The Kasivisvesvara temple (), also referred to as the Kavatalesvara, Kashivishveshvara or Kashi Vishvanatha temple of Lakkundi is located in the Gadag district of Karnataka state, India. It is about from Gadag city, between Hampi and Goa. The Kasivisvesvara temple is one of the best illustrations of fully developed Kalyana Chalukya style of Hindu architecture.
The Kasivisvesvara temple has two sanctums facing each other and sharing a mandapa. The larger sanctum is dedicated to Shiva, the other to Surya. It is notable not only for the three dimensional miniature reliefs and fine details of its artwork, the temple is also notable, states James Harle, for integrating all three major styles of Hindu temple architecture – the Nagara, the Vesara and the Dravida.
Location
Lakkundi is about 12 kilometers from the twin city of Gadag-Betageri, between Hampi and Goa, connected by India's National Highway 67. A home to numerous ruins of historic Hindu and Jain temples, Lakkundi is geographically located in a region with many major temple groups from the Kalachuris, Chalukyas, Yadavas-Seunas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara era. For example, it is close to historic temples found in Dambal, Kukkanur, Gadag, Annigeri, Mulgund, Harti, Laksmesvara, Kalkeri, Savadi, Hooli, Rona, Sudi, Koppal, and Itagi. The nearest Railway station is in Gadag city. The Kasivisvesvara temple is located towards the south of the village.
History
Lakkundi is phonetically shortened name of the historic city of Lokkigundi, a name found in inscriptions in the village and those quite far in southern Karnataka and Maharashtra. The earliest surviving inscription was discovered by British archaeologists on a stone slab near Kanner Bhanvi – a step well in Lakkundi. The inscribed stone slab was being used by local dhobis (laundry washerman) to wash clothes at the step well. The inscription on it dates to 790 CE. This inscription confirms that Lakkundi was already in existence and significant enough for an inscription by the 8th-century. James Fergusson – the 19th-century Scottish historian known for his archaeological and architectural studies in India, reported over 30 more inscriptions from Lakkundi, in Kannada and Sanskrit, most of which range between the 11th and 12th century. Some of these were foundation stone inscriptions of Jain and Hindu temples, others gifts to different temples, to Maha-agrahara, to monasteries such as Hiree Matha (now lost), to donate step wells for the public and pilgrims, and other purposes. Though damaged, many of them include the Saka year of the inscription. The profusion of these inscriptions attests to the importance of Lakkundi as a historic city to both Hindu and Jain traditions.
Many more inscriptions on stone and copper plates mentioning Lokkugundi have been discovered far from Lakkundi. However, in this part of ancient and medieval Karnataka, Lokkugundi is among the most mentioned cities. By 1884, some thirty five Hindu and Jain inscriptions dated to between the 9th and 13th-century CE had been found that mention Lokkugundi. Though Lakkundi was an established town in the second half of the 1st millennium, its growth and wealth came after 973 CE when Taila II, a Chalukya of Vatapi descendant and chieftain appointed in 965 CE, organized a successful revolt against Karkka II of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. In regional texts, the reign that followed is called Cālukya (Later Chalukyas, Kalyani Chalukyas, or Chalukyas of Kalyana) to distinguish them from the Calukya (Early Chalukyas). Lakkundi flowered and grew with the Shiva-tradition Hindu monarch Satyasraya Irivabedanga – the successor and son of Taila II who came to power in 997 or 998 CE. This is attested by both Jain and Hindu inscriptions of early 11th-century.
Lakkundi grew to be a major city, prosperous and one with a mint. Lakkundi and several historic towns to its north – such as Rona, Sudi, Kradugu now known as Gadag, Hooli and others – attracted a burst of religious, cultural and literary flowering from the 11th to 13th century, with ever more sophisticated temple architectures, Vidyadana (charity supported schools) and public works such as step wells. These are largely in the context of Shaivism and Jainism, though a few major temples of Vaishnavism here are also from this period. In 1192 CE, after many of the remarkable temples of Lakkundi were already standing, a Sanskrit inscription of Hoysala king Ballala II re-affirms the continued importance of Lakkundi and it becoming his capital. After the 13th-century, there is an abrupt end to all evidence of new public works, temples, inscriptions and other indirect signs of economic prosperity in Lakkundi.