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Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple
The legendary Lepakshi is famous for its 430 years old Veerabhadra Swamy temple complex with beautiful Vijayanagar styled sculptures, 100-pillared dance hall, beautiful and intricate carvings, paintings on the ceilings, the hanging pillar that barely touches the ground, the monolithic Nagalinga, the monolithic Nandi, the unfinished wedding hall, Lepakshi saree designs and more. As the legend goes, this is the place where injured Jatayu, the bird fell while Ravana kidnapped Sita.
Just about 120 kilometers from Bangalore, Lepakshi is a nice place for a weekend getaway. It is one of the places worth visiting near Bangalore.
The main temple at Lepakshi, the Veerabhadra Swamy temple is functional, and pujas and other sacred rituals are practiced every day. Inside, there are shrines of Veerabhadra swamy, Shiva, Vishnu, Durga and other Hindu gods.
Lepkashi is a small village in Anantapur district, in Andhra Pradesh. It lies near the Andhra-Karnataka border. Built on a low, rocky hill called “Kurma sailam” (meaning tortoise hill in telugu), Lepakshi is of historical and archaeological significance, dating around 1583 AD and was built by the brothers, Virupanna and Veeranna, who were initially in the service of the Vijayangar kings. The temple complex seems to be almost completely built on a single rock on the hill.
Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, at Lepakshi
The entire temple and the structures within are of typical Vijayanagar style of architecture, with intricately and beautifully carved granite sculptures and structures, with “shikharas”, meaning peaks (some of them shaped like a dome) made of brick adorning the top of these structures. These brick domes are now restored by concrete, but the restoration seems incomplete in some places as the damaged images without hands or heads remain as it is, even after restoration. However, as it now has concrete, the bricks will fare better in rough weather. On visiting Lepakshi, one will surely remember the great ruins at Hampi, in Karnataka, if one has seen it before. (At the ruins of Hampi, one can still see the deteriorating reddish brick domes on the top.)
Inspite of the beautiful architecture, something might seem amiss in Lepakshi. This is because the work there never got completed. It has a gory history which goes like this.
Intricate Sculptures at the main doorway of Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, at Lepakshi
Intricately sculpted pillars in the 100 pillared Ranga Mandapa or Dance Hall inside the Veerabhadra Swamy Temple
Virupanna, the royal treasurer, who planned and executed the construction, was accused of drawing funds without the king’s permission from the state treasury to build the shrines. When the king came to know of this, he ordered that Virupanna must be blinded for his felony. On knowing this, Virupanna inflicted the punishment upon himself by removing his own eyes. The two reddish spots on the western wall of the inner enclosure are told to be the blood stains from his bleeding eyes when he threw them against the wall after plucking them. The work at the temple came to a standstill after this. The unfinished “Kalyana Mandapa”, or marriage hall behind the main temple in the complex, and other unfinished structures here and there stand still even today, reminding us of that fateful day.
Virupanna did not survive for long, and the village is called "Lepa-akshi" or, "Lepakshi", i.e., a village of the blinded eye.
But that’s not all. As the legend goes, the temple at Lepaksi was built on the spot where Jatayu fell after being injured by Ravana during the kidnapping of Sita.
As another legend goes, Lord Rama exclaimed, "Le, Pakshi", meaning, "Rise, Bird", in Telugu, seeing the fallen Jatayu, and hence leading to the name of the place.
Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple - Trayaan
Please also read from here
Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple - Trayaan
The legendary Lepakshi is famous for its 430 years old Veerabhadra Swamy temple complex with beautiful Vijayanagar styled sculptures, 100-pillared dance hall, beautiful and intricate carvings, paintings on the ceilings, the hanging pillar that barely touches the ground, the monolithic Nagalinga, the monolithic Nandi, the unfinished wedding hall, Lepakshi saree designs and more. As the legend goes, this is the place where injured Jatayu, the bird fell while Ravana kidnapped Sita.
Just about 120 kilometers from Bangalore, Lepakshi is a nice place for a weekend getaway. It is one of the places worth visiting near Bangalore.
The main temple at Lepakshi, the Veerabhadra Swamy temple is functional, and pujas and other sacred rituals are practiced every day. Inside, there are shrines of Veerabhadra swamy, Shiva, Vishnu, Durga and other Hindu gods.
Lepkashi is a small village in Anantapur district, in Andhra Pradesh. It lies near the Andhra-Karnataka border. Built on a low, rocky hill called “Kurma sailam” (meaning tortoise hill in telugu), Lepakshi is of historical and archaeological significance, dating around 1583 AD and was built by the brothers, Virupanna and Veeranna, who were initially in the service of the Vijayangar kings. The temple complex seems to be almost completely built on a single rock on the hill.
Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, at Lepakshi
The entire temple and the structures within are of typical Vijayanagar style of architecture, with intricately and beautifully carved granite sculptures and structures, with “shikharas”, meaning peaks (some of them shaped like a dome) made of brick adorning the top of these structures. These brick domes are now restored by concrete, but the restoration seems incomplete in some places as the damaged images without hands or heads remain as it is, even after restoration. However, as it now has concrete, the bricks will fare better in rough weather. On visiting Lepakshi, one will surely remember the great ruins at Hampi, in Karnataka, if one has seen it before. (At the ruins of Hampi, one can still see the deteriorating reddish brick domes on the top.)
Inspite of the beautiful architecture, something might seem amiss in Lepakshi. This is because the work there never got completed. It has a gory history which goes like this.
Intricate Sculptures at the main doorway of Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, at Lepakshi
Intricately sculpted pillars in the 100 pillared Ranga Mandapa or Dance Hall inside the Veerabhadra Swamy Temple
Virupanna, the royal treasurer, who planned and executed the construction, was accused of drawing funds without the king’s permission from the state treasury to build the shrines. When the king came to know of this, he ordered that Virupanna must be blinded for his felony. On knowing this, Virupanna inflicted the punishment upon himself by removing his own eyes. The two reddish spots on the western wall of the inner enclosure are told to be the blood stains from his bleeding eyes when he threw them against the wall after plucking them. The work at the temple came to a standstill after this. The unfinished “Kalyana Mandapa”, or marriage hall behind the main temple in the complex, and other unfinished structures here and there stand still even today, reminding us of that fateful day.
Virupanna did not survive for long, and the village is called "Lepa-akshi" or, "Lepakshi", i.e., a village of the blinded eye.
But that’s not all. As the legend goes, the temple at Lepaksi was built on the spot where Jatayu fell after being injured by Ravana during the kidnapping of Sita.
As another legend goes, Lord Rama exclaimed, "Le, Pakshi", meaning, "Rise, Bird", in Telugu, seeing the fallen Jatayu, and hence leading to the name of the place.
Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple - Trayaan
Please also read from here
Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple - Trayaan
