Trip to Anantapur –Leepakshi Temple
It all started when my colleague came and asked me to
accompany her to Anatapur as it was a colleague wedding. I kept asking for time
as I had to attend the wedding of another of my ex colleague wedding and I was
waiting for a confirmation of my friends who were a part of the group attending
the wedding in Channapatna. Finally at 6 pm I yes to her as the gang that was
supposed to accompany with me backed out and I really was in no mood to go alone
and thought it would be a good idea to know my current colleagues as well as
there were 9 of us from various department who were a part of the group.
I packed
my things for a day and waited for them to pick me up . Anantapur from
Bangalore is around 185 kms and it took us some 4-5 hours to reach he place. We
left Bangalore at about 4 pm and reached by 8-9 pm. We stopped in between for a
tea break and of course for some photo session to capture those moments. The
wedding was on the next day
at 7.40 am
followed by reception at around 12 pm. We attended both and left back to Bangalore.
On the way we decided to stop at Leepakshi which is a small village in
Mandal
in the
Anantapur District of
Andhra
Pradesh. Lepakshi is culturally and archaeologically significant as
it is the location of shrines dedicated to
Shiva,
Vishnu
and
Veerabhadra
which were built during the
Vijayanagara Kings' period (1336–1646). The
temples are the location of mural paintings of the Vijayanagar kings and
Kannada
inscriptions. Near the temple complex is a large granite
Nandi bull.
The Shiva's bull
Nandi
is a granite monolithic sculpture on the main road of Lepashki approximately
200m from the temple. It is 4.5m high and 8.23m long making one of the largest Nandi
in
India.
The sculpture has been positioned so that it faces the shivalinga which is
shielded by a large serpent inside the temple. The Nandi wears a kaasu malai, a
bell chain, earrings and other jewellery. Legend has it that the Naga of the
Nagalinga was carved out of a single stone by sculptors while they waited for
their mothers to prepare lunch.
The weather in Anatapur is extremely hot which was obvious
as it is in Andhra Pradesh. The main temple inside is a cave like thing which
has all idols of gods. The temperature inside is so humid that that you get
completely soaked in sweat. Its as if you have had a sauna bath. But the idols
and the sculptures inside and outside are definitely worth the visit.
Was glad to have missed out my ex colleague wedding to
attend my current colleague wedding J.
