Yelandur is a taluk of Chamarajanagara district. It is very close to Chamarajanagar city. It is a small town connecting various places in the Chamarajanagar region. This town has a historic and cultural importance in this region.

Yelandur came into prominence under the Cholas. The Cholas were the emperors of the Tamil kingdom. The first known prince of the dynasty to have ruled this region is Singadepa or Devabhupala. He is said to have built the famous Gaurishwara temple of Yelandur at about 1550 A.D. This is a magnificient temple. This temple speaks volumes of the Cholas as great builders. It has a very beautiful main entrance. It went into a decreipt state but was later erected in 1654-55 by his great grandson Muddabhupa.

The Gaurishwara temple’s attractive entrances have no gopura (towers built on the entrance arches). However, the entrances have artistically created fine sculpture embedded into the walls and on pillars. Stone carved themes like Andhakasuravadha (killing of the demon Andhakasura), Shoolabrahma, Bhikshatanamurthy, Bhairava, Kalingamardana, and Dakshinamurthy tell these mythological stories. Narasimha in various manifestations like Dakshinamurthy, Sharabha, Vali and Sugriva can also be observed on these walls and pillars. The four corners and the door side of the mantapa have monolithic stone chains formed by circular stone carved links - each 20 centimetres in diameter. This mahadwara (great door) is therefore locally called as bale (bangle) mantapa, as these links resemble bangles.

Yelandur was later ruled by the Mysore wodeyars. In 1807, Yelandur and others surrounding villages were granted as jahgir (gifted land) to Dewan Purnaiah by Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Dewan Purnaiah was one of the most revered statesmen in those times in the whole of India (India was an agglomeration of more than 100 princely states in those times and not one nation as it is now). He is credited with making the Wodeyar empire a very strong one. Even now, people benefit from his visionary works. He was born in Yelandur.