Temples in a palace compound

This is one of the oldest temples of Mysore and it is much older that the Amba Vilas Palace or even the Wodeyars. The original structure of the temple dates back to the ninth century.

This is also believed to be the place where a sage did penance. When Shiva appeared before the sage, he consecrated the deity here.

When the temple was built, there was a lake besides it. There is no water body now.      

Moreover, this is one of the 12 temples within the compound of the Amba Vilas Palace in Mysore. This is the Shiva temple and the deity is also called as Vedamurthy as he is considered the lord of the four Vedas-Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana.

This is the Trinayaneswara Temple in the Mysore Palace. It was here that sage Trinabindu meditated. Pleased with hid devotion, Shiva appeared before him en on the shore of a lake). Impressed by this Shiva appeared before the sage who then consecrated the Linga which is known as Trinayaneswara or Vedamurthy.

Trinayaneswara also means the one with three eyes and Shiva has a third eye on his forehead.

Several centuries ago, this temple was on the banks of the Devaraya Sagara or Doddakere lake. The Kere disappeared and the fort was expanded bringing the temple within the fort premises during the rule of Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar and Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar.

(The Doddekere was drained due to the royal family expressing concerns over water borne diseases emanating from mosquitoes and insects that frequented the water body).

Subsequently, the Trinayaneswara temple was renovated and  additional structures built. A big tower in front of the temple was destroyed in 18th century. However, the base of the tower is still visible at the entrance.

The temple is also unique in the sense that it has images of  many Wodeyar Kings praying. This is called Anjalimudra.

There are images of Dakshinamurthy-Shiva as a teacher of universal knowledge, Kshetrapala-the lord of the land, Kumara- the God of war and Surya-the god of light. These are believed to have been consecrated by Ranadheera Kantirava or Kantirava Narasaraja Wodeyar, the wrestler King of Mysore.

The last Wodeyar Emperor, Jayachamarajendra, donated in 1951 a 11kg ceremonial gold mask to Vedamurthy. This mask is called Swarna Kolaga or Chinnada Kolaga and it is kept in the Treasury.

During Shivaratri, the mask is brought to the temple and the deity adorned with it.

Built in the Vijaynagar style, this huge temple contains several shrines and two exquisite glass paintings in traditional Mysore style

By the way, the palace complex includes twelve Hindu temples and if you leave out the Vedamurthy temple, the oldest of the other temples was built in the 14th century, while the most recent was built by Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar in 1953. This is the Gayatri temple.

Another temple dedicated to Shiva in the palace complex is Someshvara. The Linga here is believed to be old. The other deities in this temple were consecrated by Maharani Vanivilasa Sannidhana over a century ago.

The Lakshmiramana Temple  is dedicated to Vishnu, Shwetha Varahaswamy Temple to Lord Varahaswamy.

The Kote Anjenaya temple is famous as is the Kote Ganapathy temple. The Mariamma temple is supposed  to ward off diseases.

The Lakshmiramana temple is popular as it is believed that the prayers made here are always answered. It was built by Narasa Nayaka, the Emperor of Vikayanagar and father of Krishnadevaraya, in 1499. It was renovated in 1851. The temple was also witness to several religious ceremonies conducted on the eve of  the coronation of Krishnaraja Wodeyar on June 30, 1799 after the death of Tipu on May 4, 1799 in Srirangapatna.

The Prasanna Krishnaswamy Temple was built by Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the third, in 1829. The Krishna here is in ambegalu pose and he holds butter in his hands. This idol is modeled on the idol of Krishna in the Apremaya Swamy Temple in Malur near Chennapatna.   

The Kodi Bhairava, to the north east of the palace compound is supposed to be the oldest of the temples. This temple is an important landmark for the Wodeyars as the founder of the Mysore royal family, Yaduraya, prayed here before successfully overcoming a Karugadahalli Chieftain.
The Kodi Someshwara temple dates back to the thirteenth century and is built in the Chola style. The Kille Venkataramana Swamy temple is another landmark. The idol was brought by Queen Lakshmammani, the adoptive mother of Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, from Balamuri. There is an interesting legend behind the temple. The Queen was worried about the fate of the Wodeyar dynasty as she was unsure about the intentions of Tipu who was not very friendly towards the  Mysore rulers. She prayed for the well-being of her family and one night she had a dream in which she was asked to get the image of  Venkataramana from Balamuri. She was told that once she installed the image, no harm would come to the Wodeyar family.  
The complex also contains two twin temples in the Hoysala style,  built by Dewan Purnaiah in 1809. He used materials from ruined Hoysala temples in Shimoga.
The deity of Swetha Varahaswamy was first consecrated at a temple at Srirangapatna by Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar (1672-1704). Tipu destroyed the temple and it was shifted to Mysore in 1809. There are images of Srivaishnava seers in the temple which were presented by Krishnaraja Wodeyar III in 1829.
There are several inscriptions in the temple belonging to different periods. The southern wall of the shrine of the goddess has one such inscription that belongs to the early 13th century.  
The tower and pillars are intricately carvings. The inner walls of Navaranga display murals narrating stories of Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita. One such mural of Rama Pattabhisheka can be found on the south eastern wall of Navaranga.