It has been nearly 18 months since we visited Lepakshi. Here is short blog from the visit. Each architecture in Lepakshi is a marvel and Wikipedia has full coverage of the story behind this temple :-). I am not dwelling in deep on the temple mythology in this post. The blog is only a documentation of our visit.
02 Nov 2019,
Lepakshi is hamlet located in Andhra Pradesh state bordering Karnataka. This place is located near the borders and hence there is no dearth of Kannada speakers. Situated 110 kms from Hebbal (where I am currently located), the historical place is known for Veerabhadra Swamy temple hosting myriads of architecture marvels.
We started at 9:15AM and reached the destination comfortably at 11:15AM. It was too hot and the place was crowded when we reached. We could not obtain the space in primary parking area and had to reach out to the back of temple to park the car. The car parking costs Rs.50/-. We paid the parking charges and stepped towards the temple.
As car entered the village we were welcomed rather appalled by the
weekend crowd that barged into this historical place. The main parking
place was already choked with cars and the caretaker asked us to steer
towards the back gate of temple. Nearly 15 mins was spent on dilly
dallying for parking slot. I reckon, the parking space would have
exhausted if it was not a long weekend. Due to extended weekend people
with accessible hometown would have left for their native place.
Once the car was parked at designated area, we were ready to explore this historical pride of India. Three attractions in Lepakshi are
- Shri Veerabhadraswamy temple
- Jatayu theme park
- Nandi statue
The word Lepakshi is derived from Laya-Pakshi, means moksha attained to a bird. It is believed that in Ramayana era, the Rama liberated Jatayu here in Lepakshi. Since the Jatayu attained moksha here, the place is renowned as Laya-Paksha. Over the time, oral conversations compressed the name to Lepakshi.
Let us start our virtual journey from Veerabhadraswamy Temple. The Veerabhadraswamy temple hosts tons of architectural marvel from Vijayanagara empire. The temple is constructed on a tortoise shaped granite hill and has no foundations. The temple premises is way cooler than the areas outside temple. The granite base too does not heat up during mid-day which enables you to peacefully photograph the temple.
The sanctum sanctorum hosts numerous deities and most of them in linga form. The sanctum sanctorum feels like cave and has cool ambiance. The main deity is Veerabhadraswamy lord. The other deities surround the primary deity namely, Papanashanam swamy, Goddess Durga, Ramalinga, Hanumalinga and Ranganatha Swamy. The carvings over the pillars are well crafted and mesmerizing.
The primary attractions at the temple are hanging pillar, Nagalinga, Ganesha statue, Kalyana Mantapa, Anjaneya Murthy and many more. Myriads of architecture marvels to rejoice here. It takes almost half day to go through the temple in detail. The expansive corridors, the unique idols, the beautiful carvings will speedily advance your time.
We braked for lunch after thoroughly enjoying the temple. Being unknown of food options, we had packed home cook food and relished inside the car. That was sumptuous meal after scintillating architectural journey.
Our next stop was Jatayu theme park which requires a climb of 100 stairs. The entrance fee is Rs.20/- if I can recall. Even the kids climbed the hill which cleared our earlier apprehensions. The view of town is fabulous from summit with cool breeze. The entry to Jatayu statue is restricted perhaps due to fear of tampering by visitors (or it opens only few occasions per year?).
Good thing about Lepakshi is you can freely photograph or do videography anywhere except inside sanctum sanatorium of Veerabhadraswamy temple. If you are photography enthusiast, do carry your wide angle lens equipped with Image Stabilization. The Arabian sea was abuzz with double cyclones, consequently keeping the cloud activity alive. The scattered clouds with azure sky adds more charm to the photographs as always. The frequent rains from past few weeks has reduced the haze in region. The sky was azure and the landscape had umpteen greenery. The backdrop of clouds provided perfect setup for photography enthusiasts.
All the places are well maintained but not the town unfortunately. We had ice-cream at the APSRTC hotel located nearby the Nandi Statue before concluding our journey.
Hotels and accommodation
State run guest house and restaurant is situated at the entrance of town near Nandi statue. Not sure about the quality since we packed from home. The restaurant serves both Veg and Non-Veg items and may be spicy as per the AP standards. Apart from the AP tourism restaurant, apparently there does not seem to be any other good option. There are no good eateries from Devanahalli cross all along the highway unfortunately. Better to pack food or settle for available options. There may be good options nearby gowribidanur but cannot guarantee though.
Roads
The best route is via Hyderabad highway. One has to drive only for 10kms from National highway. The Lepakshi deviation (which has welcome arch) is located 5kms from Bagepalli. The interior road from main highway is in healthy condition. Authorities are constructing new roads and the work is partially complete. Probably, the work may complete in few months. It looks like the road is laid till Hindupuram. Except the bypass road at Chitamalur which is almost complete, the rest of road construction is complete but without guard rails. Ready to cough up to Rs.300 toll cumulatively to travel along the Hyderabad highway.
The second route is via Doddaballapur, gowribidanur, hindupuram and finally lepakshi. This route is single lane but good till Gowribidanur since recently upgraded. The road past Gowri bidanur which is AP part is not known to me.Two toll gates are present one near Rajanukunte and near Gowribidanur. The total toll in this stretch may not cross Rs.100/-
Even though Hyderabad highway is highly comfortable, I would prefer the second route not because of less toll but due to presence of many getaways. If you are not tired, you can visit Ghati Subramanya, Vidurashwatha as well.
Conclusion
Overall it was satisfactory journey and we thoroughly enjoyed the prominent locations in Lepakshi. Despite the scorching sun, the visit was fruitful and much needed relief for soul. It was easy drive back at a average speed of 80kmph. Beware not to cross this speed, or you may get unlucky with hidden interceptors.
There was plan to visit Vidurashwatha. Exhaustion post 3hrs of exploration fizzled out the excitement to visit Vidurashwatha.
Here is two part Video of our visit. The first is completely belongs to Veerabhadraswamy Temple.
The second part depicts Jatayu theme park and Nandi statue.
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