Badavilinga Temple, Hampi

The Badavi Linga ('poor woman's linga') — a 3-metre monolithic black-granite Shiva linga standing in a brick enclosure next to the Lakshmi Narasimha monolith. The name comes from a tradition that it was commissioned in the early 16th century by a peasant woman who used her entire modest savings to have it carved. The linga stands in perpetual water that enters from a channel dug under the floor; the three horizontal lines carved on top are Shiva's third eye and tilak. The brick cella around it is unroofed, so the first light of each morning strikes the linga directly.