Marcus Erelius: Hampi, Karnataka, India

Tour to UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Sasivekalu Ganesh, Hemakuta Hill

Panoramic view of Krishna Temple built by Krishnadevaraya

Location

15.3167° N, 76.4667° E

Located on the banks of Tungabhadra River in Karnataka, where the river flows northeast and with bordering state of Andhra Pradesh, Hampi is the majestic city of Vijayanagara Empire, India’s biggest and wealthiest kingdom from 1336 CE to 1565 CE, when it was finally seized and ruined by Deccan Sultanates. Around 1500 CE it had 500,000 inhabitants, making it second largest city after Beijing and its size is more than twice the size of biggest European city, Paris.

Boulder piles, fortified walls, ruined temples, Hemakuta Hill

Hampi is an outstanding tourist destination because of its significance in mythology, history and geology. Even today Archaeological Survey of India conducts excavations to unearth the vast heritage that is still buried underneath.

Mythology

Hampi got its name from Goddess Pampa, daughter of Brahma. Pampa prayed on Hemakuta hill for Lord Shiva who married her and became Pampapati and he is worshipped here as Virupaksha.

Majestic Entrance of Virupaksha Temple
built by Krishnadevaraya, Hampipura

Hampi belongs to Kishkinda zone of The Ramayana, the birth place of Vali, Sugriva, Hanuman and all Vanaras (Monkey Saviours). Here, we can see Matanga hill named after Sage Matanga, where Sugriva took refuge; the cave where Sugriva hid the jewels dropped by Sita; the cave where Rama and Sugriva became friends and the river bank where Rama killed Vali. One can see Malyavantha hill where Rama and Lakshmana waited four months in a cave during monsoon before Rama gave his ring and sent Hanuman to Lanka to know Sita’s whereabouts. Idols of Rama, Sita and Hanuman can be seen everywhere in this place.

History

In 1336 CE, while Harihararaya and Bukkaraya were hunting, an escaping rabbit suddenly fought with their hounds near Matanga Hill. The priests declared this as a good sign and said that if a city is built over there, it would become Vijayanagara, the City of Victory. Thus the foundation for the most powerful and wealthiest kingdom of South India was laid.

Rabbit inside moon, Rahu and Ketu on the
Entrance's ceiling, Krishna temple, Krishnapura

In 1406 CE, under Devaraya, the Empire expanded from Bay of Bengal to Arabian Sea and from Krishna River to Kanyakumari. Biggest number of construction activities took place. Terms got little worsened with the Bahmani Sultans of the Deccan for the fertile lands and finally lost them.

Small structure in the centre of water tank
outside Krishna Temple, Krishnapura

In 1509 CE, under Krishnadevaraya, the Empire reached its pinnacle. He built many temples and halls, defeated Gajapati Kings of Orissa and waged many wars with Adilshahs of Bijapur, in one of which he died.

In 1565 CE, the Empire was lost to the Deccan Sultanates. It took several months for them to loot the wealth, destroy the temples before finally burning them down. The surviving rulers fled to Tamil Nadu and founded Aravidu Dynasty which finally diminished in 1665 CE.

Geology

Hampi is surrounding by meandering river and irregular hills formed out of boulder heaps making it impossible for invaders to attack. The spherically shaped boulders formed due to weathering, on the top of these heaps look like they are about to roll over. The streaming Tungabhadra River in between, ruined structures here and there; greenery from banana and coconut plantations elsewhere creates spell bounding scenery in and around Hampi.

Greenery from banana and coconut plantations, Hampipura

The procedure with which the builders used to cut those boulders into sized blocks in those times is really astounding. They used to make rows of closely spaced holes on these boulders into which they inserted small chunks of wood and when these chunks were dampened, the wood expanded gradually forming a crack along the row and thereby cutting the boulder.

Rows of closely spaced holes, Royal centre

Ruins

Now, it lays completely ruined and these ruins are broadly divided into two categories i.e. the sacred centre to the north and the royal centre to the south.

The sacred centre consists of structures dedicated to Gods and Goddesses. It has Hampi with Virupaksha temple, Krishnapura with Krishna temple, Atchyutapura with Tiruvengalanatha temple and Vitthalapura Vitthala temple. In front of each temple there are long markets with shops on either side.

The Royal centre has structures built for Kings and Queens, some temples, water tanks, festival and meeting halls.

Columned market in front of Vitthala Temple, Vitthalapura

Tour

We entered the ruins at Krishnapura, where at first we visited Sasivekalu Ganesha temple (Mustard seed Ganesh) with 2.4 metre high monolithic statue of Ganesh on Hemakuta hill. The name comes from the mustard seed traders belonging to Chandragiri, Andhra Pradesh, who had built the temple.

Sasivekalu Ganesh Temple, Hemakuta Hill

In front of it there is Krishna Temple built by Krishnadevaraya in 1515 CE after defeating Gajapati Kings of Orissa. The tablet with all inscriptions in Kannada language tells us the details of the battle. In front of the temple there is a vast market with erected columns on either side. To the left there is tank with a small structure in the middle.

Main Entrance of Krishna Temple, Krishnapura

Inside the Krishna Temple

Inscriptions describing the war

Market street in front of Krishna Temple and
a distant view of Matanga Hill

Rectangular water tank in front of Krishna Temple

From here we went towards Hampi through Hemakuta hills where we saw another Ganesh temple with Kadalekalu Ganesha (Gram seed Ganesh), a 4.5 metre high monolithic statue of Ganesh.

Kadalekalu Ganesha, Hemakuta Hill

To its right there is a path that leads to Virupaksha temple, the temple with a gigantic Gopura (Entrance) and biggest market with double storeyed shops. It is here in this market they used to sell variety of gem stones pouring them as heaps.

View of Virupaksha Temple from Hemakuta Hill

Lord Hanuman inside Virupaksha Temple,
Hampipura

This entrance leads to another Gopura which was added later by Krishnadevaraya in 1510 CE with a 100 columned hall to the left. Inside lies the main shrine of Virupaksha. The Mandapa has a painted ceiling and is used for coronation purposes.

The actual small Gopura and the big Gopura
which was added later by Krishnadevaraya

Painting on the ceiling of mandapa before main shrine,
Virupaksha Temple

To the right there are Pampadevi and Bhuvaneswari shrines followed by a massive water tank called Manmatha tank. On the inner walls at the main entrance, we can see the Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Empire that has images of Varaha (Pig), Dagger, the Sun and the Moon. There is a local belief that because of this symbol at the entrance, the invaders didn’t touch the temple as they hated pigs. The temple suffered minimum damage when compared to other structures and the deities inside are still worshipped.

Manmatha tank, Virupaksha Temple

Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Empire, Virupaksha Temple

At a small distance inside Krishnapura, secluded among banana plantations there is a temple with about 7.0 metre high monolithic statue of Narasimha in yoga pose. It actually had a wooden arch with golden Kalasas which of course were looted later and the statue also got damaged badly. To its right there is Badavalinga Temple built by a poor woman, with 3.0 metre high monolithic linga that remains in bed of water.

Narasimha Monolith, Krishnapura

Monolithic Linga, Badavalinga Temple, Krishnapura

From here we moved towards the royal centre and the first thing we visited is the Zenana enclosure, which has tapering walls made of huge blocks of rock and most of its entrances were rebuilt. The enclosure has a treasury to the left of entrance, an excavated palace, lotus mahal, octagonal watch towers and to its back row of elephant stables.

Lotus Mahal with octagonal watch tower to the right,
Zenana enclosure, Royal centre

Elephant Stable, Zenana enclosure, Royal centre

The walls of the lotus mahal had concealed water pipes which provided an air-conditioned effect. Actually the names Zenana, lotus mahal and others were the names given by the early explorers but not the original names.

Moving towards the core zone of the royal centre we came to Hazararama temple built by Devaraya, which has 1,000 images of Lord Rama. Entire Ramayana is depicted on the walls of this temple.

Hazararama Temple, Royal enclosure

Lord Rama tightening Lord Shiva's bow string,
Hazararama Temple

Next, we went to the audience hall whose 100 wooden columns had been completely burned and only the platform is visible. It is followed by an underground chamber where the king used to have rendezvous with spies. Next to it is the stepped tank which has been unearthed in early 80’s. Water to this tank is led by a stone aqueduct. From there we went to Mahanavami hall, the most dominating hall of the royal centre. Even here, all the wooden columns had been burned and one can only see the platform. The king used to sit here and watch all the festivals like Vasantotsava, where women used to play with colours and then wash them off in a small tank underneath. On this platform we can have a good panoramic view of the entire royal centre.

Stepped tank, Royal enclosure

Myself on the majectic Mahanavami Platform,
Royal enclosure

From here we went to Malyavantha hill to view sunset. Malyavantha hill is of great mythological importance because of its rock cave where Rama and Lakshmana spent four months during monsoon period before continuing their search for Sita. Being a great fanatic, it’s been a great privilege for visiting of a site of that importance and connection with Ramayana. Settling on the summit we watched the sun set and then we headed to our resting rooms.

Boulder atop Malyavanta Hill

Sunset view from Malyavatha Hill

The next day we went to see Vitthala temple, the most beautiful temple of the sacred centre. To the right there is small temple which is currently isolated but earlier the columns of the market started from here and ended at the main shrine.

Columned market, Vitthalapura

Of course these columns upto almost half of the way can nowhere be seen now. After some distance there is another small temple to the left with sculpted horse figures on the columns. A little distance later there is a Pushkarini to the right with a small temple in its centre.

Path leading to Vitthala Temple

Temple at the entrance of the Vitthala Temple

Pushkarini, water tank in the midway, Vitthala Temple

From here we can see the surviving columns of the market, some of them original and some of them rebuilt. After walking one kilometre from the start point we reached the main shrine. The Gopuras were built by the two queens of Krishnadevaraya.

Felled Deepa Stambha with Vitthala Temple in the background

Main Shrine inside the Vitthala Temple

The mandapa whose columns were made in such a way that they produce music when hit is now closed because of some maintenance but the main sanctum sanctorum is still open for public. The main shrine is surrounded by two free-standing mandapas and a 100 pillared hall.

The musical columns, Main shrine,
Vitthala Temple

Beautifully carved pedestal , Main shrine, Vitthala Temple

In front of the main shrine there is Garuda temple in the shape of a chariot. It is the official symbol of Karnataka tourism. On the outer platform of the main shrine there are figures showing European, Arabic, Chinese and other horse traders trading their horses in Vijayanagara.

Lord Hanuman Temple inside Vitthala Temple

Chariot styled Garuda Temple , Vitthala Temple

Our tour team near iconic Garuda Temple

European, Persian and Asian horse traders, Vitthala Temple

We had lunch at Hotel Mango tree, a best place to have a pleasant lunch and before heading to our rooms we saw the Queen’s Bath place. After this we packed up and started back to Hyderabad.