File:1100 CE Saraswati temple, Gadag, Karnataka India - 7.jpg

English: The Saraswati temple is one of the most profusely and intricately carved historic Hindu and Jain temples in Karnataka. It is co-located with Trikuteshvara temple, and is the smaller of the two. The temples compound is close to National Highway 67, between Goa and Hampi (200 kilometers east of Goa and 100 kilometers west of Hampi).

This temple complex attracted much admiration from colonial era archaeologists and scholars. James Fergusson considered it the most complete illustration of the Chalukya architecture, while Jas Burgess admired the exquisite details and finish of the 11th and 12th century Hindu artwork here.

• The Saraswati temple is within a compound, co-located with the Trikuteshvara temple and a temple water tank. It opens to the north. The compound has many inscriptions that help date these temples and its build out.
• The original Trikuteshvara temple was completed around 1040 CE. This consisted of sanctum with Vimana (spire), a smaller mandapa, the east and south entrances into the temple. Thereafter, the temple was expanded. A larger mandapa and a western sanctum with Vimana was added. A third shrine, axially aligned to the Trikuteshwara, was added as the Saraswati temple to the south side of Trikuteshvara temple. The extant temples complex was likely complete by the early 12th-century.
• The Saraswati temple is intricately carved with numerous fine, miniaturized details depicting gods, goddesses, Hindu legends, kama, artha and dharma scenes. In contrast to the Trikuteshwara, the Saraswati temple is more open. The outer walls of both temples are beautifully carved, though they show signs of erosion as well as major deliberate mutilation, defacement and damage from post-12th century wars between Deccan Sultanates and Hindu kingdoms.
• The artwork outside and inside the Saraswati temple show Vedic deities (Indra, Varuna, Agni and others), the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and the Shaiva-Vaishnava-Shakti deities depicted through the Epic and Purana legends. Important for medieval era cultural studies, the artwork at both Trikuteshvara and Saraswati temples depict yogi, yoginis, dancers, musicians, the numerous styles of jewelry, clothing, dresses, hairdo, daily lives and festive community events.
• This temple in Gadag has goddess Sarasvati – the Hindu goddess of learning and arts – in the sanctum, exquisitely carved from stone. Her four hands have been chopped off in past wars, and there are many signs of deliberate damage. Yet, enough remains to show the painstaking polishing and features of the statue.
• The earliest dated inscription found in this temples complex is from 1036–1037 CE.
• This temple hosted Chandrabhushana Pandita, a sala (school) and his Hindu monastery here; he was a revered teacher of the medieval era Kalamukha subtradition of Shaivism.

Gadag is a small town in Karnataka (sometimes called Gadag-Betageri, by the twin town designation). Between the 9th and 12th-century, it was the location of a growing, large city with numerous Hindu and Jain temples. Many inscriptions and literary references mention Gadag with alternate names: Gadugu, Galadugu, Kratuka, Kratapura and Kardugu. Several major dynasties helped build a galaxy of Hindu and Jain temples in and around Gadag region. These include the Rashtrakuta, Western Chalukya, Kalachuris, Yadavas and Hoysalas. The historic Gadag city reduced and dissolved into history as the region came under intense Sultanate era raids, wars and related destruction, and political turmoil. Gadag region was mostly a forgotten rural area specked with dozens of abandoned ruins in the 1880s when Henry Cousens visited it. The Gadag region is growing again.

The Saraswati temple is one of the national monuments of India, protected and managed by ASI Dharwad circle, as N-KA-D234.