Lepakshi - a small village in Andhra Pradesh, is one of the off-beat one-day getaways from Bangalore. It is famous for its extremely beautiful Sri Veerabhadra temple and the many myths that surround the holy compound. 'Le-Pakshi' literally mean 'Rise Bird', and you can see an unmissable statue of a perched eagle as soon as you enter the village center.
How to get there?
It's around 120 kms from the Bangalore center and is easily doable on bike. We, however, booked an Ola out-station from Koramangala, which cost us around 4000 INR. We started our trip at 7 AM and reached the temple at around 945 AM - including a short breakfast stop at Nandi Upachar. The drive was extremely comfortable, and we were pretty much back home by 245 PM.
The temple strikes a chord with its extremely beautiful carvings, infinity corridors and a sprawling courtyard with a majestic Peepal tree. This is a photographer's paradise and on a good cloudy day, you can get some really dramatic shots of the Nagalinga - which is one of the key attractions of the place. The beautiful architecture is, of course, the prime attraction of the temple but what really worked for me was the calm and peaceful surrounding - away from the bustling city. You can just sit there for hours - reading, sketching, listening to some music or just staring idly - with almost no intervention or disturbance.
Inside the temple, you can pay visit to the presiding deity - Veerabhadra. The temple priest does a brief personalized prayer for you - after a short narration of the story behind the legend of Veerabhhadra (menu of language options - Kannada, Telugu or Hindi :)) . There are a lot of myths and amazing things that you can find inside the temple - which you should definitely explore.
1. The hanging Pillar
This is one of the most talked about spot inside the temple - and can be a bit confusing to locate. As the name suggests - one of the huge pillars inside the temple is disjointed from the floor and hangs from the ceiling (well, almost). Though the pillar is slightly attached to the ground at one corner, it is nothing but an architectural marvel to see a pillar of that magnitude managing to just hang there from the ceiling. You can do the popular passing a thin cloth exercise to experience the anti gravity phenomenon!
2. The Giant's Footprint
Another myth associated with the temple can be experienced with a huge depression on the floor - which is shaped as a gigantic footprint. Legends have it that it belongs to lord Hanuman. Couldn't get a picture of the same, but here's one from the internet.
Nandi and Garuda statue
Just couple of 100 meters from the temple, you can see two small enclosures with 1) Nandi (bull) statue and 2) Garuda (Eagle) statue. They can be easily spotted from the main road - especially the majestic Garuda - which is perched on top of a rock, giving a sense of overseeing the entire village of Lepakshi. You can climb somewhat to the top of rock, but access to the status is currently restricted. From the top, you get a beautiful top view of the small village and the temple - so definitely worth the short climb.
In short, it was a different and peaceful getaway from the hustle-bustle of the city and would definitely recommend to people for a day trip from Bangalore. As mentioned, its a photographer's paradise so posting some of the pictures we took there! :)
Happy reading and traveling! :)
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