The Lost World- Hampi

Landscape of Hampi-Virupaksha temple in the background

The panorama of Hampi is probably unlike any other place you will ever see. You begin to wonder how such a dramatic arrangement of granite boulders, big and small, could be made by the forces of nature. It’s easy to see where all the building material to build the beautiful city would have come from. We didn’t realize the vastness of the landscape until we started exploring the place on a bicycle with a local guide and a group of backpackers from Italy, Germany and France. River Tungabhadra runs through along this rugged landscape and in the fertile lands of the surrounding areas you see cultivations of coconut, banana and paddy.

Hampi is a city of ruins. Formerly known as Vijayanagara or the ‘City of Victory’, it was established by Harihara and Bukkaraya in the mid- fourteenth century to protect the region from the invasions of Muslim kings from the north and it was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire. At its peak, the empire extended from the river Krishna in the north to the tip of Tamil Nadu in the South and from the Arabian sea in the west and to  the Bay of Bengal in the east in Orissa. In its high period, and under the reign of Sri Krishna Devaraya, the kingdom was one of most powerful and influential centres of culture, art and learning.

Arts and culture received patronage in the kingdom

Panting and pedalling on the hilly terrain of the place we saw the Sasivekalu (mustard-seed) and Kadalekalu (Chickpea) Ganesha shrines named after the shape of their statues. Going along the road leading to Kamalapura, you see the Krishna temple complex built by Krishnadevaraya commemorating his victory over the Gajapati kings of Orissa and North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Like some of the other old temples of Karnataka, the god in the shrine is not worshipped because of the damage inflicted on the principal deity and architecture of the temple by Muslim invaders. Next to this temple complex is the huge 6.7 metre Narasimha monolith statue and a smaller Badavalinga monolith Shiva statue. Proceeding further towards Kamalapura, and towards the left of you is the place of the kings, or the ‘Royal Centre’. This place consists of the Underground temple that is partly submerged in water, Hazara Rama temple where the story of the epic Ramayana is carved around its walls, Lotus Mahal, Elephants stables, Zenana enclosure, Mahanavami dibba, Stepped Tank and the Queen’s bath.

   

Underground temple

Narasimha Monolith Statue

              

Tired of exhaustion, we ended that day with a sumptuous meal from a local restaurant. We still had a lot of places to cover the next day. We realized that the vastness of the place meant it would be difficult for us to complete the tour on cycle even in two days.

        

Stepped Tank

                      

The next day, we started our tour by visiting the Virupaksha temple, the shrine of Lord Shiva (known as Virupaksha here) and his two consorts, Pampadevi and Bhuvaneshwari. This is the only major shrine in Hampi which is still in active worship. The first thing you notice about the temple is the imposing 50 metre structure or the gopura. Entering into the complex, we see the second gopura, ahead of which lies the main shrine and mantapa. The mantapa was commissioned by Krishnadevaraya although the temple complex was itself much older. The temple complex also has pillared corridors for the pilgrims to sit, relax and pray, a kitchen and Manmatha tank which the visitors to the temple used for bathing. Towards the south of Virupaksha temple lies the Hemakuta group of temples lying on the granite slope of the hill. They are thought to have been built prior to the Vijayanagara period.

Walking past the Manmatha tank towards the north of the temple lies the bank of river Tungabhadhra, from where a 10 rupee motor boat ride took us to the other side of Hampi where there is Anjanadri hill and Anegondi. The Anjanadri hill is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. Also on this side of the river is Anegondi fort, Pampa Sarovar and Ranganatha temple.

Crossing the river back to the Hampi side and walking east for a kilometre, we reach the end of Hampi bazaar. From there, in the North east direction is a short-cut path to reach the other major attraction of the place, the Vittala temple complex.

Gopuras of Virupaksha temple

Ornate Pillared Corridors of Virupaksha temple

The Vittala temple complex is probably as big as the Virupaksha temple and also very significant because of its splendid Dravidian style of architecture, musical pillars and stone chariot. While the Virupaksha temple was dedicated for the worship of Lord Shiva, Vittala temple was for Lord Vishnu. The musical pillars of the temple are believed to vibrate at distinct frequencies giving sounds of different musical instruments when you tapped them with bamboo sticks. The Stone Chariot is one of the most famous monuments of the temple and is one of the only three in the country, the other two being at Konark and Mahabalipuram.

Musical pillars of Vittala temple

Stone Chariot

One more striking feature of Hampi are the kilometre long bazaars which you see outside the three major temple complexes of Virupaksha, Krishna and Vittala temples. All the bazaars are considered to be important trading centres where people from far off lands came to exchange horses and other things for diamonds, gold and gems.

Vittala temple complex

In the year 1443, an envoy from the Persian court, Abdul Razzak wrote this about the city of Hampi Vijayanagara, “ The city is such that the pupil of the eye has never seen a place like it, and ear of intelligence has never been informed that existed anything to equal it in the World.” Two days of exhaustive travel and our minds were filled with lots of information about the place and a feeling of sadness for the lost world of Hampi. At the end of the first day, standing high on the Mahanavami dibba and looking around the place, I was trying to imagine and create a picture of the city of Hampi that it once was. It would have taken great minds and colossal efforts to build a place like that.

Baazar outside Vittala temple

Baazar outside Krishna temple

P. S: In the year 1986, the group of monuments in and around Hampi were included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While the influx of tourists has increased by many times after that, the efforts from the government to provide the required facilities to keep the place neat and clean or to preserve the monuments has not happened. This also calls for people (tourists, villagers in Hampi and government officials) to take responsibility from their side and make sure that they preserve the monuments for future generations. 

Sunset and Tungabhadhra

White-browed Wagtail