Badavilinga Temple

Badavilinga Temple, right beside the Lakshmi Narasimha statue in Hampi, shelters the biggest lingam at the site: a single block of granite about 3 m high. The name combines 'badva', meaning poor, with linga, and local tradition says that a poor peasant woman living near Virupaksha Temple paid for it to be carved. It is thought to date from the Vijayanagara period and is still worshipped.

The lingam stands in a small stone chamber with no ceiling, so daylight falls straight onto it through an opening above. Its base is kept in water, which devotees connect with the story of Shiva catching the river Ganga in his matted hair to break her fall to earth.