On the return journey from Sondha, and Sirsi, we visited the Harihareshwara Temple. This Temple at Harihara (near Davangere) is said to be built in 1223–1224 century by Polalva, a minister of the Hoysala Empire King Vira Narasimha II.
Harihara is also the ancestral place of my Husband’s family and he had fond memories of this place.
We once again talked to priest, got permission to take pictures and videos. The temple houses the deity Harihara, one half is Vishnu Hari and the other half is Shiva Hara. The right half is Shiva and left half is Vishnu. Shiva holds in his hand, the thrishul which you can see and in the left hand, Vishnu holds the shankha or the conch. There is also Lakshmi just below the hand of Vishnu and Parvathi below the hand of Shiva.
According to the priest we talked, a demon named Guhasura lived in this place. Guhasura prayed and got blessings from Lord Brahma with his penance and obtained a boon. It was impossible for either Hari (Vishnu) or Hara (Shiva) to alone kill him. Guhasura then started troubling all gods and humans. In order to overcome Lord Brahma’s boon and eliminate Guhasura, Vishnu and Shiva together took the form of Harihara , came down to earth and killed the demon.
As you see in the video the architecture of this temple is mesmerizing. We just couldn’t comprehend how the temple was built in the 12th century and how they could have even moved the huge stones from one place to another. A miracle in itself.
Take a look and enjoy the architecture of our amazing temples. It was raining all through when we visited this temple. Harihara is around 15 kms from Dawanagere.
Kalpavriksha Kamadhenu 
Posted by Sridhar on June 17, 2022 at 3:17 pm
Beautiful video with music.. Harihar temple stands for unity of Hari and Hara .I was in Harihar exactly fifty years ago and visited this temple several times. Thanks for publishing this .
Posted by meeraghu on June 17, 2022 at 8:45 pm
Most welcome!
Posted by shanthisethuraman on June 5, 2022 at 7:09 am
Amazing temple Video,
As you see in the video the architecture of this temple is mesmerizing, we could not imagine how they built the temple at 12 century. Harihara came down to earth to kill the demon story so inspired.
Posted by meeraghu on June 5, 2022 at 9:24 am
Yes indeed Shanthi. Amazing temple.
Posted by K.LAKSHMAN. on June 4, 2022 at 6:10 pm
Wonderful architecture and carvings. Truly mesmerising how the large-sized boulders forming part of the temple complex could have been moved to the places of their perch in the distant past when the modern-day mechanical devices were yet to be invented! Yes, it could only be construed as the divine power at work in answer to the prayers of thousands of true bhaktas. K.LAKSHMAN.
Posted by meeraghu on June 5, 2022 at 9:24 am
100% Sir. It was just stunning.