with three. These are usually with three entrances off the same mandapa, as at the Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura and Kedareshvara Temple, Balligavi; the two side shrines are at 90° to the central, main one. Comparisons with Bhumija and Varata architectures According to Dubey, there is no consensus in pre-13th-century Indian tradition as to how Vesara should be described or identified. The conditions and "mixed" features for Vesara are also found in Bhumija and Varata architecture, where synthesis and innovation drives the North Indian and South Indian towards being variants of each other. The discovery of early examples of elliptical, circular, apsidal Hindu temples, states Dubey, may correspond to the Vesara as they once existed and what the South Indian texts were referring to, at the time they were composed. Adam Hardy states that these inventive forms are better understood in terms of the architecture schools and their geographical context, with the note that these schools shared and competed in their ideas. Vesara evolved in Karnataka, Varata in Vidarbha-Berar region, Kalinga in Odisha, and Bhumija in Malwa. Examples The early Vesara temples are primarily near and between the Tungabhadra river and Krishna river before they merge. These sites include: Kallesvara temple, Kukkanur Ramalingesvara temple, Gudur Mahadeva temple, Ittagi Kasivisvesvara temple, Lakkundi (and several other temples at Lakkundi) Brahmadeva temple, Savadi – notable for being fully stellate Mallikarjuna temple, Sudi (and Joda-kalasha temple) Later Vesara temples include the Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebidu and Somnathpura are leading examples of the Vesara style. These temples are now proposed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Gallery Notes References Bibliography Hardy, Adam, Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, 1995, Abhinav Publications, , 9788170173120, google books Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, Michell, George (1988), The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms, University of Chicago Press, External links History of Indian art Brief History of Hindu Temples Indian architectural styles Hindu temple architecture