By Srinivas Kulkarni.
Srinivas takes us on a historial journey through Hampi, one of his favorite places in India.
An Introduction
I first visited this land of the lost a couple of
years ago. After two years and many miles on the road, I decided to
revisit these ruins to enchant myself, only this time I decided to stay longer. While the
entire place can be covered in a couple of days, you need to let the atmosphere and beauty of these ruins sink in to you, take a dip or two in the Tungabhadra
river, perch atop the Matanga hill, the very same hill where Sugreev lived.
Hampi is situated within the ruins of
Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, and these ruins are deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Rustic as it is, this city is known for its ruins
and a grand heritage of ancient archeological archives. From the various historic sculptures and the
monolithic bull, to the Narsimha statue carved out of one stone and the
queen’s public bath, the pushkarni, every monument and every rock has its own story, a story that can’t be depicted without its own style and
eternally discoursing philosophy.
Legends from the Ramayana are believed to be written here, and it is believed to be the legendary city of the vanar sena (Kingdom of apes), where the great lords Wali and Sugreev fought their battles and
lived among fellow subjects. The heritage it brings
to our culture and India is something to be proud of.
Stone Chariot at the
Vijaya Vittala Temple
The Stone Chariot at
the Vijaya Vittala temple has to be one of everyone’s favorites, certainly is
mine. The beautiful construct is a wonder of architecture in itself. In
the Vittala Temple Complex is a shrine built in the form of temple chariot. An
image of Garuda was originally enshrined within its sanctum. Garuda, according
to the Hindu mythology, is the vehicle of lord Vishnu. It is also a symbol
of Karnataka Tourism. This time when I went I saw floodlights have been
installed in the temple complex that provide illumination at dusk, thereby
adding to the scenic beauty of the architecture.
Ugra Narsimha Statue
careved out of One Rock
Narasimha in his
deadly form, this one is a huge Ugra Narasimha, a statue of 6.7 meter height in
the south region of the temple complex of Hemkuta group which contains the
Virupaksha Temple. Narasimha, being half-man and half-lion, is an incarnation
of Lord Vishnu. This gigantic statue is worth seeing. One of the most
enchanting things about this statue is that it’s carved out of one rock, hence
it’s part of my top favorites in Hampi.
Musical pillars
inside the Vijaya Vittala temple
Now this is certainly fascinating, if not in today’s day and
age, certainly in the times of the Vijayanagra Empire. This unique architecture
is a fascinating modern art haven and scientifically very interesting to
explore. The musical pillars produce a different sound when tapped at the
top side, middle (like a bell) and the bottom side of the pillar. If you
tap all pillars at same time, they produce beautiful musical melodies.
Monolithic Bull near
Matanga Hill
As you walk across the Hampi Bazaar and the
police station in the town, you’ll notice that the closer you get to this structure,
the more magnificent it gets, and when you reach the place where this bull is
situated, it’ll make you realize how much grace this statue has with its
enchanting eyes. Locally known as Yeduru Basavanna or Nandi, this
monolithic bull marks the east end of the Virupaksha Bazaar. The statue is
housed in a twin storied pavilion built on an elevated platform. A heap of
gigantic boulders behind the pavilion offers an interesting backdrop. Though
partially mutilated and carved in a coarse style, this Nandi attracts visitor
owing to its giant size.
Hampi Sunset at Matanga HIll
This had to be one of the most beautiful sights for me in those
4 days. I always wondered how the town would look at dusk, more than dawn, the
fascination of the ruins around dusk brought an aura, a golden enchantment to
the fact that these ruins now, mean a lot more than just the beauty and the
complex stories and architecture that they brought along with it. It stood for
a significant lot of history, a history which cannot be told in this blog
alone, a history that one has to go through after reading the UNESCO guidebook
of Hampi. But all that apart, just the mere sight of the town across the
Matanga hill and the beauty of the sunset engulfing this settlement took my
breath away. It was as if, it gave me the reason for its mystic nature and
truth to the unexplored was brought out, out from the best of all of us. One
must explore Hampi to finally realize what it’s true beauty is all about.
Elephant Stable inside Lotus Mahal Complex
This is another really interesting piece of architecture, and as usual, feels really insignificant, when you look at the housing for a really huge elephant back in the day. Although, built by the Islamic architects in the later part of Hampi’s era, this building is very significant from the way it combined it’s architecture and the whole ensemble fits into the current scheme of things when you look at the ruins. More importantly, it is one among the few least destroyed structures in Hampi and is a major tourist attraction. This long building with a row of domed chambers was used to ‘park’ the royal elephants.
Lotus Mahal or Kamal Mahal
Now, this caught my eye, very much, especially because of the
interesting architecture. I took a look
around and decided to investigate why in the scorching heat is this structure
cooler from the inside. To my amazement, and of course to a fascination of one
kind, I was told by the guide who was around that this was one of the places in
the ancient times where queens used to rest and relax, in fact, it had a built
in air conditioning system. The structure had in-built terracota pipes and
there was a well beside this temple. Water was filled into those pipes and fans
were used to circulate the cool air within the palace with drapes around on its
gates.
Hazara Rama Temple
One of the most enchanting thing about this temple is its
beautiful wall carvings and enchanting structure, even though it’s ruined. The
reason it’s called the ‘Hazara Rama’ temple is cause of the fact that the
carvings depict comic strips of Hindu mythology, Ramayana in long arrays,
on the walls of this temple. Probably this is the only temple in the
capital with its external walls decorated and the temple got its name Hazara
Rama (a thousand Rama) Temple because of these Ramayana panels on its walls.
Off the
banks of Tungabhadra River
Now, one of the things I didn’t hesitate to
do this time around, in fact I could thank my hotel owner for this, is to cool off by taking a bath in the Tungabhadra river. And
believe me, it was quite a fascinating experience. Be free of yourself,
enchanting place that it is, give yourself to the beauty of the river that is
part of a lot of places in Karnataka, this was just the experience I wanted to
make this trip the most indulging in its own sense. Now the small boats
you see are of local fishermen and boatmen, they give you a ride across the
river for some 200 bucks to take you to the Anjaneya mountain, one where Lord
Hanuman was believed to have lived during the times of Ramayana.
Ancient
Public Bath
This structure, as the name indicates, is a
gigantic bathing area made in the shape of an Octagon. The bath shelter is
designed with an octagonal shaped platform in the middle and an encircling
pillared veranda around it. The circular section between the veranda and the
platform is the water (now empty) area. To the west, you can spot the
ruined bases of numerous palaces.
Sasavekalu Ganesha
This particular monument and structure would be seen by you as
soon as you enter Hampi, that is if you are coming via Hospet by bus. This
statue has Lord Ganesha with a snake tied around its tummy, there’s an
interesting story behind it too. In Hindu mythology Lord Ganesha is known
for his eating habits. Once he ate so much food that his tummy almost burst. He
immediately caught a snake and tied it around his tummy as a belt
to save his tummy from bursting.
Kadalekalu Ganesha
This one is also right around the corner as soon as you enter
Hampi. This giant statue of Ganesha was carved out of a huge boulder at the
northeastern slope of the Hemakuta hill. The belly of this statue resembles a
Bengal gram (Kadalekalu, in local language) and hence the name.
Virupaksha Temple
Last but not least, this one certainly deserves a mention in my
photo essay as it was quite a place to be. On the last day when i was about to
leave back to Mumbai, I decided to just sit in the shady complex of this
temple, and read a book, The Book of Ram, by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik. While the
experience in itself was great, thanks to the great book, the whole ambiance
meant a lot more. The nice cool shade within the complex with the fresh smell
of stone and breathing the air of this mystic town was also an added
experience. Virupaksha Temple is also known as the Pampapathi temple, it
is a Shiva temple in the Hampi Bazaar. It predates the founding of the
Vijayanagar empire. The temple has a 160-foot (49 m) high tower at its
entrance. Apart from Shiva, the temple complex also contains shrines of the
Hindu goddesses Bhuvaneshwari and Pampa. It also is very significant during the
Hampi festival, where a chariot is taken into procession and stands right
outside the temple on other days.
Hampi is a ideal place for those interested in archaeology, mythology, photography and of course travel, but
more importantly, for the beauty of the ancient art and culture it stands
for.
What do you think about this beautiful place? Have you ever been here?
Author Bio: The author is a wandering thinker & a pondering writer who enjoys backpacking to the fullest. A travel blogger and an aspiring author who shares his travel stories on www.srinistuff.
For more stories off the beaten path in India, visit www.indiauntravelled.com or join India Untravelled on Facebook and Twitter. To contribute guest posts / photo essays to this blog, please send your story ideas to shivya@indiauntravelled.com.
