World of Books and Travel

We made a sudden plan for a short trip to  Lepakshi Temple in Ananthapur Dist of Andhra Pradesh. It was a weekend, and it happened to be on a Sankranthi Festival Day.  We left early morning by 7.00 from Bangalore. It was a foggy morning and the drive was pleasant. We  took 3 hours to reach there which is inclusive of our break for breakfast on the way. First we stopped at the huge monolithic Nandi, and clicked some snaps. This structure is carved out of a single granite with finely carved ornaments, and smooth contours.   The colossal structure is 27ft in length and 15 ft in height and is the largest monolithic of Nandi in India. After a few feet away, lies the main ancient Lepakshi temple on a rocky hill. Veerabhadra Swamy temple at Lepakshi  was built in 16th century by two brothers (Virupanna and Veeranna) during the period of King Aliya Rama Raya of Vijayanagar kingdom.   The temples of Papanatheswara, Raghunatha, Srirama, Veerabha...

We left Belur by 3.30 p.m.for our next destination Halebid, which is just 16 kms away from there. The weather was cool, the landscape was beautiful and the roads were excellent. The small town was the earlier capital of Hoysalas, and then it was called as Dwarasamudra. Hotel Athithi Temple Garden Hoysaleswara Temple Shiva Parvathi Another guide was there who took us around. He explained in detail about the history of Halebid Hoysaleswara temple and the amazing architecture of the temple. The images of Hindu Gods were carved beautifully in different moods and in different shapes on the walls. Even after 100 years of hard labour, the work was not complete. With the wonderful memories of the architectural beauty of the temples, we boarded our tourist bus for our return. On the way, we stopped for dinner at Hotel Athithi. A nice and clean hotel. We reached back in Bangalore by 10.45 p.m, with the satisfaction of worth a trip.