Lepakshi

Lepakshi Basavanna

Lepakshi is a small village in Anantapur district of  Andhra Pradesh and is located at a distance of about 120 KMs from Bangalore. The  route one can take is Bangalore- Yelahanka – Devanahalli – Chikballapur – Bagepalli – Gudibanda – Lepakshi (NH7). Alternatively one can also take Dodaballapur – Gauribidnur – Hindupur –Lepakshi. The travel time would be about 2 hours .

The route i would suggest is via Devanahalli since the National highway is good to drive and moreover you have good restaurants for food. (Kamat Upachar about 10KM from Chickballapur is a good place )

Lepakshi is famous for its Vijayanagar style of architecture, and has three temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, Vishnu, and Veerabhdra .Lepakshi is a heritage site renowned for its mural paintings made with vibrant colors made from vegetable and flower dyes that still grace the roof in the temple.

The wonderful stone carvings depicting mythology is fascinating. Each pillar has a story to tell. The temple has a central pavilion, which runs through the intermediate hall and hall for ritual dance. There is a large open court which is accessible from the main hall.

Another attraction is the idol of “Naga Linga” . This is a seven hooded Naga, carved out of a single rock and shelters a Shiva Linga placed on the grooved coil of the serpent .Just below this on the same platform ,you can find “Saptamatrika”  panel. A huge statue of coloured Lord Ganesha  captures your attention when you enter the second prahara. This idol is carved out of a big boulder and is sheltered in a separate mandapa with sculpted pillars. Just next to this Ganesha , you can find on another huge rock the carving depicting the legend of Srikalahasthi where Sri (spider), Kala(serpant), and Hasti(elephant) are worshiping Lord Shiva,

As you move further you can see circles carved on the ground which were said to be plates for food .The main center of the temple complex has a pillar that looks as if it is hanging in the air. A piece of paper can be passed from one end to another end. It is said that the paintings on the ceiling is one of the largest murals ever painted. There are also paintings depicting the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

There is a ‘Ranga mandapa” with some with carvings of warriors holding dagger mounted on Yali. To the center of the mandapam there are pillars which have intricate carving on the sides. The idol of Bhringi ,a three legged dance master is fascinating.There is also a unfinished “Kalayana Mandapa” which has many interesting sculptures. Though “Lepakshi” temple is incomplete one can never stop appreciating the architecture, sculpture, and the paintings

Saptamatrika

Virupaksha temple entrance

Lingam installed by Chola King

Painting on temple roof

Monolith Nagalinga

Hanging Pillar

Monolith Ganesha

YELAGIRI HILLS

Yelagiri hills is in Tamilnadu at a distance of about 175 Km from Bangalore and is an ideal place for a weekend holiday.

We left Bangalore around 8am from Bangalore to reach Yelagiri hills around 1.30pm.The route we had taken was Hosur-Krishnagiri-Vaniyambadi-Ponneri-Yelagiri.The roads are good and the drive is pleasant.You have a scenic drive from Ponneri to the hills covering 14 hairpin bends.


We had made our reservation for stay at Peters Park which was very comfortable .The rooms are neat and clean and service is excellent.The food quality is really good and service very timely.




Yelagiri hills is not much commercialized and and facilities are limited.There is nothing much by way of sight seeing except Nature Park with musical fountain and boating at Atanavur and Nilavur. However for people who like to go trekking this is a wonderful place.


A word of caution: Yelagiri does not have any Petrol bunks and be sure you have enough fuel
when visiting Yelagiri. The nearest petrol bunk is about 14 km. at Ponneri.
The net connectivity is also very poor and all mobiles do not work here.


Yelagiri is a small hill station with limited facilities but ideally suits people who are looking for a quite weekend.







We visited a temple nearby, and we had to take an auto rickshaw to reach there. The roads were bad. The view from the top of the temple is breath-taking.

Bandipur Holiday

I have been planning a holiday in wild life sanctuary for a long time and selected Bandipur which is near to Bangalore where I live.




The distance to Bandipur is about 240 KM (from Yelahanka) Via Mysore. Due to metro work it takes almost 90 minutes to cross the city but after that the drive is pleasant and comfortable. En route you have many good places where you can take a break.


Left Bangalore around 8 am and en route stopped at Nanjangud Shiva temple for an hour and proceeded to M.C.Resorts near Bandipur where we 
had made our stay arrangements.

The resort was not what we expected but basic amenities were good. Rested for the evening and fixed for wild life safari for next morning 6.30 am.





The safari was good in as much as we could see some elephants,deer,monkey,peacock etc..We could not see any tiger or leopard.





Rested for the day and walked around the resort.The swimming pool and indoor games areas are good. The resort does not have telephones in rooms and they also do not have TV in the rooms.The food at the resort was okay but one feels it could be better.

All said and done it was a nice change from city life for weekend.

 

Paradise Isle-Malpe

Malpe is a small town in coastal Udupi near Mangalore. The best way to reach Malpe from Bangalore is by train to Mangalore and go by taxi which would be an hours drive.Convenient flights to Mangalore is also there.From airport it's again about an hours drive and plenty of prepaid taxi's are available.The road from Bangalore to Mangalore is not that very good and would not suggest the same.

Paradise isle is a beach resort at Malpe which is just across sea and is an ideal location for holiday on beach which is unpolluted ,scenic,and simply beautiful.Compared to beaches in Goa the beach is quite and not crowded.The evening sunset over the sea is simply beautiful and the cool breeze makes one refreshed and peaceful.The service at the resort is also fairly good which makes the holiday at Malpe beach memorable.

For those who are spiritually minded, there are many temples which can be visited staying at Malpe: 

Some of the temples are:

• Udupi Krishnatemple
• Kollur mukambika
• Kukesubramaniya
• Dhramastala
• Gomateswara 
• Karkala
• 1000 pillars temple Moodibidri

St. Lawrence Church Attur can be visited conveniently from Malpe. There is also a small island St.Marie's isle which can be reached from Paradise Isle resort by boat in about 20 minutes through the sea.The island is not inhabited but is beautiful and tourists go there for a swim and spending time in quiet.

Malpe beach is scenic, quiet without vendors and crowd and is ideal for a weekend getaway.