Halasi
Halasi is a town in Khanapur Taluk, Belgaum District in Karnataka, India. It is 14 km from Khanapur and about 25 km from Kittur. As known from inscriptions, the ancient name of the town was Palāśikā. A centre of the early Kadamba Dynasty, it was a minor capital of the Goa Kadambas. The town is notable for a series of medieval temples. The most famous are the Varāha Narasiṃha temple and Suvarṇeśvara temple in the town, and a third temple of Rāmeśvara. On a hill about 1.9 km. south-west of the town is a pilgrimage place known as Rāmatītha.
History
Of the ancient settlement of Palāśikā no architectural remains have been found, but A. Sundara has noted traces of brick structures near the Kalleśvara temple on the west side of the town. The main evidence of early Palāśikā is a series of copper plates discovered in the 1850s at a location then known as Cakratīrtha. Fleet states that the plates "were found some sixteen years ago in a mound of earth close to a small well called Chakratîrtha, a short distance outside Halsi on the road to Nandigaḍ." The charters all record Jain grants and range from the time of Kākutsthavarman through Ravivarman and Harivarman.Varāha Narasiṃha Temple
This temple is under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India and appears in the List of Monuments of National Importance in Belgaum district. Traditions noted in the nineteenth century ascribe its construction to Jakhnācāraya. This appears to refer to the popular hero Amarashilpi Jakanachari. A large stone tablet inside the temple carries an inscription over sixty lines in two parts that record gifts in different years. The first is dated 1169 and registers the gift of a village by the sixth Goa Kadamba Permādi or Shivchitt to Brahmins for the performance of rites to the holy Narasiṃha whose shrine had been established in the pure city of Halsi by Mātāyogi. The second inscription belongs to Vijayāditya II and is the only inscription of his reign. Dated 1171–72 in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, it records the gift of a village name Bhalaka.Inside the temple there are two garbhagṛha chambers facing each other. In the right one is the deity of Lord Śrī Viṣṇu in a sitting posture. The deity of Sūryanarāyaṇa and Mahālakṣmī are just behind the main deity. The chamber on the left side has the deity of Bhūvāraha Swami, lord Vishnu's Varaha avatar, where he carries Mother Earth on his tusk. Just outside the main temple are smaller temples dedicated to Ganesha, Shiva and Vitthala. One statue of Radha Krishna can also be seen in a smaller shrine.
A yearly fair is held at the temple on the full moon of Ashvin. On the full-moon day of Kārttika or Kartik Purnima, the palanquin of Varāhanarasiṃha is carried in procession to the temple of Rāmeśvara.