Among Hoysala Kings, Vishnuvardhana was the most well known and was the one who got rid of the Chalukya control. It is said that King Vishnuvardhana built the main temple of Channakeshava. Thousands of visitors from all parts of the globe come to see the magnificent architecture of the temple. The innumerable variety of ornaments, the doorways, the ceilings, the birds, the animals, dancers and other figures are fully decorated as if they are full of life and vigour with variety of actions and movements.

Existance of this temple has many versions, one being that Vishnuvardhana built this temple in memory of his victory in Talkad against Cholas and one other version being that Vishnuvardhana built this temple as a sign of him having adopted Vaishnavism as advised by the Great Guru Sri Ramanujacharya.

Kappe Channigaraya is situated to the south of Sri Keshava Temple. The cells have the figures of Ganapathi, Saraswathi, Lakshminarayana, Chamundeshwari and Venugopala. The Temple of Soumyanayaki and Ranganayaki, beloved of Sri Channakeshava, may also be seen.

Gravity Pillar:
It is about 42 ft high of single stone and is standing on its own weight.