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More popularly known
as Underground Virupaksha Temple, this is situated to the
west of the Danaik's Enclosure. A large broken loose slab
containing an inscription which records a grant to the temple
of Prasanna Virupaksha by King Krishna Deva Raya
on the occasion of his coronation.
The temple faces east and
is much below the present ground level. The temple is much
dilapidated. The large and wide two-tiered gupura on the east
has no superstructure extant. The main sanctum has many axial
mantapas. The easternmost of these is a pillared seven-aisled
maha-mantapa with a tall and tapering dipa or dhwaja stambha
protruding through its roof top. To the north and south of
the mantapa are the remnants of corridor with pillars of the
heavy early cubical type as in Ganagitti Temple.
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The floor of the maha mantapa,
the other axial mantapas as well as the main sanctum are under
water. The maha-mantapa leads to the three-aisled ardha-mantapa,
the large cubical pillars of which are also of an early type,
with cubical base, octagonal shafts, a thin pionted kumbha
and large idol. The kalyana-mantapa at the south-west corner
of the temple is an ornate one in the typical Vijayanagara
style.
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