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Vidyashankara Temple:
Built around the Samadhi of Vidyathirtha the Guru of Vidyaranya who assisted Hari Hara raya and Bukka Raya to establish Vijayanagara Empire, this is a beautiful and interesting temple which bears a slight resemblance to an old Chariot. It combines the general features of Dravidian style with the Vijayanagara style. Standing on a richly sculpted plinth, this temple has six doorways. Twelve pillars surrounding the mandapa with figures of the twelve signs of the zodiac. They are constructed in such an ingenious way that the rays of the sun fall on each pillar in the chronological order of the twelve months of the Hindu calendar. Each column is topped by a Yali with a rolling stone ball in its mouth.
Inside the temple, on the floor, a circle is drawn with lines corresponding to the shadows cast by each pillar. There are five shrines here. The main shrine has a Shiva Linga over the Samadhi of Sri Vidyashankara and it is known as Vidya Shankara Linga. The other shrines are for Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga. The Garbhagraha is topped by a majestic square vimana.
This temple also houses a broken sandalwood idol of Sharadamba, believed to have been installed in the Sharadamba temple by Adi Shankara Himself. This idol, it is believed, was damaged during the Muslim invasion, and Sri Vidyaranya had the current Gold statue of Sharadamba installed in its place.
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