Veerbhadra temple- Lepakshi

Veerabhadra Temple – This Vijayanagara period temple is the biggest temple in the town. Though the direct evidences in form of inscriptions with regards to its beginning are practically nil, but many traditional legends are in vogue. As per a legend, it was constructed by Virupanna using the state treasury. The king came to know about it and announced the punishment that Virupanna to be blinded. When Virupanna heard this order, he executed it on his own on the same spot. Local guides will show you the place inside the temple where they say Virupanna threw his eyes.Pillared Mandapa around the outer prakara The temple is executed in trikuta fashion, however the third shrine dedicated to Raghunatha was added later. Originally there were two shrines sharing the same mandapa and platform, the main shrine dedicated to God Veerabhadra facing north and a lateral shrine dedicated to Lord Papanasheshvara, an aspect of Shiva. At some later point of time, another lateral shrine, opposite to that of Papanasheshvara, was added sharing the same mandapa and platform. This shrine was dedicated to Raghunatha. These three gods are also referred as Viresha, Papavinashah, Ranganatha in the inscriptions found here.

– The first reference of Lepakshi is found in Skandapurana as ‘Lepakshya-Papanasanah’ among the 108 Shaiva scared places of southern India. Sthalamahatmyam mentions that sage Agastya stayed here, in a cave on the Kurmashila hill, during his visit to scared places in the south of Vindhya mountain. He built a small temple dedicated to Papanasheshvara. This place is marked with a natural rock shelter over a hill and still revered by the locals.

The town is variably called as Lepaksha, Lepakshi, Lepakshipura in inscriptions found here. The etymology of the name, Lepakshi, is not very certain. Gopala Rao suggests that it could be Lepa + Akshi meaning ‘embalmed eye’. Few locals try to assign it with the eyes of a figure in a painting inside the Veerbhadra temple however the paintings are of very late period in comparison to the name of the town. The place was known as Lepakshi even before the construction of the temple as the father of Virupanna (Virapanna) is referred as Lepakshi Nandi-Lakkisetti in an inscription.

It is hard to derive the importance of this place during the ancient times. It is located not very far from Siddapura, Jatinga Rameshvar, Brahmagiri, Yerragudi, all places connected to the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. This suggests that Lepakshi was under the Mauryan rule and from them it passed to the Satavahanas. After the fall of the Satavahanas, it came under the Chutus, the Gangas, the Chalukyas of Badami, the Nolambas in respective order. The Nolambas were in possession of it till the 10th century CE.