Late medieval · Hindu · India

Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

లేపాక్షి వీరభద్రస్వామి ఆలయం

Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh · 13.8047°, 77.6100°

VeerabhadraVijayanagaraVijayanagara

Sacred since

1530 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

c. 1530s

patron: Virupanna & Viranna (governors under Achyutadevaraya)

History & significance

Vijayanagara art at its most painterly: Asia's finest surviving 16th-century ceiling murals, a colossal monolithic Nandi 200 m away, a seven-hooded Naga-linga carved — legend says — in the time a cook's lunch simmered, and the famous 'hanging pillar' that clears the floor by a sliver.

Sthala katha — the legend

Here the eagle Jatayu fell wounded by Ravana as he carried off Sita; Rama, finding the dying bird, bade him rise — 'Le, pakshi' — and granted him moksha. The unfinished Kalyana Mandapa is tied to the tragic tale of builder Virupanna, blinded for allegedly misusing treasury funds.

Reaching there

The Sri Sathya Sai district administration places Lepakshi about 15 km from Hindupur and 64 km by road from Puttaparthi; it lies roughly 123 km from Bengaluru city and 100 km from the international airport at Devanahalli. The approach is by road, and APTDC runs a Haritha hotel at the village.

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