Keladi Nayak Palace and Temple Architecture of Shivamogga

Keladi, a small town in Shivamogga district, was the capital of the Keladi Nayaka kingdom (1499–1763 CE), one of Karnataka's significant post-Vijayanagara successor states. The Rameshwara and Veerabhadra temples at Keladi represent a distinctive regional architectural style blending Vijayanagara elaborateness with a harder, more austere Malnad sensibility. Carved black schist columns in the mandapam, bracket figures of nayika (celestial women), and exceptional stone relief carvings of the Keladi period are preserved here. The Keladi Museum houses royal artefacts, manuscripts, and inscriptions documenting this kingdom's rule. Shivamogga's Keladi temple complex is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India and attracts historians, archaeologists, and pilgrims.