Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

01Rise, bird

Here, the local tradition says, Jatayu fell after fighting Ravana to save Sita, and Shri Rama found him and said ‘le pakshi’, rise, O bird. A huge footprint on the rock is shown as Sita’s. The temple was built in the 1530s by Virupanna, the governor of Penukonda under Achyuta Deva Raya, and his brother Viranna. A katha told at the temple says Virupanna was accused of spending the royal treasury on it and blinded himself before the king’s men could; two dark stains on a wall of the unfinished kalyana mandapa are shown as the marks.

02Paintings, a serpent and a hanging pillar

The ceiling of the natya mandapa is painted with scenes from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas in mineral colours, and over the main shrine is a Veerabhadra painting several metres long, the largest single painting left from Vijayanagara. Outside, a seven-hooded Naga coils over a Shivalinga, carved from one boulder. One of the hall’s pillars hangs a hair’s breadth above the floor, and visitors pass a cloth beneath it. About 200 m away lies a monolithic Nandi, among the largest in India, facing the Nagalinga.

The life of this place