Lepakshi- A Journey to Land of Legends

Do you have just a day and like to road-trip near Bangalore? Do you Like to travel across the state?If your answer is yes, then buckle up to Lepakshi.

DIGGING DEEP:

Lepakshi is a small village located in the Anantapur District, in Andhra Pradesh, India. A Legend has it that, this was the place where the bird Jatayu fell, wounded after a futile battle against Ravana who had abducted Sita and going to Sri Lanka with her. When Sri Rama reached the spot, he saw the bird and said compassionately, “Le Pakshi” — ‘rise,o bird!!’ in Telugu and that is where the place is believed to have got it’s name from.

MY STORY :

Lepakshi is approximately 125 kms from Bangalore. We started our journey around 7 A.M. We reached Lepakshi around 9:15 A.M. As soon as you get down, you feel like you are the ant-man in front of 4.5 m high statue of Nandi. This Nandi is carved out of a single rock and is believed to be second largest monolith in India. The place is clean and you can walk through the gardens to have closer look.

 

[caption id="attachment_126" align="alignnone" width="4160"] Enroute Lepakshi[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_127" align="alignnone" width="3456"] Nandi at Basavanna Temple. It faces towards the Nagalinga behind Veerabhadra Temple[/caption]

Then we went to Veerbhadra temple. This temple is dedicated to Veerabhadreshwar. Each pillar on the temple has unique carvings. Moving from one pillar to another pillar itself may be a fascinating journey for any art lover. You should not miss the hanging pillar there. To check, you can flick a paper from one side and watch it coming out from the other side. You can also spot the beautiful Vijayanagar murals on the ceiling.

[caption id="attachment_128" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Veerbhadra Temple[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_media-15" align="alignnone" width="2602"] Hanging pillar of Lepakshi[/caption]

Then, come outside of the temple to have a look at pillars surrounding the temple. There are about 70 pillars at this 16-Th century temple. Walk through it and get to the huge Nagling which is at rear side of the temple. We haven't witnessed any such Shivling in the rest of the country so far.

[caption id="attachment_media-30" align="alignnone" width="4608"] Pillars outside the Sanctum[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_media-25" align="alignnone" width="2048"] NagaLing at Lepakshi[/caption]

Walk straight and turn to your right. You'll be standing in front of a incomplete structure. It is Kalyana Mandap (marriage hall).

[caption id="attachment_media-35" align="alignnone" width="846"] Incomplete Kalyan Mandap. It is said that if its construction was completed, Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati's marriage would have happened here.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_media-40" align="alignnone" width="4160"] Temple backyard[/caption]

Overall, I can say Lepakshi is a hidden treasue of a place.

TIP FOR THE TRIP :

• Carry your own food as the route has no restaurants.


• Reach the temple early because the temple is full of rocks and gets warmed up faster.


• Best option for travel is by your own vehicle. Other option is to take buses plying from Bangalore to Hyderabad and change to tempo later from the border check-post.

See you in the next post.

Happy Trails!

 

 

 

Kailasagiri- A trek to Human-made Caves near Bengaluru

I decided to stick to my New Year's resolution this time. So, I planned a small trek at Kailasagiri near Kaiwara with my friends.

DIGGING DEEP:

The Pandavas from Mahabharata are believed to have lived here during their exile.  The hill is also called as the Bhima Bakasura betta where Bhima is believed to have slain Bakasura.

MY STORY:

Kailasagiri is 7 kms from Kaiwara which itself is around 80 kms from Bangalore in Chikballapur district. This time we took our bikes instead of car. We were 5 in number and had 3 bikes. We loved our ride through wide, scenic and empty road. After 2 hours we reached foothills of Kailasagiri.

Enroute Kaiwara- Wide and empty road

As soon as you park you vehicle and turn you can see a board which guides you to the trek path.

Trek starts here

The trek starts with climbing the steps and later to steeper roads. The trek needs moderate fitness level and the difficulty level is quite easy. Don't miss the views of Kaiwara town while climbing the hill. You can find lots of monkeys on your path. So, be careful with your valuables. We reached the hill top within one hour. By the time we reached the top few of them were exhausted. It's better to carry water bottles with you as there are no shops. We rested for a while sitting on the rocks and clicking photos in front of the cave temple. Up there, it was hot but the wind was good. The boulders on the hill make it excellent spot for rappelling.

Trek route at Kailasagiri

Now it is time to enter the cave. The efforts made to construct the cave were impressive. You get a positive energy when you enter the cave. The weather inside the cave is totally opposite to the one in outside. It was cold inside. As soon as we entered the gate we found a stage like structure where people were meditating. Then we walked further to the temple. Sanctums of Lord Shiva and Ambuja Durga are here. After that we did meditation for 20 minutes and started pulling back to our vehicle.

View from top of the hill

Kailasagiri Hill Top

 

Those blue doors are the entrances for the temple

Lord Shiva's sanctum inside the cave

At the foothills of the Kailasagiri, we found prashad distribution centre which is the only eatery there. We had our lunch there and it was quite good. We left to Bangalore that evening.

                             Prashad distribution centre- the only eatery at Kailasagiri

Kaiwara is a beautiful, easy-to-trek place which one can reach easily and have fun.

TIP FOR THE TRIP:

• Pack your food and carry water bottles.


• Be careful with your valuables during the trek.


• Don't litter the place and avoid plastics there.


• Climb the hill early in the morning or later at evening.


• Fuel your vehicle before itself because there is no fuel stations until you reach the highway.

See you in the next post.

Happy Trails!