Trip to Lepakshi

Lepakshi is a small village located in the Anantapur District, in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is 15 km east of Hindupur and about 120 km north of Bangalore. The famous Veerabhadra temple, dedicated to Veerabhadra, is located here. Built by the brothers Viranna and Virupanna, the temple is a notable example of the Vijayanagar architectural style.[1] It is famous for its sculptures, which were created by the artisans of Vijayanagara empire. A huge Nandi bull made out of single granite stone is one of the attractions in Lepakshi.The place is renowned for being one of the best repository of mural paintings of the Vijayanagar Kings. Many old Kannada inscriptions dating back centuries can be seen on its walls Legend has it that the Naga of the Nagalinga was carved out of a single stone by sculptors while they waited for their mother to prepare lunch.

We had set out for the trip to Lepakshi on 16th Aug, Sunday at around 7 AM by our Car. We took the Devanahalli, Chikkaballapur, Bagepalli route to reach Lepakshi. We had breakfast at Kamat Upachar restaurant adjacent to Bharat Petroleum Outlet which is located on NH7 before Bagepalli. The drive up to Bagepalli on NH 7 was smooth as most of the route was four laned. We had to take a left turn from there to reach Lepakshi. Once we took a left turn at Police Check Post near Bagepalli, the route became worst and it took us almost 45 minutes for us to cover around 25 KM. Just before the temple, there is a big Nandi statue where we took some photographs. Later we entered the temple and went around it for almost an hour. The temple is not properly maintained. Some renovation work is going on and I hope after that the maintenance improves. On the way back we had our lunch at the same restaurant and reached our house back by 2 PM. We covered a total distance of around 230 KM to and fro.