Ever since my first visit to Lepakshi a few months ago, I have been thinking of visiting this place again, not once but several times. The reason for this, of course, is a predictable one, the famous Sri Virabhadra swamy vari temple, located here in this small village (now may be called a small town) with the name Lepakshi… a very fine name indeed…since very few villages or places have been bestowed with such a fine name!
Lepakshi – Sri Virabhara Temple front view
The word ‘lepakshi’ is a combination of two words ‘lepa’ and ‘akshi’ and as I understand them… ‘lepa’ means ‘painted’ or ‘decorated with colorful paint’ and ‘akshi’ means ‘a woman with (such) eyes’… and the word ‘lepakshi’ in its entirety means ‘a woman with beautifully painted and decorated eyes’! This, of course, is one version. Another version, which is more relevant and meaningful to Sri Virabhadra swamy vari temple located here is ‘a (place or a structure) which has the eyes as its paint’! This second version has its roots in the popular belief that an officer named ‘Virupanna’ who was in the employ of the king Achyutaraya of Vijayanagara dysasty (16th century AD) had (due to some unfortunate turn of events into such a painful ending) pluckked his eyes with his own hands and threw them onto the wall of this temple…the marks of which, you may like to believe or not, are still there, on one of the walls of this temple!!
This is my second visit to Lepakshi. Sri Virabharda Swamy temple situated here being one of the most precious things our ancestors have given us and it being a sort of museum like thing, a model to a ‘period art’ in the history of this part of the land known as South India, I wanted to explore and present the greatness of this temple, theme wise. For this visit I have thought of the theme as SPACES… and more importantly I wanted to capture the images only in Black and White, the medium which I somehow thought suitable to picturise ancient structures, especially temples, and the sacred spaces they covered.
Lepakshi – Sri Virabhadra Temple (1)
Lepakshi – Sri Virabhadra Temple : ‘Dhvaja stambham’
Lepakshi – Sri Virabhadra Temple (3)
Lepakshi – Sri Virabhadra Temple (4)
chAAyaa viidhi 