Lepakshi-A blend of History and Architecture

It was the month of October 2015 ,when my son has winter holidays and we were planning for a trip to a nearby place on a weekday as weekends will be having a lot of rush in heritage sites.The choice to be made was between the Tipu Palace in Bangalore and the place called Lepakshi where i have heard the stories are written on the stones and pillars build in the Veerabhadra Swamy temple.Finally we decided for Lepakshi. The place is around 130 kms from Bangalore and we started the journey on an early morning,so that we reach the place in around 2 hrs time.The approach road towards this place is having tolls and the road is good also,perfect for a road trip.We reached the place at around 11.00 am.This place,Lepakshi, is a small village near Anantpur. This place is built on a low rocky hill called "Kurma Sailam" (meaning tortoise hill in Telugu).

History
As the history of the place goes this place is famous for the Veerabhadra Swamy temple.This temple was built way back in 1500 A.D by Virupanna Nayak who was the chieftain under the Vijayanagara king Achyutharaya. Its also said that this temple was built first by saint Agastya and then it was renovated by Virupanna Nayak. He was the treasurer of the Vijayanagara kingdom.Its said in the stories pertaining to this place, that in the absence of the king, Virupanna was the treasurer of the kingdom and he conceived the idea of renovating this place.He used the treasure of the kingdom when the king was away in Vijayanagara. As soon as the king was back,the treasure was empty and the construction was almost completed.The king got angry and punished the treasurer to be blinded.The treasurer,who was always loyal to the king accepted the punishment and carried out the punishment with his own hands.Its said that the stains can still be seen in the Kalyana mandapa which are said to be the marks made by his eyes which he dashed against the wall.The name Lepakshi was given to the place from the name "Lepa-akshi" meaning village of the blinded,post this incident.
There is another story which comes from the Ramayana.Its said that when Ravana kidnapped Sita,the brave Jatayu fought Ravana bravely at this place before being wounded and its wings getting cut off by Ravana. Jatayu laid their wounded till Rama & Lakshmana arrived and he narrated the whole story to Rama and Lakshmana and died.Rama seeing his disciple taking the last breath exclaimed with grief "Ley Pakshi" (Pakshi meaning= bird) and hence the name for the place came as Lepakshi.

The Nandi Statue
The first thing that you see when you enter this small village is a huge Monolithic Nandi statue.This statue is ten meter in length and six meter in height and is decorated with necklace,muvvahara and a hara of bells and has short horns.This Nandi is an excellent piece of art of the Vijayanagara period.

Nandi Statue
Veerabhadra Swamy Temple
From this place as we move some two hundred meters we reach towards the Veerabhadra Swamy Temple.There is lot of similarities between the architecture of this temple and what i have seen in Hampi. The stone carvings are similar to the one we can see in Hampi and Bhoganandeshwara temple.The 100 pillared Ranga Mandapa or dance hall inside the Veerabhadra Swamy Temple is one of the attractions inside the temple.This temple was made in the 16th century by brothers Viranna & Virupanna. Each of the pillars has intricate artistry of stone work by the artisans of those times.The ceilings of this place has a special significance as they are colored with artistic mural paintings depicting the marriage of Shiva & Parvati,the stories of Ramayana etc.

Veerabhadra Swamy Temple
Hanging Pillar
One of the most admired wonder in this place is the Hanging Pillar.This is an engineering wonder.There are innumerable pillars inside the temple.There is one of them which hangs from the ceiling.The base of the pillar barely touches the ground and we can pass thin objects like a cloth sheet or paper between the temple floor and bottom of the pillar.Its is said that during the British period a curious British Engineer wanted to know the technicality behind the hanging pillar and he tried to dislodge the pillar ,but to his dismay he found that the adjacent pillars started moving to maintain the equilibrium. 
The Hanging Pillar
As we come out from the temple, the long corridors and the Mandapas gives us a sense of the architecture which resembles the ones at the Bhoganadeshwara temple in Bangalore.
The Swing Pavilion
As we turn around to the left side, i witnessed the most admired place in the whole of the temple complex,The Swing Pavilion.This place kept me for around two hours taking photographs in all the angles which i can take.One of the best place for a photo enthusiast to work around.If the sky is blue and we get less people around this monument,its the best thing to happen for a photographer to take all the strides to complete the best shot.This Pavilion is to the north of the temple and four tall pillars support a square roof surmounted by a circular vimanam. A hanuman slab is placed inside this pavilion.

The Swing Pavilion
Kalyana Mandapa
As we pass the pavilion, the next wonder to be seen is the unfinished Kalyana Mandapa. It's believed that the marriage between Shiva and Parvati have happened here.Ornate pillars which were to be assembled to complete the Manadapam lie scattered around this place.Each of the pillars intricately chiseled to complete the statues on the pillar gives this architectural marvel a paradigm look for any photo enthusiast.

Kalyana Mandapa
As we move ahead from this place, the next stop was to the place called Nagalingam. This Naga statue is carved out of a single stone which provides shelter to the Shivalingam which is made out of black granite.

Nagalingam
The time was now around 2 o'clock in the afternoon and we took our lunch which we had brought from home and post that we just left towards the NH 7 and drove towards Bangalore.This was one of my best travel photography which i had did in recent times.Specifically the Swing Pavilion was my favorite place where i spend my 3/4th of the time on the hot rocks of the temple premises.

Travel Tips
This place is around 130 kms from Bangalore by road.We can drive through NH 7 and reach the place in around two hrs of time.We can also ply by APSRTC bus which will go to Hindupur. From there we will have to catch a bus to Lepakshi.

Taking food along with will be a wise decision as there are very less eateries in and around this place.There is only one eatery of APTDC  Harditha,which is near the NH7 junction.It serves some decent meals both veg and non -veg. 

For exclusive photos of this place please visit my Flickr album at


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Copyrights Sujith Nair - ©SujithPhotography

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Location: Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh 515331, India

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