A trip to an ancient wonder - The temple of Lepakshi

This post is actually a late post, a throw back, from the date of my visit to magnificent and architectural wonder temple of Lepakshi. I did this solo trip on one of the long weekends of Holi in 2015 but had failed to write a blog on the same. But few inquiries from friends about the place rekindled the thought of documenting my travel adventure from the pictures and notes taken from guide narration during my visit.

As is my annual routine at the start of the year to look for long weekends and visiting places from my bucket list created from various sources, like reading blogs or articles or watching documentaries or some other source. Long weekend of Holi and a place down South was perfect match as Holi is not played with so much zeal and gusto in South of India as compared to North of India. So it was my way to avoid being caught in Holi color riots. Also having read about Lepakshi temple, The stories associated with temple and some of the architectural wonders the temple has, It was on "must visit" place on my list. It was perfectly squeezed 3 days trip with two days in travelling and one day at Lepakshi. I have always loved doing solo trips to places at times and this was one of them. This journey was in a way short but exciting as I was going to explore a new place and short because of 3 days I had in my hand for long weekend, 2 days would be just travelling. I boarded Udyan express from CST- Mumbai for my initial destination of Hindupur which is 3 hours before Bangalore and approx one hour from Sathya Sai city of Puttaparthi. It was a grueling 22 hour train journey before Hindupur arrived at 6 am. Its a small town on both sides of railway station with west side being the old city with bustling market place while east side was quite open with few residential colonies with hotels. But this sleepy town can get quite sleepy and lonely, experience of which I will narrate at the end of the blog.

Hotels in small town offer 24 hours check-in check-out which is an advantage for I checked in at 6.30 am and my checkout was on same day in late evening at 9.30 pm. With my check-in done, a quick freshen up and breakfast and I was on my way to Lepakshi. Since It was month of March so mornings are still pleasant but afternoons can get hot and humid and I was keen to complete the temple visit before the March sun is at it's prime. The nearest town to Lepakshi temple is Hindupur at a distance of 14 kms or 30 min bus ride. Local buses frequently ply from Hindupur towards Lepakshi which drops us just outside the temple complex on main highway. If Hindupur was a small town, Lepakshi is sleepy village with hustle bustle seen only on main road opposite the temple complex. APTDC has its hotel and only one nearby which caters to tourist visiting the temple and this is the only option for stay.

Lepakshi is a small village in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh and lies on border of Karnataka and AP. The village is famous for its Veerbhadra Swamy temple which dates back to 1583, built in Vijaynagara style sculptures, Legend has it that temple is built at exactly the same spot where Jatayu fell while trying to rescue Sita while being abducted by Ravana in epic tale of Ramayana. The story goes that Jatayu fell, wounded after a futile battle with Ravana at this spot. When Shri Rama reached the spot, he saw the wounded bird and said "Le Pakshi" which means "Rise bird" and this is how it got the name Lepakshi. The temple is built on a low rocky hill called "Kurma Sailam" meaning Tortoise hill in Telugu by two brothers Virupanna and Veeranna who were governors of Penukonda in service of Vijayanagara King Achutadevaraya. Puranic lore also mentions that this temple was built by sage Agastya. 

As soon as I entered the temple, the splendid creation, the beautiful architecture, shikharas adoring the top of the structures made me awestruck. To get deep insight and to know stories associated with temple complex, It was important to be in the company of someone who has the knowledge of the place. A guide approached me for his service but for me the biggest obstacle was, he was flawless in Kannada and Telugu in which I am illiterate, He could not speak Hindi but he was keen to show me around the temple and solution we agreed was he would give me guided tour in his broken English. Where there is a will there is a way !!

My first stop was to the place which has made the temple famous worldwide, The hanging pillar of Lepakshi. The guide asked me to bend down on the floor and view the base of the pillar which looked like a perfect temple pillar from the top. And here it was, the engineering marvel, the pillar barely rest on the ground and it was hanging entirely from the roof. I even passed a thin sheet of paper underneath it and wow !! it came out absolutely unhindered from the other end. Truly an engineering genius of ancient temple builders of India. There are about 100 pillars in the Rang Mandapa of the temple and this one famed pillar is the only one hanging. It is said that the reason is still unknown as to why this is only one hanging pillar. One of the British engineer tried to move it in an unsuccessful attempt to uncover the secret which has not only dislodged the pillar from its original position but also some of the other pillars. It was thus concluded that probably all other pillars fate is also hanging on this one hanging pillar.  

Another major attractions which one just cannot miss is the roof paintings or murals drawn on entire ceiling of Rang Mandapa or Dance hall & Maha Mandapa which are exceedingly beautiful though some are worn out due to water seepage or due to natural aging. The murals depict marriage of Shiva - Parvati, wars, Vijaynagara kings of the era, scenes from Mahabharta & Ramayana. Just before the main sanctum, apart from the intricately carved ceiling there is a 24 by 14 feet painting of Lord Veerbhadra which is suppose to be the largest in India of any single figure.

Apart from these murals depicting stories there are also various designs famously called Lepakshi designs which have been copied over the years and printed on sarees borders and worn by ladies which is again famously called Lepakshi design sarees. Also there are pillars with design which have been reprinted on saree borders and are well known as Lepakshi Sarees.

The 100 pillars of Rang Mandapa or Dance hall is sure to mesmerize with its artistic beauty, No two pillars has same sculpture and each one of them is intricately carved with life size sculptures of Vastu purush - the perfect male, Padmini - the perfect female, Nataraja, Andhakantaka, Bhringi dancing etc..

After moving further from dance hall, one enters garbha griha or main shrine of the temple. The main shrine is a life size granite sculpture of Veerabhadra - the fiery form of Lord Shiva. Photography is not allowed in main hall but one can admire and capture in their lens the artistic beauty, the place holds in other parts of temple complex.

As one enters the temple, you can feel the vastness of the complex. The outer boundary covers the courtyard which runs across all sides of main temple, The courtyard is neatly lined with verandah on all side with endless intricately carved pillars. As per the guide the verandah was earlier used for pilgrims to stay who would visit from far away places.

On backside of main temple lies another wonder, a monolithic statue of Naga Linga, The seven headed serpent shading the Shiva Linga on a raised platform. The story goes that temple artisans created this entire statue during their lunch hour while waiting for their lunch being prepared.

Behind Naga-Linga lies a huge rock depicting Sri-Kala- Hasti - depiction of bathing of Shiva Linga by Sri (spider), Kala (serpent king) and Hasti (Elephant). All sculpted on the rock. Just next to it is beautiful sculpture of Ganesh leaning against the rock with his ride.

The verandah opposite to this features pillars with some really beautiful fine designs. There are said to be such hundreds of such designs on the pillars which are famed saree border designs of Lepakshi.

As I moved further from these structures, I came across some of the most beautifully carved granite pillars standing on a raised platform. The entire structure seemed unfinished as only some portion of the pillars have roof but even then it won't fail to amaze the fine craftsmanship of the temple architects. The entire structure is called Kalyana Mandapa or the marriage hall. It was suppose to depict the scenes of marriage between Lord Shiva and Parvati. The pillars have sculptures of various gods and family members of Lord Shiva and Parvati.

On one of the pillars, guide showed earliest depiction of Gymnasts showing their acrobatic tricks, while another shows a cow with two heads which is again the earliest known 3D image. Another shows a lady putting Sindoor.

The gory tale behind the unfinished structures is that temple architect Virupanna started constructing the temple while the King was away, On his return the King questioned Virupanna for embezzlement of funds and to prove his loyalty he removed his eyeballs and threw on the wall opposite the Mandapa, the two holes can still be seen on the walls with some reddish color dripping from the hole which is suppose to be dried blood. The entire complex doesn't fail to amaze the visitors even when some portion is incomplete, which makes one wonder if the entire complex construction work had been completed, the grandeurness of the place would have been of a different level.

There are small Vijaynagara style Hanuman and Shiva temples as I continued my pradakshina around the complex. The main temple complex is also surrounded by long verandahs with infinite pillars and there are chambers for meditation accessible through these verandahs.

At various locations there are inscriptions on the rock stating various Kings conquest and gifts made by them. They have also made a sketch of sculptors on the rocks which can be seen at few places.

Moving further, after crossing the Kalyana Mandapa, I came across some huge footprints on temple floor which was almost 2 and half feet long. It is like someone has stamped on a wet concrete surface which has left a mark on the floor. Interesting tale shared by my guide states that this footprint is of Goddess Sita and also the footprint is always wet. The water from some unknown source underneath constantly sips and washes the footmark. If one dries or wipes out the water, it slowly seeps back into the place. My guide also informed me that in Treta yug humans had humongous height of 28 to 30 feet. Sita was petite and had a height of 25 feet and hence the foot print of such large magnitude.

At some distance from the place there are prints of a huge circle with inner middle circle and couple of smaller circle between the middle and outer circle on the temple floor. As per my guide this is the thali version created on the temple floor which was used to serve food to the guest in that era when humans were almost 3 - 5 times the height of present day humans.

Some other interesting wonders shared by my guide was the entire complex outer boundary as well inner boundary wall is made by placing the cut rocks in interlocking mode just like in Machu Pichu and at no place any binding agent or concrete has been used. And on closer look the entire structure is standing on top of megalithic stone. And that there is leafless tree which has been standing since ages but does not bear any leaves.

As I finished my circumambulation of the temple complex, Guide asked me to not miss the Basavanna temple at 1 km outside the Veerbhadra temple. Here lies another major attraction of Lepakshi - a monolithic Nandi statue at 27 ft in length and 15 ft in height, a colossal structure and India's biggest Nandi. Imagine a statue of this proportion carved out of a single rock. As per belief every Shiva temple has a lingam which is protected by a Nandi facing it. But here the Nandi was placed outside the temple complex but when one moves closer to the Nandi statue, then only one realizes that Nandi at Lepakshi is facing the monolithic Naga-Lingam and one can see Nandi's head facing the Naga-lingam statue.

With so many wonders and legends of the place that I had learned during my visit that I was in love with the place even more. It's truly worth visiting and experiencing the magnanimous beauty of the place first hand. It's a very tranquil offbeat location close to Bangalore which is usually not crowded and absolute must visit for history and travel buffs.

As I ended my tour and reached Hindupur station to catch my return train at 22.30 hrs, only to find that the train was late by 4 hours. Most of the trains passing through Hindupur had already left while I waited for my train to arrive. The station had a deserted looks by 22.00 hrs and by the time my train arrived I was the only soul roaming the length and breath of station. But overall it was truly a wonderful journey and more importantly I was glad to strike off one more place from my bucket list.

Travel and Stay options: Lepakshi only has APTDC resort close to the temple for stay and food. But Hindupur which is at 14 kms with local bus / cabs available can be good budget option for lodging and food. One can also combine a visit to Sathya Sai Puttaparthi which is at one hour drive from Lepakshi and is chosen city by many for stay and food.

Lepakshi is at 14 kms from Hindupur, 130 kms from Bangalore and 480 kms from Hyderabad.