Vidyashankara Temple

Distinct from the adjoining Sharada Peetham, the Vidyashankara Temple at Sringeri is a specific fourteenth-century building constructed under early Vijayanagara patronage to commemorate Vidyatirtha, one of the matha’s most revered pontiffs. Architecturally it marks a transitional moment between Hoysala and Vijayanagara temple styles, combining the star-shaped plan and detailed stone carving of the Hoysala tradition with the more massive, monumental proportions that would come to define Vijayanagara temple architecture.

The temple’s best-known feature is a set of twelve pillars, each carved with the emblem of a zodiac sign (rashi) and positioned so that, through the solar year, sunlight enters the hall and illuminates the pillar corresponding to the current month — a deliberate astronomical alignment that turns the temple itself into a functioning calendar, a rare and sophisticated example of astronomy embedded directly into sacred architecture.

Getting there: The temple stands within the Sringeri matha complex on the Tunga riverbank, close to the Sringeri Post Office.