19 « December « 2011 « chAAyaa viidhi

In the village Lepakshi, the place where Sri Virabhadra Temple was built was known as ‘kurma sailam’. This is a Sanskrit word which means ‘tortoise (shaped) hill’. Though it was called a hill, the naturally formed granite rocky formation is not a hill in the strict meaning of the word. It is, in fact, a formation which looked like a small hill, an elevation about twenty five to thirty feet above the ground level.

One noticeable thing in the construction of Sri Virabhadra Temple on this rocky formation is that the tortoise shape of the rock was neither damaged nor de-shaped. The temple was constructed duly taking care of the rocky elevations, obstructions it created and maintaining the natural formation mostly in tact at all stages and levels.