I
visited the gigantic bull of Basavvana Temple (Basava
in Kannada for Nandi) in Leepakshi in Kurnool district of
Andhra Pradesh in 2019. The word ‘nandi’
means joyful in Sanskrit. It is a little away from the Veerabhadra Temple. Leepakshi, a small
village is 478 kms from Hyderabad and 124 kms from Bengaluru by road. The
nearest railway station, Hindupur is about 14 kms from Leepakshi.
Nandi
is the sacred bull calf, gatekeeper, and vehicle (vahana) of the Hindu god Shiva. Sculptures of Nandi are a common sight at Hindu
temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is believed that Nandi is partly responsible for the Hindu
reverence for living bulls has its roots in Nandi being Lord Shiva's vahana.
This gigantic bull is
shown as lying with body resting on the legs and the head raised, or what is
known as a couchant posture. It is a grand cut out sculpture of a huge granite
rock. This monolithic sculpture is a unique example of its kind in India. It
faces west and is looking towards the Nagalinga located behind the Veerabhadra
Temple.
Nagalinga located behind the Veerabhadra
Temple.
It is ten metres in length and six metres in height. It is decorated
with a necklace, Muvvahara and a hara (necklace) of bells. The bull is depicted
as having short horns. The massiveness in size
has not been secured at the expense of artistic beauty. The bull is depicted in
the characteristic pose of Nandi. It may be noticed that the head is held aloft
at a higher angle than usual. Consequently, the expression of submission which
is typical of Nandi before Lord Shiva is conspicuous by its absence here
. From
the view point of proper proportions in the sculpting of various limbs and
excellent finish secured in the workmanship, this Nandi is an excellent piece
of art of the Vijaynagara Period (1336 AD to 1646 AD).
After the visit to
these two temples I went to Lepakshi Haritha Hotel
which is located near the temples. It is run by Andhra Pradesh State Tourism
Developement Corporation. It has the basic facilities including a restaurant. One
can do reservations on line.
Lepakshi Haritha Hotel: Photo by Sarath Raj
The thali
meal that I ordered was neat and clean but just about average in taste and reasonably priced.
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