Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

Lepakshi is a small village located at around 15-km to the east of Hindupur in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh.  Lepakshi village is famous for the Veerabhadra Temple, where lord Veerabhadra Swamy is worshiped as the main deity. The temple was built by the two brothers Viranna and Virupanna and is one of the masterpiece of the Vijayanagar Style of Architecture. It is famous for its sculptures and archaeological beauty created by the artisans of Vijayanagara empire.

 

Hanging Pillar

The hanging pillar is one of the 70 pillars which is hanging well almost on its edge speaking aloud the genius of Vijayanagar architects. There is a story about it – A British engineer who was keen on knowing how the temple was supported by the pillars and tried to displace one of the pillar and it caused the movement of as many as 10 pillars around to maintain the balance.



As per the legend, it is believed as one of the important incident of Ramayana occurred in this place. Ravana while he was kidnapping Sita Devi and heading towards Lanka a bird called Jatayu had battle with Ravana, it could not fight for long and fell in this place. It is believed as the foot print in the below picture is of Sita Devi’s and the same can be seen in the temple premisis.



There are two red spots on the western wall of the inner enclosure and it is believed that Virupanna, the treasurer of the Vijayanagar empire was accused of using the funds without kings permission to build these monuments and build mantapam behind the temple.  When the construction was almost complete the king realized that he has used the treasure without his permission and ordered a punishment to be blinded.

The dark mar0on stains on the wall near the ‘Kalyana Mantapa’ is believed as marks from his bleeding eyes and hence the village is called “Lepa-akshi" i.e., a village of the blinded eye.



Hanuman temple at Lepakshi



Nandi statue at Lepakshi
A huge statue of a bull made out of a single granite stone is one of the biggest attractions in Lepakshi, located less than 1km from Veerabadhra Temple.

Dimentions :  4.5 m high and 8.23m long.



Some wonderful pictures in and around Lepakshi temple :

[gallery ids="242,244,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,253,260"]

How to reach Lepakshi from Bangalore

By Road
From Bangalore there are two ways to reach Lekapshi, One is via Hindupur and other through Hyderabad highway.
Both involve NH7 (Hyderabad/ Ballary/ Yelahanka road, starting from Hebbal flyover in outer ring road) uptill Yelahanka.

• via Hindupur: Head to Hindupur straight. From their take a diversion towards Kodikonda.Its just 15 Km from here.


• via Chikballapur : Head towards Hyderabad till Kodikonda ( AP Border ) and then turn left and from their Lepakshi is just 16 KM.

KSRTC buses run so frequently between Bangalore and Hindupur.

By Train:
Nearest railway station : Hindupur.

Reference :
http://www.lepakshitemple.com/
http://www.anantapur.com/travel/lepakshi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerabhadra_Temple,_Lepakshi
http://images.worthview.com/travelogue/veerabhadra-temple-lepakshi/