Mumbai to Lepakshi - An ancient marvel

After an hiatus of 1.5 months, a long pending road trip which was getting delayed due to one or the other thing, finally worked out well & since it was a solo ride, I enjoyed every bit of it. Riding is always so much fun and when you get on the saddle, you are talking to the winds and just ride blissfully.

This time however it was bit different due to immense heat, lot of sweat and chances of dehydration, lot of precaution had to be taken for the ride and health on this one.

Om Namah Shivay and you start the road trip to one of the best kept secrets in India, The Grandeur of Lepakshi temple i.e. Shri Veerbhadra Swamy temple where each and every stone talks.

It was a really good morning that started with a pre-planned drive from Mumbai to a sleepy town of Lepakshi on Andhra / Karnataka border. This is a charming village situated in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, & it is part of the Anantpur District. It is about 120 km from Bangalore in Karnataka and 15 km from the town of Hindupuram. Although small, the hamlet has a lot of ancient and devout significance for the locals. The temple is dedicated to the Virabhadra, a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva. Built in the 16th century, the architectural features of the temple are in the Vijayanagara style with profusion of carvings and paintings at almost every exposed surface of the temple. It is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance and is considered one of the most spectacular Vijayanagara temples. The fresco paintings are particularly detailed in very bright dresses and colors with scenes of Rama and Krishna from the epic stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas and they are well preserved

Even though tired by a very long ride in temperatures of around 37 deg Celsius, I found a nice hotel on outskirts of Sira (an historic town in Karnataka with its own history) and checked in late at night. The hotel staff were courteous enough to cook some basic meal for me due to my long trip.

After a cool shower and nice night's sleep, a new day beckoned and another ride. This time to the main temple itself and the excitement gave me jitters as i had only seen the temple in pictures and could immediately recall huge 7 headed serpent with Bhagwan Shiva blessing us all which i was going to see in person. Starting early, reached the temple with very minimal crowd and the temple welcomed me with its charm.

Keep in mind, since its a complete temple complex, you have to remove your footwear and walk within the temple complex. One will easily take approx. 2.5 hours to visit the temple in its entirety and even more. Once you are in, you will realize every stone talks to you, every stone tells a story which will make you feel the spirituality & history of the place

Things to do near Lepakshi

Visit Nandi Statue

Visit the Jatayu theme park

Visit local market

Cost of the trip:

Toll is an estimate if you take your car

Avg on my Ninja 650 was around 20kmpl

Route Taken:

Day-1 Roads from Panvel to Sira are mostly in a very good state, however there is a stretch near Sankeshwar where the roads are patchy (not bad, tarred but patchy road)

Day-2 Roads from Sira go through the city, but are very good. Roads in Andhra are newly built and hence really good

Day-3 Belgavi to Panvel

Note: The images are not watermarked to give you clarity of images. Please do not use without authorization for any commercial purpose

#lepakshi #lepakshitemple #ancientTemple #ancientHinduTemple #hindutemple #architecture #mantappa #Shriveerbhadraswamytemple #veerbhadratemple #veerbhadraswamytemple #mumbai #roadtrip #andhratourism #maharashtratourism #roadtrip #mumbaitokarnataka #mumbaitolepakshi #templesofindia #losttemples #bharatvarsha