Trip to Anantapur –Leepakshi Temple

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.

Flower Show at Lalbagh

Flower Show at Lalbagh

 

 

Who does not love flowers .Visited Lalbagh  botanical garden yesterday which holds a flower show annually during the Republic Day time. Did not count but definitely read in the papers that his year the flower show would use over 200 varieties of flowers and 20,000 pots for decoration.It is definitely worth visiting. The bright flowers  around you in various hues of red, orange, yellow, pink , purple etc  can lift up anyone’s mood. Now I know why people say colour therapy helps in curing depression. From small kids to teenagers to adults ,one can find a mixture of crowd during this time all coming to enjoy the flowers in full bloom. From Chrysanthemums to pansies-you name it and it will be there and also Bonsai's .

One of my favourites was a girl in gown which was made of flowers .And the flower house, replica of house of Gustav Hermann Krumbeigal, a Germany botanist and garden designer who is well known for designing the Lalbagh Botanical garden .Definately something you should all not miss.

Trip to Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Mt Abu-22nd Oct-27th Oct Day 6

Trip to Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Mt Abu-22nd Oct-27th Oct Day 6

Day 6-Ahmedabad

It was the 6^th day and the last day of our tour and we had to reach Ahmedabad to catch our flight to Bangalore. I did not want the holidays to end but had to be back in office the next day. There was also not much that we could see as we wanted to reach Ahmedabad early to be on the safer side. . After breakfast we left Mt Aby with a heavy heart. It was around 8:30 – 9 am that we bade goodbye to the place and started for Ahmedabad. The driver was going a little slow as usual and we did not mind this time. The driver was in a  little more friendly mood today. He by the way had got adjusted to the behaviour of 7  eccentric ladies . Or maybe he thought he is finally getting rid of us by 6 pm as our flight was at 7 pm. And that’s why he was happy  J

 

We told him to show any place on the way to Ahmedabad and we had Adalaj in  mind. The Adalaj Stepwell is a popular tourist attraction of the city and is situated 18 km away from Gandhinagar. The well was built in 1499 A.D. by Queen Rudabai. The step well or Vav, as it is called in Gujarati, is intricately carved and is 5 stories deep. The carvings on its walls and pillars are beautiful. This vav has five stories and three gates to enter it. On entering, one is greeted by one mandap with an eight-sided dome. There is a Durga temple outside and one needs to climb down to see the well .We spent some time time wandering around and taking snaps .

 



After spending an hour , the driver told us to visit Vaisno Devi temple. A popular temple of goddess Vaishno Devi located on S.G.Road (Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway). It is an exact replica of Vaishno Devi temple situated in Jammu & Kashmir. And just as popular. Here too one needs to crawl and go inside a cave to have a darshan of Mata. Post darshan we stopped in a restaurant for a late lunch as it was already  3 pm. And we had reached Ahmedabad. We looked around for a good restaurant and finally settled for one on the main road .We spend almost 2 hours chatting , eating , discussing what we missed seeing and what we could still see. 3 of them still wanted to shop but we decided against it as we wanted to reach the airport .So we finally picked up a local sweet famous in Gujarat and made our way to the airport which the driver reached sharp 6 pm. We bade goodbye to the driver and Ahmedabad and Fafda and waited for our flight to arrive to take us back to Bangalore.