Kaiwara Amaranarayana Temple

Amaranarayana temple is located at Kaiwara in Chikkaballapur district- Karnataka.This Lord Vishnu temple is said to be in the form of Lord Sri Venkateshwara of Tirumala Tirupathi.The temple is ancient, established by Indra in Krutha yuga; the current deity is said to have been installed during the times of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana (reign 1108 – 1152 CE).

The temple has total 3 sanctums, Lord Vishnu in form of Amaranarayana is worshipped here.Other idols include Rama , Seetha & Lakshmana

Legend
Amaranarayana Swamy Temple here has mythological back ground.There is a specialty here. In every temple relating to the various forms of Lord Vishnu there are two guards in front door/gate namely Jaya and Vijaya. When keenly observe the door here the so called dwarapalakas are not there. According to the priests during Trethayuga the dwarapalakas were under curse of Rishis Sanaka and others. As a consequence they were born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyapa. There were no alternative guards to watch the door of Lord Vishnu, who came and settled here in Trethayuga. Thus they link the existence of Lord Amaranarayana Swamy temple to the days of Trethayuga in other words it continues to be in existence here in this Kaliyuga also.

According to the local legends, Lord Rama visited Kaiwara twice. Once with Vishwamitra when he was on a mission to protect the yajnas being performed by the rishis and the second time with Sita Devi and Lakshmana during their exile. There is a cave known as Ramara Guhe in the temple of Amara Narayana. It is believed that Lord Rama stayed in this cave. There is a temple of Veeranjaneya on the outskirts of Kaiwara.

On a nearby hill, Lakshmana shot an arrow in order to get water to quench the thirst of Sita Devi A small lake is formed at this place which is known as Lakshmana Tirtha. Next to Lakshmana Tirtha is the temple of Goddess Chamundeshwari. After killing the demon Mahishasura, Devi Chamundeshwari visited this tirtha, took bath in its holy waters and assumed a peaceful form.

Yet another story as to why this place was called Eka chakrapuri. Lord Surya (Sun planet) runs a chariot every day from morning till evening from east to west. The extraordinary character of his Chariot is that it has only one wheel in the center. That wheel went out of order just when it was above this place. Lord Surya stationed his vehicle for a while (seemingly for repair) and after rectification he proceeded on his way. Because of the reason that one wheeled chariot stationed here it was called as ‘Eka Chakra pura’ (one wheel town).