A Spiritual Day Trip to Vidurashwatha, Lepakshi & Adiyogi Statue

My guide Varun was wonderful, with boundless enthusiasm, knowledge and guidance to help tell the history and cultural relevance of these amazing places.

We really enjoyed our day tour with a private driver and our personnal guide. The visits are very relaxing and full of unique and interesting sights. Phaneesh is an experienced guide and is of a great company. He explained the meanings of the sites and gladly answered all of our questions. Our driver Varun made our visit memorable as well. We enjoyed everything but we have been particularly impressed with the Adiyogi statue site. This tour is a must for anyone visiting Bengalore.

Fantastic tour with a perfect tour guide. Raghu was a very knowledgeable and sympathetic guide. He has explained everything in an emotional and easy to understand way. During the trip it was possible to adjust the program based on my wishes. I really appreciate this sort of flexibility. I can strongly recommend this tour ! Many thanks to Raghu for this great and super informative and interesting day.

The tour begins in Bengaluru where you are picked up from your hotel in an air conditioned car. After a 2-3 hour drive, you will arrive at the Vidurashwatha Naga Temple, dedicated to the serpent god Naga Devatha. While I was expecting to see a traditional and large structural temple, it is anything but! This is an active prayer site where the temple is the location (with a sanctum) but the significance is the snake stone statues planted throughout the gardens. These stones represent offerings to Naga for blessings of fertility and/or family health. Locals travel from all-over to visit, pray and plant stones in the gardens. I witnessed several couples making offerings to Naga (pouring coconut, buttermilk or yogurt on the stones) in the hopes of fertility or other requests. The experience here allows you (as a tourist) to connect to the spiritual and cultural aspects of birth and creation of everyday people. The next stop was Lepakshi, my favorite stop of the day. This site is currently under consideration by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The temple here is nothing by surreal, created and carved out of granite. Intricate details adorn every column, laying out story-after-story. Don't forget to look up, as detailed frescos decorate the ceiling. Luckily my guide, Rama Krishna Aithal knew the story-board and could wake me though the significance of each. I could have spent the entire day at this temple alone as the engineering and architecture are unlike anything I have seen to-date. We left the temple and made a quick stop at the megalithic bull (Nandi), carved from a single granite boulder. I met with some locals here and just marveled in the sheer size and scale of this feature. Across the street is the giant eagle (Jatayu) perched on top of another massive boulder which overlooks Nandi. Eventually we left and headed south, stopping along the way for lunch (veg and non-veg options) with our last stop being the Adiyogi Statue. As you meander though local roads and valleys you eventually see the giant statue of Shiva, designed by Sadhguru, the founder and head of the Isha Foundation. It is overwhelming in size and scale and dominates the mountainous terrain. It literally takes your breath away as you see it from afar. After passing though security you make your way down the hill to the very base of the statue. There you have the opportunity to sit and relax and just absorb its grander and presence. This full day trip was remarkable. The 3 sites were impressive in their own right. From pick-up to drop-off took exactly 12 hours, as advertised. I packed a small backpack containing some extra bottled water and medicine (bug spray, anti-ich cream - for when you get bit by mosquitos, and some anti-nausea and headache medicine - in case of car/motion sickness). You will have about 5-6 hours in the car, depending on traffic so plan accordingly. I was able to leave my pack in the car at each stop, which was very convenient. As for my outfit, I wore jeans with a football jersey and felt comfortable (you must be covered when visiting Hindu temples). I wore flip-flop style sandals - each time you visit a temple you must enter barefoot and sandals/flip-flops just make it simple. My guide brought wet wipes to wash the feet after each visit (nice surprise). In summary, I highly recommend this tour if you are a looking for a full day near Bengaluru that will immerse you in local and culturally significant sites.

I had a fantastic tour with Vasuki and his trainee, Vijay. Vasuki was extreemly knowlegeable about the sites and explained the importance of each temple. At Sri Vidurashwatha, he asked if I could go into the special area with the priests, and we received a blessing, bindi and flowers! I was fortunate enough to also see a father offering his weight in rice (formerly gold) to the gods in exchange for health and well being of his son. It was an incredible blessing to me. At Shri Veerabhadra, Vasuki explained the significance of some of the carvings there, all in granite. It was beautiful! Then after, he took me to a silk worm farm in a small village nearby where I was able to see the worms munching on the mulberry leaves and then spinning their silk into cocoons! The last stop, the Adiyogi Shiva Statue, was awe inspiring! 112' tall and just majestic! I hear there is a laser show at 7pm here that is not to miss! Thank you so much Vasuki and Vijay for a fantastic day!