_Shambhukallu%20Shiva%20Temple_Karnataka_2022_10_11_081328.jpg "Prasanna Somesvara temple Udiyavara Udupi Karnataka")
On a low granite hillock above the coastal plain near Udupi stands the Prasanna Somesvara temple, a Shiva shrine whose curved end still shows the apsidal plan used in the early Hindu temples along Karnataka coast.
The builders set a granite base and raised laterite walls above it; the form is simple, the sanctum rounded at the rear, the whole sitting among other shrines on the same rise. It blends Karnata Dravida elements with Tulu Nadu art. The temple includes a detached Namaskara mandapa of a design typically found in early Kerala. It has a Torana (gateway) and a Nandi mandapa with Rashtrakuta influences and design found in Maharashtra. Beside it is the Shambhu Shaileshwara temple; together they mark a place that Alupa records already treated as established by the years around 800 CE.
Pillars standing in the courtyard and before the neighboring shrine carry early Kannada inscriptions. Their letters belong to the early ninth century; they speak of a town and a sacred hill that were already known, not of a temple newly raised that year.
The Prasanna Somesvara temple is evidence of a well established, thriving coastal Shaiva center that the Alupas of the eighth and early ninth centuries treated as part of their domain, a place where grants were confirmed and their heroes were remembered.
This temple is on a hillock site that is large and includes the Sambhusailesvara, Devi–Saptamatrika and Vishnu shrines along with evidence of a Hindu monastery from 8th to 12th century.
Significance: The temple is notable for being from one of the oldest surviving Shaiva centers of coastal Karnataka that is mentioned in several inscriptions. Its apsidal shape together with other early apsidal Hindu temples found along Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra coastline suggest that apsidal architecture were among the popular early designs in peninsular India. No Jain or Buddhist art or inscriptions have been found so far, near this temple complex.Synonyms: Udayavara Somesvara temple, Sambhukal Udiyavara temple, Alupa Someswara temple, Matha temple of Aluvarasa II
