Drive to heritage site - Lepakshi

Time travel - where every stone tells a story

Lepakshi
Lepakshi

My 1st term is coming to an end, and we are given the upcoming test as well project submission dates. On reaching home from class on Saturday, I was desperate to go out of Bangalore to get charged to combat the upcoming grueling weeks at work and personal front with study. I had no clue where to go for a day and started to check my faithful websites and zeroed in on Lepakshi from Anita’s site. While she made a detour and visited two other places on the way, we just opted for Lepakshi via NH-7 as I was not in the mood for too much adventure.

After a sound sleep, we woke up at 8.15 AM; left home late around 10.10 AM, had breakfast in a south Indian fast-food corner before hitting the road. City traffic was not that bad on Sunday, and further away it was thinner. After leaving behind the international airport, there was not much traffic at all, and we really left the concrete jungle behind.

Soon we crossed Devanhalli (new destination of real estate agents) and the road towards Nandi-hills. The road from Devanhalli to Chikballapur is under construction which means sometimes you get a proper highway or else DIVERSIONS with lots of big HUMPS. Those humps are actually meant for big vehicles like trucks and buses while I punished my little Indica with one or two whom I failed to recognize at the right time.

Chikballapur looked like a small town as we passed by without stopping. From there the condition of the road improves except for a few patches where it is undergoing big construction.

Soon, we were greeted by a big signboard which read “Eenadu Pradesh welcomes you”.

Just after crossing the border, we found RAXA Academy and AP Tourism Restaurant on our left. Right there we took a narrow left turn and drove for another 15 KM for Lepakshi. It is a state road that goes to Hindupur via Lepaskhi. The road is narrow, and its condition is not very great. And as there is not much traffic, we were able to drive at a comfortable speed as long as one is alert. There are few patches where we found lush green paddy fields which soothes one’s eye in scorching heat. We stopped by to take some pictures with sunflower plantation; it looked like the end of the season for them.

Soon we were able to see the back of the big monolithic bull (Nandi). We reached the temple in this heat around 1.40 PM; and was relieved to be in the shade. The temple is built by sandstone in Vijayanagar (Hampi) style of architecture. This is Veerabhadra temple where there is a big Monolithic Shiva-Linga. According to Hindu mythology, this seated Nandi (bull) outside is the gatekeeper of Siva and Parvati generally faces the main shrine. Here, it looks at this Linga (due to human settlements now the line of sight is obstructed). We went into a detailed tour of the temple as well as the courtyard. We almost burnt our feet while taking a tour of the outer enclosure.

The temple is divided into three parts - the Nritya (Ranga-Dance) Mandapa, the Ardha (Worship) Mandapa, and the Kalyana Mandapa with 38 carved unfinished monolithic pillars. The temple as a whole is built from sandstone and there are signs of severe erosion. I wish the whole place was more maintained and preserved for generations to come.

Well, while going Aarush had a good nap but on the way back he was very active and naughty - as a whole he was a good kid.

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Odometer Reading

  • 0 KM – Home
  • 10KM – MG Road
  • 23KM – Hebbal
  • 52KM – Diversion for Nandi Hill
  • 70KM – Chikballapur
  • 120KM – (Bagepalli) AP Tourism Restaurant / RAXA Academy Take Left
  • 135KM – Lepakshi
11 Mar   2009