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The walls of the
sanctum of the temple of Veerabhadra, the ceilings of the Rangamantapa shrine and the part
of the Mukhamantapa joining the shrine of Siva are full of mural paintings of the
Vijayanagar period. Here also the scenes are all from the Puranas. The marriage of
Parvathi, the image of Dakshinamurthy, Sri Rama, and Lord Krishna as Vatapatrasayi, are
some of the important mural paintings in this temple.
In the Ardhamantapa of the temple there are a number of panels representing
puranic legends. The first represents Lord Siva as arising from the Linga. Markandeya who
was frightened of Lord Yama is shown here. Lord Siva is shown as dancing over the demon
that he had pierced with his trident. In the next panel Dakshinamurthy is shown as seated
on a hillock under a pair of Vata Vrikshas and surrounded by sages. The next panel depicts
Lord Siva in his Anugraha attitude presenting his axe or Parasu to Chandikeswara. The next
scene represents Lord Siva as Bhikshatana when, to expiate the sin of having severed the
head of Brahma, he had to wander as a Bhikshatana, till he reached the Himalayas, where he
was relieved of his sin.
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