Story 1: Ravana kidnapped Sita and was on his way to Lanka. Jatayu, a demi-god in the form of a vulture and a devotee of Lord Rama, intercepted Ravana in order to save Sita. In the ensuing battle Ravana cut off Jatayu’s wings. As Jatayu lay on the ground in the clutches of death Rama and Lakshmana came in search of Sita. Seeing Jatayu in this condition Rama uttered “Le-pakshee” meaning “rise oh bird”. Thus the place came to be known as Lepakshee.
Story 2: Veeranna, treasurer of King Achutaraya, the successor of King Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara Empire decided to build a temple for his family deity Veerabhadraswamy. Veeranna’s plans were on a grandiose scale and as a result the treasury got emptied. The king on learning this was upset and ordered Veeranna to be blinded. The loyal servant, that Veeranna was, carried out the punishment himself. He gouged his own eyes and threw them against the walls of the temple. To this day one can see the bloodstains on the wall of the temple. Thus originated the name Lepa-akshi, meaning village of the blinded eye.
It really doesn’t matter how this town got it’s name. The magnificence of the temple’s sculptures and paintings is sure to leave every visitor spell bound. It is claimed that the temple was built by Saint Agastya himself. However it was developed into the present marvelous form by Veeranna as mentioned in the second story.
The day before Ganesh Chaturthi my friend and I left early which enabled us to cover some distance before we stopped for breakfast. On Doddaballapur road we stopped at Shuchi Ruchi and stuffed ourselves with vada, kesaribath, kharabath and dosa. Well thankfully I did not eat all these items all by myself. According to our calculations we should have reached the temple by around 10.30 am. At one point of our journey I had to ask my friend to get down from the bike and walk while I transformed myself into a circus artist. Negotiating the collapsed road which had left a huge gap I almost lost my balance. The rocks and stones used to fill this gap only made matters worse. After I crossed the obstacle course a group of boys sitting in an autorickshaw exclaimed “excellent driving skills sir”. Thus combination of bad roads and a couple of other factors ensured that we reached Lepakshi only at noon.
The temple, right in the middle of the village and hidden behind all the modern buildings, was built in the 16th century (1535 AD) in the Vijayanagara style of architecture. The other notable and very famous example of this style of architecture is Hampi. An attempt at describing the architectural marvel of these temples would be grave injustice to the skills of the sculptors. The Vishwakarma Brahmin artisans, many of whose names are found in inscriptions in this temple, have brought to life the characters and events from mythology and history with consummate ease and grandeur.
The temple has 3 main sections, the Mukha Mandapa (aka Nitya Mandapa or Ranga Mandapa), Artha Mandapa and Garbha Griha. The temple also houses a Kalyana Mandapa which was left unfinished due to the unfortunate death of Veeranna. The unfinished Kalyana Mandapa has 38 carved monolith pillars in grey sandstone. It is believed that Shiva and Parvathi got married in this very same Kalyana Mandapa.
In this temple reside Lord Ganesha, Lord Veerabhadraswamy and his wife, Lord Shiva (there are five Shivlings in all), Goddess Parvathi, Lord Vishnu, Lord Anjaneya and Goddess Durga. Lepakshi is considered as one of the 108 important Shaiva Kshetras referred in the Skandapurana. Apart from the five Shivlings Lord Shiva has been depicted in various forms both in sculptures and paintings including the dancing form of Nataraja. Lord Veerabhadraswamy is also one of the many forms of Lord Shiva.
One of the Shivlings is placed on top of the coils of a seven headed serpent which has been carved out in a huge monolith boulder just outside the main temple. An interesting story exists for this seven headed serpent. The main sculptor asked his mother to serve him food. She asked him to wait for some time as the food was being prepared. The sculptor carved a magnificent seven headed serpent in the boulder just opposite to the room where his mother was preparing food. When she came out with the food she was taken aback by this life-like serpent. She exclaimed and it is said that her evil eye cause the snake sculpture to crack. These cracks can be seen even now.
One of the many must see things in this temple is the floating pillar. It is said that this pillar was completely off the ground but now because of an experiment conducted by a britisher one corner of the pillar is touching the ground. His experiment led him to conclude that the entire balance of the temple lies on this pillar alone. He is believed to have said that should this pillar be toppled the entire temple would collapse. It is a definite brain teaser as to how this huge stone pillar is hanging from the ceiling of this temple.
The 100 petals lotus carved from 12 stones and joined together in the ceiling of the temple leaves one open mouthed, literally. Pillars with carvings of Rambha, Nataraja, Brahma, Shiva, Parvathi, Nandi, Bhringi (the three legged devotee of Lord Shiva), and Chandra are mesmerizing to say the least. These are the inner circle of pillars. The surrounding pillars have various forms and episodes sculpted into them including one of a chubby warrior, bhoota gana from Shiva’s army. I mention this because this bhoot gana is absolutely cute looking.
As the enamored eyes travel upwards on the pillars and reach the ceiling exquisite paintings take over the task of leaving the visitor gasping for breath for their sheer beauty and brilliance. These paintings on the ceilings done using natural vegetable dyes are now on the verge of being lost forever. Elements of nature have taken their toll on these paintings. What still remains though stands testimony to the artistic prowess of the artisans of that era.
Paintings depicting Shiva-Parvathi’s wedding ceremonies, episode of Ganesha separating Ravana from the Atmaling he got as a boon from Lord Shiva, Veeranna along with his brother Virupanna and sons, seven maids (each one an expert in one particular form of make up) readying Parvathi for the wedding and a painting of a young Krishna whose eyes follow you wherever you go are just some of the few.
Writing just a paragraph about each of the pillars and paintings would result in a huge book and words are just not equipped enough to capture and convey the stories that have been brought to life. One has to see with one’s own eyes, hear the stories that these silent pillars narrate with their own ears and feel the richness of art by being present there; body and soul.
Next time you see a saree with intricate creeper designs you might want to check one of the many pillars in the Lata Mandapa in the unfinished Kalyana Mandapa. The design just might have been inspired from one of these pillars each with a different intricate design.
The pillars in the unfinished Kalyana Mandapa have exquisitely carved figures of Shiva, Parvathi, Brihaspathi, Parvathi’s parents, Indra, Kubera, Varuna, Agni, Vaayu and Yama. Each pillar standing is a testimony to the sculptors’ capabilities of bringing stones to life.
Inside the compound of the temple is an impression of a foot in the stone. It is believed that it is Sita’s right foot impression. Throughout the year this impression is filled with water as there is a natural water spring inside it. The left foot impression is said to be in Kalahasthi.
On the same boulder in which the seven headed serpent has been carved is carvings of a story related to Sri Kalahasthi. There is a spider which is seen worshipping Shivling. A second carving shows Bedara Kannappa worshipping Shivling. The third depicts a cobra and an elephant worshipping the Shivling. Sri the spider, Kala the cobra and hasthi the elephant combined together give the name Sri Kalahasthi.
Right next to this story of Kalahasthi is a beautifully carved Lord Ganesha. Lord Veerabhadraswamy inside the sanctum sanctorum is ugraroopi meaning he is an angry God. The teekshna drishti of Lord Veerabhadraswamy is too powerful for mere mortals like us. This is why it is believed that one has to go around the sanctum sanctorum and take the darshan of Lord Ganesha before entering inside.
Lord Veerabhadraswamy draped in white with a blue cloth for background looked beautiful. Yes, he is a ugraroopi but that day he seemed to be in a good mood. In no modern day temple have I managed to get this feeling of absolute serenity and bliss. A smiling Lord Vishnu right opposite to one of the Shivlings evoked feelings of calm. The Goddess draped in gold and pink saree was looking… well just beautiful. I just stood there for a few moments lost in her gaze and her lovely smile. Goddess Durga carved into one of the pillars and now covered in a brass plate depicting her form was resplendent in a golden yellow saree. Her smile too evoked a sense of calm.
Inside the temple the guide showed us the sculptures of a perfect man and a perfect woman. The perfect man has long hands, broad chest, flat foot and two other attributes which I forgot. The perfect woman has a flat foot, a face which is in 3 equal parts (forehead, nose and upper lip to chin), her face, chest and abdomen are also in equal proportion, has an arched feet and the second toe of her feet are longer than the big toe. Quite interesting… but these talk about only the physical attributes. Weren’t behavioral characteristics important in the making of a perfect man or woman?
Walking around the temple we found inscriptions on the walls and on the ground. These are said to be in both kannada and telugu. Along the outer compound are shelters for devotees who came from far for worshipping the presiding Gods and Goddesses. The pillars here too are intricately carved with some wonderful designs.
On the ground has been carved what looks like plates in the stone. The guide explained to us that this is where the artisans used to have their food. Looking at the size of the plates I could not stop myself from wondering about the amount of food these artisans ate.
Such grandeur coupled with very few people gave us the much sought after peaceful time. It was a wonderful experience to sit in the temple, close the eyes and experience it all. Here we also experienced the phrase “time flies”. It really did and pretty fast too because we had spent more than three hours. Given a choice we would have spent a few more hours exploring this amazing world from the 16th century.
One word of advice, when you engage a guide look for someone who explains in Kannada or Telugu. We asked for a guide who could explain in English. Later on we realized it was a mistake. Not only did this person not explain many of the sculptures and paintings but he also gave information which was contradicted by another guide. We were disappointed with the guide we had engaged.
We next stopped at the biggest monolith Nandi in India. Measuring 15 feet high and 27 feet in length this Nandi has an imposing presence. This is not inside the temple premises and is situated a few hundred meters down the road. It is not the most ornate of the Nandi’s that I have seen but it still is an amazing piece of sculpting. The guide told us that when this temple was built there were seven concentric walls. All that remains now are three layers. The rest four have been lost to the growing human civilization. Another interesting fact is that the Seven headed serpent carved out in stone in the temple can be seen from this place where Nandi stands. The buildings constructed do obscure the view somewhat but it is still visible.
As a footnote I would like to add a couple of things. Unlike many of the temples where at every step one has to shell out big bucks either for Darshan or for even just entering here there was no demand from anybody for money. Even guides do not ask you for any specific amount of money. They accept whatever the visitors give them. Secondly the priest in this temple was very courteous and very nice. He was young and even spoke to us in English. When I was hesitating to go near Lord Vishnu’s idol for taking a photograph he said “Please go in Sir, there is no restriction on taking photographs. Only request is please don’t enter the sanctum sanctorum.” It was such a delightful change from the haughty and airy priests of some of the temples I have visited.
It was time to head back to Bangalore. We decided we will take the Chikkaballapur road this time to avoid the bad roads that we came by. This did not help us in anyway. The road condition till we hit the highway was no better. The road widening disease had struck and it was a nightmare driving through these dust bowls. Finally it was around 5.00 pm when we went to the AP tourism development corporation hotel at Kodikonda post. Though we had not had our lunch we were not too hungry and had a plate of hot chapatis. Feeling a little better for having left the bad roads behind, we rode back home thus bringing another wonderful weekend to close.
Route: Total distance is around 130 kms from Bangalore.
Option 1: Bangalore - Yelahanka - Doddaballapur - Gauribidanur - Hindupur - then take the turn going towards Kodikonda - Lepakshi
Option 2: Bangalore - Devanahalli - Chikkaballapur - Bagepall - Kodikonda - then take the road towars Hindupur (there is a APSTDC hotel after which is the left turn) - Lepakshi
It was difficult choosing the photos to be uploaded in this blog. To see all the photos not uploaded in the blog Click Here
Story 2: Veeranna, treasurer of King Achutaraya, the successor of King Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara Empire decided to build a temple for his family deity Veerabhadraswamy. Veeranna’s plans were on a grandiose scale and as a result the treasury got emptied. The king on learning this was upset and ordered Veeranna to be blinded. The loyal servant, that Veeranna was, carried out the punishment himself. He gouged his own eyes and threw them against the walls of the temple. To this day one can see the bloodstains on the wall of the temple. Thus originated the name Lepa-akshi, meaning village of the blinded eye.
It really doesn’t matter how this town got it’s name. The magnificence of the temple’s sculptures and paintings is sure to leave every visitor spell bound. It is claimed that the temple was built by Saint Agastya himself. However it was developed into the present marvelous form by Veeranna as mentioned in the second story.
The day before Ganesh Chaturthi my friend and I left early which enabled us to cover some distance before we stopped for breakfast. On Doddaballapur road we stopped at Shuchi Ruchi and stuffed ourselves with vada, kesaribath, kharabath and dosa. Well thankfully I did not eat all these items all by myself. According to our calculations we should have reached the temple by around 10.30 am. At one point of our journey I had to ask my friend to get down from the bike and walk while I transformed myself into a circus artist. Negotiating the collapsed road which had left a huge gap I almost lost my balance. The rocks and stones used to fill this gap only made matters worse. After I crossed the obstacle course a group of boys sitting in an autorickshaw exclaimed “excellent driving skills sir”. Thus combination of bad roads and a couple of other factors ensured that we reached Lepakshi only at noon.
The temple, right in the middle of the village and hidden behind all the modern buildings, was built in the 16th century (1535 AD) in the Vijayanagara style of architecture. The other notable and very famous example of this style of architecture is Hampi. An attempt at describing the architectural marvel of these temples would be grave injustice to the skills of the sculptors. The Vishwakarma Brahmin artisans, many of whose names are found in inscriptions in this temple, have brought to life the characters and events from mythology and history with consummate ease and grandeur.
The temple has 3 main sections, the Mukha Mandapa (aka Nitya Mandapa or Ranga Mandapa), Artha Mandapa and Garbha Griha. The temple also houses a Kalyana Mandapa which was left unfinished due to the unfortunate death of Veeranna. The unfinished Kalyana Mandapa has 38 carved monolith pillars in grey sandstone. It is believed that Shiva and Parvathi got married in this very same Kalyana Mandapa.
In this temple reside Lord Ganesha, Lord Veerabhadraswamy and his wife, Lord Shiva (there are five Shivlings in all), Goddess Parvathi, Lord Vishnu, Lord Anjaneya and Goddess Durga. Lepakshi is considered as one of the 108 important Shaiva Kshetras referred in the Skandapurana. Apart from the five Shivlings Lord Shiva has been depicted in various forms both in sculptures and paintings including the dancing form of Nataraja. Lord Veerabhadraswamy is also one of the many forms of Lord Shiva.
One of the Shivlings is placed on top of the coils of a seven headed serpent which has been carved out in a huge monolith boulder just outside the main temple. An interesting story exists for this seven headed serpent. The main sculptor asked his mother to serve him food. She asked him to wait for some time as the food was being prepared. The sculptor carved a magnificent seven headed serpent in the boulder just opposite to the room where his mother was preparing food. When she came out with the food she was taken aback by this life-like serpent. She exclaimed and it is said that her evil eye cause the snake sculpture to crack. These cracks can be seen even now.
One of the many must see things in this temple is the floating pillar. It is said that this pillar was completely off the ground but now because of an experiment conducted by a britisher one corner of the pillar is touching the ground. His experiment led him to conclude that the entire balance of the temple lies on this pillar alone. He is believed to have said that should this pillar be toppled the entire temple would collapse. It is a definite brain teaser as to how this huge stone pillar is hanging from the ceiling of this temple.
The 100 petals lotus carved from 12 stones and joined together in the ceiling of the temple leaves one open mouthed, literally. Pillars with carvings of Rambha, Nataraja, Brahma, Shiva, Parvathi, Nandi, Bhringi (the three legged devotee of Lord Shiva), and Chandra are mesmerizing to say the least. These are the inner circle of pillars. The surrounding pillars have various forms and episodes sculpted into them including one of a chubby warrior, bhoota gana from Shiva’s army. I mention this because this bhoot gana is absolutely cute looking.
As the enamored eyes travel upwards on the pillars and reach the ceiling exquisite paintings take over the task of leaving the visitor gasping for breath for their sheer beauty and brilliance. These paintings on the ceilings done using natural vegetable dyes are now on the verge of being lost forever. Elements of nature have taken their toll on these paintings. What still remains though stands testimony to the artistic prowess of the artisans of that era.
Paintings depicting Shiva-Parvathi’s wedding ceremonies, episode of Ganesha separating Ravana from the Atmaling he got as a boon from Lord Shiva, Veeranna along with his brother Virupanna and sons, seven maids (each one an expert in one particular form of make up) readying Parvathi for the wedding and a painting of a young Krishna whose eyes follow you wherever you go are just some of the few.
Writing just a paragraph about each of the pillars and paintings would result in a huge book and words are just not equipped enough to capture and convey the stories that have been brought to life. One has to see with one’s own eyes, hear the stories that these silent pillars narrate with their own ears and feel the richness of art by being present there; body and soul.
Next time you see a saree with intricate creeper designs you might want to check one of the many pillars in the Lata Mandapa in the unfinished Kalyana Mandapa. The design just might have been inspired from one of these pillars each with a different intricate design.
The pillars in the unfinished Kalyana Mandapa have exquisitely carved figures of Shiva, Parvathi, Brihaspathi, Parvathi’s parents, Indra, Kubera, Varuna, Agni, Vaayu and Yama. Each pillar standing is a testimony to the sculptors’ capabilities of bringing stones to life.
Inside the compound of the temple is an impression of a foot in the stone. It is believed that it is Sita’s right foot impression. Throughout the year this impression is filled with water as there is a natural water spring inside it. The left foot impression is said to be in Kalahasthi.
On the same boulder in which the seven headed serpent has been carved is carvings of a story related to Sri Kalahasthi. There is a spider which is seen worshipping Shivling. A second carving shows Bedara Kannappa worshipping Shivling. The third depicts a cobra and an elephant worshipping the Shivling. Sri the spider, Kala the cobra and hasthi the elephant combined together give the name Sri Kalahasthi.
Right next to this story of Kalahasthi is a beautifully carved Lord Ganesha. Lord Veerabhadraswamy inside the sanctum sanctorum is ugraroopi meaning he is an angry God. The teekshna drishti of Lord Veerabhadraswamy is too powerful for mere mortals like us. This is why it is believed that one has to go around the sanctum sanctorum and take the darshan of Lord Ganesha before entering inside.
Lord Veerabhadraswamy draped in white with a blue cloth for background looked beautiful. Yes, he is a ugraroopi but that day he seemed to be in a good mood. In no modern day temple have I managed to get this feeling of absolute serenity and bliss. A smiling Lord Vishnu right opposite to one of the Shivlings evoked feelings of calm. The Goddess draped in gold and pink saree was looking… well just beautiful. I just stood there for a few moments lost in her gaze and her lovely smile. Goddess Durga carved into one of the pillars and now covered in a brass plate depicting her form was resplendent in a golden yellow saree. Her smile too evoked a sense of calm.
Inside the temple the guide showed us the sculptures of a perfect man and a perfect woman. The perfect man has long hands, broad chest, flat foot and two other attributes which I forgot. The perfect woman has a flat foot, a face which is in 3 equal parts (forehead, nose and upper lip to chin), her face, chest and abdomen are also in equal proportion, has an arched feet and the second toe of her feet are longer than the big toe. Quite interesting… but these talk about only the physical attributes. Weren’t behavioral characteristics important in the making of a perfect man or woman?
Walking around the temple we found inscriptions on the walls and on the ground. These are said to be in both kannada and telugu. Along the outer compound are shelters for devotees who came from far for worshipping the presiding Gods and Goddesses. The pillars here too are intricately carved with some wonderful designs.
On the ground has been carved what looks like plates in the stone. The guide explained to us that this is where the artisans used to have their food. Looking at the size of the plates I could not stop myself from wondering about the amount of food these artisans ate.
Such grandeur coupled with very few people gave us the much sought after peaceful time. It was a wonderful experience to sit in the temple, close the eyes and experience it all. Here we also experienced the phrase “time flies”. It really did and pretty fast too because we had spent more than three hours. Given a choice we would have spent a few more hours exploring this amazing world from the 16th century.
One word of advice, when you engage a guide look for someone who explains in Kannada or Telugu. We asked for a guide who could explain in English. Later on we realized it was a mistake. Not only did this person not explain many of the sculptures and paintings but he also gave information which was contradicted by another guide. We were disappointed with the guide we had engaged.
We next stopped at the biggest monolith Nandi in India. Measuring 15 feet high and 27 feet in length this Nandi has an imposing presence. This is not inside the temple premises and is situated a few hundred meters down the road. It is not the most ornate of the Nandi’s that I have seen but it still is an amazing piece of sculpting. The guide told us that when this temple was built there were seven concentric walls. All that remains now are three layers. The rest four have been lost to the growing human civilization. Another interesting fact is that the Seven headed serpent carved out in stone in the temple can be seen from this place where Nandi stands. The buildings constructed do obscure the view somewhat but it is still visible.
As a footnote I would like to add a couple of things. Unlike many of the temples where at every step one has to shell out big bucks either for Darshan or for even just entering here there was no demand from anybody for money. Even guides do not ask you for any specific amount of money. They accept whatever the visitors give them. Secondly the priest in this temple was very courteous and very nice. He was young and even spoke to us in English. When I was hesitating to go near Lord Vishnu’s idol for taking a photograph he said “Please go in Sir, there is no restriction on taking photographs. Only request is please don’t enter the sanctum sanctorum.” It was such a delightful change from the haughty and airy priests of some of the temples I have visited.
It was time to head back to Bangalore. We decided we will take the Chikkaballapur road this time to avoid the bad roads that we came by. This did not help us in anyway. The road condition till we hit the highway was no better. The road widening disease had struck and it was a nightmare driving through these dust bowls. Finally it was around 5.00 pm when we went to the AP tourism development corporation hotel at Kodikonda post. Though we had not had our lunch we were not too hungry and had a plate of hot chapatis. Feeling a little better for having left the bad roads behind, we rode back home thus bringing another wonderful weekend to close.
Route: Total distance is around 130 kms from Bangalore.
Option 1: Bangalore - Yelahanka - Doddaballapur - Gauribidanur - Hindupur - then take the turn going towards Kodikonda - Lepakshi
Option 2: Bangalore - Devanahalli - Chikkaballapur - Bagepall - Kodikonda - then take the road towars Hindupur (there is a APSTDC hotel after which is the left turn) - Lepakshi
It was difficult choosing the photos to be uploaded in this blog. To see all the photos not uploaded in the blog Click Here
Nice and informative Girish. Look forward to the one of ur recent trip to Pondy :-)
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