Uddana Veerabhadra Temple

Uddana Veerabhadra Temple, HampiUddana Veerabhadra Temple is a beautiful temple where the cult deity Veerabhadra is worshipped. The legend goes that Daksha, the king of God's had a daughter named Sati who married lord Shiva against his will. Daksha never liked Shiva as he wears funeral ash and snakes on his body. Once Daksha held a yagna ceremony at his home and invited everyone except Sati and Shiva. Still she attended the ceremony. During the ceremony Daksha insults Sati and showers abuses on her consort Shiva in front of the guests. Unable to deal with the insult, Sati committed suicide then and there by jumping into the sacrificial fire. When lord Shiva heard the news of his consort's death he got furious. He ripped off a piece of his matted hair and threw it on the ground. It gave birth to the fierce demon god Veerabhadra and goddess Kali. The ire of lord Shiva beheaded king Daksha. Terrified by the lord's anger, all heavenly Gods requested his to brim Daksha back to life. Lord Shiva agreed to bring Daksha back to life. He said, "I will replace the head of Daksha with the first animal I encounter". And the first animal he saw was a goat. Daksha gets his life back with a goat's head and then transformed into a staunch devotee of lord Shiva. It is said that Veerabhadra is an incarnation of lord Shiva himself.

The temple houses a 3.6 m high monolithic idol of Uddana Veerabhadra. The idol has four arms holding an arrow, sword, bow and shield. A small idol of Daksha is also present here. Shiv Linga called Sarvanga Linga is also worshipped in the temple. Numerous devotees flock to the temple to pay their respect to the lord. People are not allowed to take photographs in the temple.

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