Temple exterior - Outer parapet wall of the Mantapa

The outer parapet wall of the open mantapa has a total of 140-panel sculptures with depictions from the Hindu epics. The Ramayana is sculpted on the south side wall on 70 panels, with the story proceeding quite unusually, in an anti-clockwise direction.

You can see them here Temples of Karnataka.

Quoting from the above website,

"The story (of Ramayana) is divided into seven main kandas as per Valmiki (Bala, Ayodhya, Aranya, Khiskinda, Sundara , Yuddha and Uttara Kanda. In this temple (at Amruthapura) Uttara Kanda is missing."

The entire Ramayana can be seen unfolding on the walls of Amriteshwara temple. The story begins from when King Dasharatha performs a fire sacrifice called the Putrakameshti Yaga. The final relief is of Lord Rama defeating Ravana to reunite with Seeta.

Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana - Seeta in Ashokavana, Below the parapet - carved miniatures of temple towers

Some more sequences from Ramayana

Below the parapet wall - beautifully carved miniature towers, Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana - Kishkinda kanda - Rama's meeting with Sugreeva

Ravana killing Jatayau. Seeta can be seen in the Pushpaka Vimana., Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana

Ravana astride his chariot during the battle in Ramayana

Ravana orders the killing of Hanuman when he is brought to his court in Lanka, Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana

Ravana fakes the death of Rama and Lakshmana to Seeta. See the two heads on the ground., Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana

Below the parapet wall Beautifully carved miniatures of temple tower-like structures, Carving on the parapet wall - sequences from the epic Ramayana - Rama wins against Ravana and reunites with Seeta.

Krishna Leela and Mahabharata

On the northern wall, 70 panels describe the sequences from Krishna Leela and Mahabharata.

Of these, 25 of them depict the life of Krishna from Bhagavat Purana. The images below are some of the panels. Some more images from Mahabharata can be found here Puratattva.

Vasudeva carrying the new-born Krishna across the Yamuna River, which is cleverly depicted as a band with fishes in it

Scene from Krishna’s childhood when his mother, Yashoda tied him to the milk churn while she was working in the kitchen. Krishna crawled across the courtyard dragging the churn, which got stuck between two big trees and on a pull by Krishna, the trees crashed down!

Childhood scene of Krishna eating butter while his mother, Yashoda churns the milk

Panel showing Krishna playing the flute

Carvings on the parapet wall - sequences from Mahabharata - Krishna's killing of various demons, Below the parapet wall - carved miniatures temple towers

There are 45 panels that depict the scenes from the Mahabharata. Below images show some of the panels. The reliefs start from Kunti asking Bhishma for help after her husband passes away. The reliefs depict many incidents from Mahabharata such as Lakshyagriha, Khandava Vana Dahana, and the finally end with the Mahabharata war scenes.

The burning of the Lakshagriha (house of lacquer) with the Pandavs trapped inside. In the Mahabharat, Duryodhana planned to eliminate the Pandav brothers by inviting them to the palace made of lacquer. The panel shows the flames erupting from the house with the Pandavs inside.

Exhibits

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