijayanagara-style entrance hall leads to the Ranga Mandapam with a typical Hoysala-style garuda pillar. The inner mandapa and sanctum sanctorum and the main tower are in Chalukya style.
The oldest section is the temple of Veeranarayana In fact, the style of art practiced by the Western Chalukyas is sometimes called “Gadaga style”. The Chalukya Empire proceeded to build more than a hundred temples, most of which were located in Karnataka. Later Hoysalas and Vijayanagaras were influenced by the artistic values of the kingdoms.
