ABSTRACT
The Hindu temple has a long, and stylistically varied, history at Tekkalakota, in Ballari district, Karnataka, where thousands of years of human occupation and ritual activity can be traced across the granite hills and agricultural fields making up the rural landscape. Although Tekkalakota has been the subject of several archaeological examinations, earlier research has focused on the prehistoric era, while the substantial medieval heritage of the area remains to be systematically studied. This chapter is an overview of the different temples and shrines found around Tekkalakota and its environs. Rather than an academic analysis based on traditions of art and architectural history, we present local perspectives on these structures in order to explore the role of ritual architecture in daily life. Similarly, we wish to emphasize the everyday context of monuments at Tekkalakota in a way that illustrates the significance of temples and shrines to the local communities, both past and present.
