Raya Gopura at Melkote

At around 50 kilometers from Mysore is the lush, green and scenic place called Melkote. Also known as Thirunarayanapuram, the place is famous for the beautiful Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple and the Yoga Narasimha temple at the hill top. It is believed that the devotee Prahlad installed the Narasimha statue at this location. This place is also famous for housing the Sri Vaishnava saint Sri Ramanujacharya for 12 years, when he left Tamil Nadu under persecution from the Chola king Kulothungacholan. 

The raja gopuram in this photo set is the actual temple entrance built by the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana. Suffering from the muslim invasion of the 14th century, the temple and the surrounding historical artifacts lay in ruins. Recently, the government of India has taken efforts to renovate the temple and its historical surroundings. 

Film lovers may recollect having seen this location in many movies, including Thalapathy (the Rajinikanth starrer), Guru (Abhishek Bachchan - Aishwarya Rai starrer), Rowdy Rathore (Akshay Kumar - Sonakshi Sinha starrer), and many more... 

The raya gopuram has some intricate carvings still standing the test of time...

A stone cut inscription of a beautifully adorned temple elephant with bells on its side...It is said that Tipu Sultan had gifted elephants during his reign of Mysore...

Statue of Yoga Narasimha on one of the granite pillars...

The back side view of the Raya Gopuram temple...