Highlights
- The 24-point star-shaped vimana.
- The concentric bands of carving.
- The big Nandi (dodda basava) in front.
The Doddabasappa temple at Dambal is a Western Chalukya Shiva temple of about 1124 CE, unusual for its rare 24-point stellate (star) plan.
Check entry arrangements. Ask temple staff about visitor entry, dress requirements and access to the inner shrine before you travel, especially if you are visiting as a non-Hindu.
Dress respectfully and follow the institution’s admission and photography rules.
The polygonal, many-angled vimana is wrapped in bands of carving and fronted by the large Nandi ("dodda basava") that gives the temple its name.
Road km to Gadag; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
October to February; morning light picks out the star plan.
Live forecast loads in your browser.
Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Doddabasappa Temple, Dambal — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
Verified places are being added. The category filters will fill in as approved stays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and nature listings go live.
List your placeRoampedia is commission-free — own or know a stay, eatery, guide or shop near Doddabasappa Temple, Dambal? List it and it appears here once verified.
Add a nearby businessEntry: Free
At Dambal in Mundargi taluk, ~24 km from Gadag; by road, a car is best
If you are travelling by bus or ferry, check the return service with the operator before setting out. Leave time to reach the stop or jetty after your visit.
Ask at the bus stand for the time of the last service back, not the next one. If you miss it, an auto or app cab is the fallback — agree the fare before you get in.
If you need step-free access, contact the site before travelling. Ask about a level entrance, steps along the route, the nearest drop-off point, seating and accessible toilets.
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
The marquee of Lakkundi (c. 1087 CE) — a twin temple whose Shiva and Surya sanctums face each other across a shared mandapa, its walls a lacework of Kalyani-Chalukya carving blending Dravida and Nagara styles.
11.2 km · ~19 min by cab · straight lineA compact Chalukya Shiva temple at Lakkundi, considered a stylistic forerunner to the grander Kasivisvesvara that stands close by — finely proportioned and richly moulded.
11.2 km · ~19 min by cab · straight line
An ASI gallery in Lakkundi displaying sculptures, hero-stones and inscriptions recovered from the town’s scores of Chalukya temples and stepwells — a useful key to the whole heritage cluster.
11.3 km · ~19 min by cab · straight lineThe oldest and largest temple at Lakkundi, an early-11th-century Jain basadi dedicated to Mahavira and built by the poet-patron Attimabbe — a landmark of the Chalukyan "city of 101 temples and 101 wells".
11.5 km · ~19 min by cab · straight lineA Chalukya Shiva temple at Lakkundi paired with the ornate Musukina Bhavi stepwell, one of the finely carved kalyanis for which the old capital is famed, with niched shrines around the water.
11.5 km · ~19 min by cab · straight line
A range of dry-deciduous hills spanning the Gadag, Mundargi and Shirahatti taluks — notified as a sanctuary in 2019, rich in medicinal herbs, wolves, hyenas and blackbuck, with the Nandiveri math at its foot.
15.3 km · ~26 min by cab · straight lineA Kalyani-Chalukya Shaiva complex in Gadag town enshrining a three-linga (trikuta) pedestal, famous for its adjoining Saraswati shrine with intricately lathe-turned stone pillars — a masterwork of 12th-century Deccan carving.
20.7 km · ~34 min by cab · straight lineAn early-12th-century Vishnu temple in Gadag town, linked to the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, where the 15th-century poet Kumaravyasa is said to have composed his Kannada Mahabharata (the Karnata Bharata Katha Manjari).
21.2 km · ~35 min by cab · straight line
A small state zoo and deer park at Binkadakatti on the edge of Gadag, opened in 1972 in a dry-scrub reserve — spotted deer, blackbuck, birds and a green picnic stop for families.
22.6 km · ~38 min by cab · straight lineA wetland tank near Magadi in Shirahatti taluk that draws thousands of migratory bar-headed geese and 130-plus bird species each winter — a Conservation Reserve and a Ramsar site of international importance.
29.4 km · ~49 min by cab · straight lineAn 11th-century Chalukya Shiva temple in the walled compound of Lakshmeshwar (ancient Puligere), carrying scores of old Kannada inscriptions — a major centre of the Chalukyan temple country.
37.5 km · ~62 min by cab · straight line
The Sankha Jinalaya at Lakshmeshwar, an 8th-century Jain basadi to Neminatha (whose emblem is the conch, shankha), built under the Chalukya queen Kumkuma Mahadevi and holding a monolithic Sahasrakuta pillar of a thousand Tirthankaras.
38.3 km · ~64 min by cab · straight lineOctober to February; morning light picks out the star plan.
Entry: Free. Timings: Temple hours.
At Dambal in Mundargi taluk, about 24 km from Gadag; reached by road, a car is easiest. Remove footwear at the sanctum and do not touch the carved plinth.
45 minutes to an hour.
Nearby you can pair Kasivisvesvara Temple, Lakkundi (11.2 km), Nanneshwara Temple, Lakkundi (11.2 km), Lakkundi Archaeological Museum (11.3 km), Brahma Jinalaya, Lakkundi (11.5 km).
Photographs: P. Madhusudan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0), Siddharth Pujari (CC BY-SA 3.0), Ganesh.Subramaniam85 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Original uploader was Dineshkannambadi at en.wikipedia Later version (CC BY-SA 3.0). Wikimedia Commons.