Hampi - A slice of our history!

Hampi – the former capital of Vijayanagara empire of 1500 AD. It was a very prosperous and huge city in its time and currently is a very important world heritage site situated in Karnataka, India.

Have always been interested in history and have been wanting to go to Hampi since a very long time. But it’s a sunny hot place, so winter months, is when one should go. This Jan, finally a plan to visit Hampi over the long weekend, got finalized in a very impromptu manner with few of my friends. It was 6 of us ( 3 from Bangalore and 3 from Pune Mumbai ) who reached Hospet early Sat morning, via overnight sleeper buses. From Hospet, its barely 15 kms to Hampi. As soon as we entered Hampi, we felt transformed to another era itself. The boulders and rocks strewn across, the ancient ruins scattered here and there, the whole atmosphere took us back in time. This being a long weekend, accommodation was little hard to find and we managed to get rooms on the other side of the Viruppapura Gaddi Tungabhadra river. Very basic but with a good relaxed view.

So began our day 1 in Hampi, after lunch, we queued up to go to the “Hampi” side of the Tungabhadra, via the local boat service. Very convenient and cheap means of crossing to and fro. We were actually overwhelmed to begin with, what to start with, where to go first, we wanted to watch the sunset also from every possible hillock. Finally we decided to explore the Vittala Temple Complex first. The monuments here in Vijayavittala Temple complex, look all the more wonderful during sunset, and we weren’t going to miss that, were we? So we went on foot, seeing the Hampi Bazaar, Monolithic Nandi Bull ( Carved out of single boulder ), Achyutaraya temple, Kings Balance and finally reaching the Vijayavithala Temple. There’s a minimal entry fee here and hordes of people.

This temple has amazing pillars – it is said to have played musical notes when striked on in olden times. Musical Pillars as they are called - they are of different lengths and width, to be able to produce different notes. But of course overtime people have kinda destroyed it and currently it’s not allowed to touch them. But still people do, which is sad. There is one Stone Chariot there, and we struggled to get a picture of it sans people – impossible. People climb on it, hug it and get pictures clicked [It sure is an age of selfies]. Fortunately as the architecture here is primarily made of stone, so it is in a good shape and it is very interesting to see the intricacies of the design. It looks all the more amazing during evening, when sun is setting, as the sunlight gives it a beautiful golden glow.

Musical Pillars in Vittala Temple

A lady offering prayers to the stone chariot?

Btw that convenient cheap means of crossing the river I mentioned, closes at 5:30 in the evening, and then it turns into an expensive means. So we literally rushed back to the river crossing and once on the other side, started walking towards one “sunset point”. It’s actually on the top of a hillock. Just climb, sit and watch the view, the sunset. A very relaxed end to our day. Of course after sunset, we also got to see the moon rise from the same place. Moon light renders an all-together different look to the ruins and the place. But thanks to the clouds we kinda missed that.

The “other” side of the river, is where the foreigners flock to. So there is a whole string of places to eat/ shops / trinkets stores catering to them. The music, the food, the ambience.

Next day, we decided to explore the remaining ruins on bicycle. So after breakfast, we went out on our rented bicycles – geared ones for girls and normal ones for guys [ooops that’s not fair]. First stop was Hemakuta Hills. We saw the Kadalekalu Ganesha, Saasivekaalu Ganesha, huge boulders, some ruins of ancient temple complex, and over all a very good view amidst the boulders. Loved it. Next we went to Pushkarni – it is a small water tank kinds with more stone ruins surrounding it. One can see the Matanga Hill from here. Right next to it, on  the opposite side is the Krishna temple. Again amazing pillars and overall architecture. Next crossing the Akka-Tangi rocks (sister rocks), we reached the place with Ugra Narasimha statue– This statue has its arms cut. At another place the belly of Lord Ganesha statue was cut. So the conquerors, who invariably turn into destroyers did these kind of destructions hoping to find some hidden gems and stones. Next to this is BadaviLinga, in an semi enclosure, which is always said to be filled with water.

Boulders at Hemakuta Hills

Hemakuta Hills

Krishna Temple

Next we cycled on a stretch with nice banana plantations on both sides and reached Hazara Rama Temple. Here, all the walls have carvings on it, which depict Ramayana. Not a single wall is sans such depictions. It’s really nice. If only Sun was less brutal, would have probably spent some more time here, understanding those carvings and inscriptions on the walls. Next we went to Queen’s bath, which is a huge enclosed step well kinds. Wasn’t quite impressed with this one. The royal enclosure, where we went next, is huge – we saw the stage [Mahanavami Dibba] – apparently where the performances used to be held, the King’s secret meeting room, His Asthana. Not much is left here – all destroyed I believe. Lastly we went to the Lotus Mahal – It was quite small considering that it was the Queen’s palace, but is a nice symmetrical structure. Apparently, the architecture is such that it remains cool – [built in AC kinds] [ water flowing on the walls/arches to keep it cool] . Not far is the elephant stable and a small museum.

Carvings in Hazara Rama Temple

By this time we were completely exhausted and not to forget extremely hungry, having missed our lunch in the interest of time. So landed up at a place with a very relaxed setup – ate our lunch while watching the sunset across the paddy fields. Rest of the evening was spent playing Monopoly cards and waiting for our dinner, which took ages to come.

Day 3, we decided to spend on the same side of the river – no crossing over today as we had seen all the historical ruins. We rented 2 wheelers this time – Way too hot to cycle. We just had two places in mind – Sanapur Laka and Anjaneya hill, and the whole day with us. Sanapur Lake with the boulders around is nice – we did our long pending Coracle ride here. And we went further and further on the road and reached some paddy fields which spread across for acres. Some impromptu paddy experience – got down in the slush with the local ladies there and tried following what they were doing. While we were leaving, they invited us the next time they do their sowing – haha we must have impressed them with our “skills”. We had our typical south Indian lunch on banana leaf somewhere in Anegundi. We wanted to visit the Brindavana - but in the interest of time we had to skip it, as it would have taken lot of time waiting for the boat to fill up [only way to reach there]. We however went to pampa sarovara, where there is a temple famous as the Shabari temple [Remember the mythological story of Shabari and her berries for Lord Rama]. Well there is no statue as such of Shabri, but there is a cave, where people said she used to live. [Who knows].

Coracle

And finally we reach and climb the Anjaneya Hill, which has a famous Hanuman temple [ Anjana is Lord Hanuman’s mother, and this place is believed to be the birth place of Lord Hanuman ]. We (and many others) climbed it for the sunset, but it is a pilgrimage place, and people [ age no bar ] climb it with bare feet to offer their prayers at the temple. People come from north of the country as well, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet few folks who had reached there from Jammu, as part of their 2 month long pilgrimage tour. The panoramic view from this place made our day and so did the sunset.

Day 4 was spent recuperating from a stomach bug – I blame the juice or maybe the lax in using sanitizer or both, hahaha. For today, we had planned shopping and visiting the Virupaksha temple [which up till now we had seen only from outside, and which is the only temple amongst the ruins, which is functional today, with devotees visiting and offering their prayers]. Skipped both, though we did get a glimpse of the inside of the temple much to the annoyance of the local temple authority there. Early evening, we left Hampi for Hospet, to catch our overnight bus to home.

Sunset from Anjaneya hill

What a weekend this was – immersed in history and nature, memorable! I do hope government and people do their bit to preserve these ruins, a slice of our history.