The vanishing murals of Lepakshi

The hanging stone pillar inside the Virabhadra temple in Lepakshi attracts people from various parts of the country to the remote village in the Sri Sathya Sai district of Andhra Pradesh, but many most often miss the fading frescoes on the walls and ceilings of this Vijayanagara-era temple. Considered one of the few existing murals of the Vijayanagara period, the ceiling of the temple has panels depicting the scenes from Mahabharata, Ramayana and other Puranas. The tragedy is that many panels have been ruined due to lack of care and maintenance. The remaining ones are getting deteriorated and if immediate care is not taken, they will disappear soon. Archaeologists and heritage enthusiasts have been demanding the restoration of these 16th century artwork for long, but the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which maintains the temple, is yet to take a decision on it.

A child checks the gap between the ground and the hanging pillar using her handkerchief.

The temple, according to the scholars, stands testimony to the art, architecture and culture of mid-Vijayanagara period. It has some of the best Vijayanagara sculptures and paintings, and is a unique example of continuity of traditions, creative ideas and knowledge of Chalukyas, Hoysalas and Kakatiyas combined with local customs. In 2022, the Virabhadra temple and the gigantic monolithic sculpture of the bull in Lepakshi were included in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Even though the best specimens of the Vijayanagara relief sculptures are seen on the composite pillars in the main hall and the dance hall of the temple, a look at the ruined murals depicting the Puranic themes like Parvathi’s marriage, Kiratarjuniya, different manifestation of Siva, Draupati Swayamvaram and Virupanna and his brothers worshipping Virabhadra on the ceilings and walls of the same halls will disappoint you.

Anantapur-based historian MyNaa Swamy, who has been campaigning for the including of the Lepakshi temple in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, said he had written a letter to the then Union Minister of Tourism Kishan Reddy, showing the pathetic condition of the murals in the temple complex in 2022. “A team of artists visited the temple after six months and they restored only the mural of the Virabhadra and left. They didn’t do any restoration work on the other panels. When I asked, they said they did what they were asked to do. The ASI has not taken any initiative to take care of the murals. It is high time we restored them, otherwise we will definitely lose them,” said MyNaa Swamy, who is the author of Temple Architecture and Art of Vijayanagara-Lepakshi.

Situated on a tortoise-shaped hill, the Virabhadra temple was constructed by Virupanna, an officer and treasurer during the reign of Vijayanagara emperor Achyuta Deva Raya (1530-1542 CE). An important donatory record recently discovered belonged to the reign of Saluva Immadi Narasimha (1490-1506 CE), the last ruler of the Saluva dynasty of the Vijayanagara empire. The record says that the main temple in the complex called Papanaseswara temple existed 50 years earlier to Virupanna. This complex has Papanaseswara, Virabhadra and Raghunatha shrines and other subsidiary shrines for Parvati, Ramalinga, Hanumalinga. To the south of the main shrine within the inner prakara, there is a huge rock carved with Ganesa, linga worshipped by spider and an elephant and a huge Nagalingam (a linga canopied by a seven-hooded serpent). The temple is 13 km from Hindupur and 120 km from Bengaluru.

The mural of Virabhadra which underwent a restoration looks more visible and clearer now, according to MyNaa Swamy. “The ruined one was not visible at all but now it looks better after the restoration. The murals symbolise the Vijayanagara art as a whole. They also show the day-to-day life of the society in the 16th century AD. We can’t see such a vast scale of murals on the ceilings in Hampi or Ajanta caves. So, a speedy restoration of these murals is the need of the hour,” said Swamy. In 2024, when Narendra Modi visited the Lepakshi temple complex, it was Swamy who accompanied the Prime Minister and narrated the stories behind the murals and architectural marvels of the temple to him.

The monolithic sculpture of a gigantic bull in couchant posture a little away from the temple is where the tourists flock to after experimenting with the hanging pillar. The cut-out sculpture is a unique example of its kind in the country. It faces west and is looking towards Nagalinga located behind the Virabhadra temple. Vinod K, a native of Lepakshi, said the tourists mostly come to see the hanging pillar inside the temple and the bull sculpture. “The hanging pillar is an architectural marvel and there are interesting stories associated with it. People come and check whether the pillar is touching the earth or not using their handkerchiefs or a piece of cloth. They also visit the gigantic bull sculpture. We were not aware of the importance of the murals in our younger days, but today many scholars and researchers come to the temple to see them and that’s how my friends and I first started learning about the art form. It was a fascinating experience. I don’t know why the ASI is not taking steps to restore the murals,” he said.

Many panels of murals have been deteriorated mainly due to lack of maintenance. “Barring a few panels, most of them are in ruins. They are not visible and the viewer will lose the connection immediately due to it. They often skip them. Even though mural restoration is not easy, it won’t be a big deal for an organisation like the ASI. It has experts who did restoration of murals in many places across the country. They can easily restore these murals,” said Avinash Chandra, a heritage enthusiast based in Lepakshi.