Suttalaya (Enclosure)

For some time after Chavundaraya created the Gommata image, it stood in the open. He had constructed a hall with massive pillars only behind the image. Incorporating this rear hall, the Hoysala commander Gangaraja built the enclosure on the other three sides. The 24 Tirthankara sculptures and other Yaksha and Yakshi images in the enclosure appear to have been commissioned by Basavisetti of Mosale, a disciple of Nayakirti Siddhanta Chakravarti. Basavisetti also built its wall. Some of the Jina images date to the Ganga period. His sons, Nambidevasetti, Bokisetti, Jinnisetti, and Bahubali Setti, commissioned the screens in front of the Tirthankaras.

In the pavilion before Gomateshwara is a sculpture of Indra surrounded by the eight guardians of the directions. The central relief is enclosed within a circle and framed by a square, with smaller figures of the eight directional guardians carved along its edges. The remaining surface is filled with intricate ornament. Musicians and dancers appear in the same panel, and Indra holds a ceremonial vessel. Carving this composition in a stone slab was a remarkable achievement of the Hoysala sculptors. The pavilion was built in the early 12th century by a Hoysala minister named Baladeva. The outer portion of the enclosure was constructed around the 15th-16th centuries. Because the front has undergone many alterations, its original form is uncertain. Two inscriptions flank the entrance; one contains the Gommatastuti composed by the poet Boppana, a fine poem emotionally praising Gommata's noble character.