Lepakshi - A tale of a blinded eye

Early in morning the artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. The bright looking milky clouds got up from sleep and started traveling around the sky visiting the wonderful environment. It's the paradise view of the first sip of coffee in the morning, as me and my friends en-route to Lepakshi.

Lepakshi is a village in the Anantapur District and approximately 120 km north of Bangalore. There are several myths associated with this temple town.  According to Ramayana, when sita was being abducted by Ravana, the vulture demi God Jatayu tried to protect the queen. However, Ravana had chopped the wings and it fell to the ground. 'Le pakshi' said Lord Rama to Jatayu, the bird , asking to get up. That's why the place is called Lepakshi. 

As we enter the village, the biggest monolithic Nandi (bull) of  India,  in a couchant position that has been created out of a single rock. A few meters further, is the Veerabhadra Swamy Temple.  This temple was built by Virupanna who served as the Governor under the Vijayanagar Empire. According to legend, Several ministries complained the king accusing that Virupanna is misusing people money on building the temple. Agitated with the news, Virupanna pulled out his eyes from his own hands and thrown on one of the wall. Since then, the place came to known as Lepa- Akshi meaning place of blinded eye.  The construction of the temple was almost done and only the roof of  the Kalyana Mantapa was pending. As Viruppana became blind, the construction was stopped completely and this is why the Kalyana Mantapa doesn't have a roof till today. 

Veerabhadra Temple - Kalyana Mantapa

Hanging Pillar

As we enter through the pillars of temple that depicts from famous epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. The sanctum of the temple has Shiva and Vishnu facing each other, while in the center is Veerabhadra. On exit of the sanctum, we could witness the popular hanging pillar. Clearly there was a gap between the pillar and ground. It’s amazing that architects in those days were so precise and could create something that defies the gravity. It's a tribute to the engineering genius of ancient and medieval India’s temple builders. 

As we came backside of the temple, we saw a huge hooded snake guarding the Shivalinga. The story behind this wonder, the architect came hungry to his mother who was cooking, He asked his mother to serve him food. As the food was not ready, his mother replied she would need an hour. The architect came disappointed, but to divert his mind from hunger and not to waste time, he created the hooded snake in an hour of time. As the mother finished cooking, she came out to call her son and was taken back in shock looking at the creation of her son in such a short span of time.

Shivalinga under the hooded Snake

This temple is full of ancient history and stories, people visiting would require a guide to know more about the temple. The temple is built on a hill known as Kurmasaila, as the hill resembles like a tortoise. Its fascinating to observe and absorb what the temple offers and it also has bright and colorful fresco paintings on its roof some of which are now withering away.
 

After getting explored with wonders of this temple, we next en-route to Gudibande Fort. On the way, we were all hungry and found  Reddy Daba & Family Restaurant on the Gauribidanur - Guidbanda Road. The Daba was surrounded with lush green farm lands and it was a good place to relax. We couldn't get enough of having Guntur Chicken, the spiciest chicken fry flavored with garlic and red chili. Every time the waiter used to get this dish, it would become empty in a minute.

Riding a little further, there was a lake, we found people fishing and cooking on the sides of the lake. We took our bikes inside the lake for some off-roading and made our bikes play with water. After some fun on the sides of the lake, we reached Gudibande Fort. The fort lies on a conical hill which rises to more than 1100 feet and there is huge lake below which looks like a map of India when seen from above.

Byrasagara reservoir looking like map of  India

The fort was built by Byre Gowda, known as the Robin Hood of India, with many tanks with water harvesting techniques way back in the 16th century. It is believed that he belonged to the Tuluva dynasty of the Vijayanagar empire. On top of the fort is the Shiva Temple known as "Sir Rameshwara Temple" and is believed to be one of the 108 Jyotirlingas. The strong pillar with a square base has well sculpted images. Trekking down the hill, one of my friend was video blogging all fun and crazy things we did. With no water, it was difficult to get down the hill and hot sun making us tired. We kept the excitement going on, finally we reached the foot of the hill. We went to a bakery, had some water and juices to get ourselves refreshed. Watching the sunset on the Byrasagara Reservoir, we lost ourselves in the beauty of the nature and returned home riding through the dark skies.

" The tans will fade but the memories will last forever."