The Mallikarjuna temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is in Basaralu, a small town in the Mandya district, Karnataka state, India.

The temple was built by Harihara Dhannayaka around 1234 A.D. during the rule of the Hoysala Empire King Vira Narasimha II.

The platform, in addition to its visual appeal, is meant to provide devotees a path for circumambulation (pradakshinapatha) around the temple.

[10] In the "new kind" of decorative articulation, the first heavy eaves runs below the superstructure and all around the temple with a projection of about half a meter.

Starting from the top, the friezes depict hansa (birds) in the first frieze, makara (aquatic monsters) in the second (though often interrupted with kirtimukhas in this temple), epics and other stories in the third (which in this case is from the Hindu epic Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and stories of Krishna), lions in the fourth (instead of the more commonly seen leafy scrolls), horses in the fifth and elephants at the bottom.

Notable among the wall panel sculptures and depicting scenes from the epics and puranic stories are the 16-handed Shiva dancing on the head of a demon called Andhakasura, dancing images of a 22-armed Durga and Saraswati, King Ravana lifting Mount Kailash, the Pandava prince Arjuna shooting the fish target, and Draupadi rushing forth with garland, and the slaying of the demon Gajasura.