7 days of driving around Karnataka – Temples, Hills, Forests, Caves, Ruins, Forts and Highways

Day 6 – 1st Jan 2009
Hospet > Hampi > Hospet

Both of us been to Hampi on a couple of occasions earlier, so we did not need a guide to take us around. We just wanted to take our own time at each monument and explore around to our heart’s content.

Hampi was once the focal point of one of the most powerful Hindu empires India has ever seen. Vijayanagar (City of victory) was developed over a period of over 200 years till it was ravaged after the defeat at the battle of Talikota. The combined armies of Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar and Berar systematically looted and destroyed the city over a period of 6 months.

It is also claimed that Kiskintha, the monkey kingdom from the Ramayana was located around the hills of Hampi, Hanuman was born here and this is where Vali & Sugreeva lived.

A story / legend I once heard from somone…
“When Harihara & Bukka (founders of the Vijayanagara empire) wanted a place for establishing their capital, they sought advice from their Guru Vidyaranya. He asked the brothers to just go for a hunt and the place would manifest itself.

The two brothers took their horses, hunting dogs and proceeded on the hunt. They spied a wild hare and let loose their dogs… and followed on their horses.

Initially the dogs chased the hare which was running for dear life… then they reached a hill where the hare suddenly stopped, turned around and started chasing the dogs which were now running scared!.

The brothers found it quite amazing and related the incident to Vidyaranya on their return. The Guru then explained this was the sign he had expected and that the place where the hare turned around should be the seat of the new empire…”

We started the day early and we were out by 8.00am. Ok, found this bike along the way… these days the ‘King’ travels around on a Fiero

For those who wish to explore Hampi at their own pace, there are some excellent guide books available, we used an Eicher-Goodearth publication called ‘Hampi Travel Guide’.

There are also maps sold by vendors near every major monument, costing around Rs.15. Hampi has around 80+ known and significant monuments spread across 26sq Kms.

First stop at the Anantasayana temple, with its huge dome-gopuram…

Next stop at the Pattabhirama temple…

Though many temples appear as flat, single stories stuctures, some of them had beautiful superstructures or ‘gopuras’ when they were originally built. But since the superstructures were often built using bricks and mortar, many of them do not survive today. Even the ones that have survived need extensive renovation.

The reason why they used brick and mortar instead of stone is that they did not have lifting equipment to move the huge stone blocks to the top.

If you have been to the Brihadeshwara temple in Tanjore, the huge stone gopuram which is entirely made of stone was built by using a earth-work ramp that was 1 kilometer long. The top-most blocks were dragged using elephants and moved into place. The ramp was thereafter broken up.

Since building the ramp itself would be a huge exercise and it would also require wide-open spaces around the temples, the architects in Hampi used stone only upto heights where wooden block-tackle and gaint tripod like apparatus made with whole tree trunks could be used.

We next drove towards the ‘Bhima’s gate’ one of the entrances into the fortified city…

On the way to the Vitthala temple area…

The ‘King’s balance’, where the king was weighed against gold which would then be distributed among the poor and the needy…

One of those ‘I wish Xing was a 4×4’ moments

Parked next to the Vittala temple and headed inside. This was once the most beautiful monument in all of Hampi and the quality of the stone work done here was unparalleled. You have to see it yourself to believe it! This temple also houses another icon of Hampi, the stone chariot…

When the invaders ransacked this temple, they found that every pillar, ever stone was carved so beautifully that they had a tough time destroying ebverything, so they brought down the main structures. This was not destruction in a fit of anger, but a systematic attempt to wipe out all traces of the empire.

Right in the middle of the temple, there was apparently a structure that was far more beautiful and elaborate then everything else around, the invaders stuffed the structure with wood and set fire to it so that the stones would heat up and then poured water on them so that they would crack and the structure collapsed. You can still see remains of the blackened ceilings and the cracked pillars…

This place is also famous for the rock-cut musical pillars…

Continued…

Given the fact that Granite is one of the hardest and toughest materials to work with, the level of detail achieved by the artisans here is simply mind-boggling. In comparision, the structures at Badami, Aihole, Belur, Halebid etc. were carved out of much softer materials like sandstone, Chloritic Schist etc.

The Octagonal water pavilion, though it is commonly considered as a ‘bath’ the purpose of this stucture is apparently not so clear to the experts…

The Queen’s bath…

Some temples close to the ‘Zenana area’…

Excavations are still underway in many places are more and more structures are being dug up by the ASI. You can make out in the next pic that some of the structures are buried under 5 to 6 feet of mud and rubble. Monuments that were originally built lower that the ground level around would have completely disappeared from sight…

The Elephant stables…

The Lotus Mahal…

The stepped water tank in the palace area…

The Mahanavami platform that was used by the king for major ceremonies…

Another temple where the pillars in the sabha mantapa are carved out of black stone which is not available locally and was brought in from elsewhere…

Some pics from the Hazara Rama temple…

Take a look at the corners of the roof. They put effort into carving out details even at places that are normally not so visible…

The outer wall of the temple…

Another famous icon of Hampi, the colossal Lakshmi Narasimha statue…

The ‘Badavalinga’ , a 12 feet high Shivaling near the Lakshmi Narasimha statue, the base of the Shivaling is always submerged in around 3 feet of water…

After covering several other monuments, we went over to the Virupaksha temple area. This temple is in regular use and can be quite crowded at times…

A collage of some of the menu boards from the small restaurants on the road in front of the Virupaksha temple. Next time around I will try the ‘Om rice’ and the ‘Veg Thuf’ Quite an international spread of cuisines is served here, see the Indian, Chinese, Italian and Isareali references in the last board ?

Continued…

The Tungabhadra river on the banks of which Hampi was built. You can go for a coracle (Teppa in local lingo) boat ride if you are interested…

We went to the Kishkintha area next, there is a cave marked as ‘Sugreeva guhe’ which is apparently the cave where Sugreeva hid Sita’s jewels for safekeeping. The jewels that she threw down to mark a trail, when being kidnapped by Ravana. There is also a long white band on the boulder here, which is explained as the place where Sita’s saree edge was dragged along the ground. [You can make it out in front of Sugreeva’s cave in the pic below]

When Rama and Sita stopped at Kishkintha on their way back from Lanka, the place where they stood was marked and foot-prints were carved in the rock for worship…

Another temple in this area…

So many more things to see, so little time…

The bazaar area in front of the Virupaksha temple…

The Hampi police station, with a board in front that says ‘Beware of crocodiles’ . What do they imply ???

Many of the structures, mantapas in this area have been converted into residences and shops by the locals…

Our last stops were at the Kadlekalu and Sasuvekalu ganeshas, before heading back to the lodge…

Sasuvekalu Ganesha…

We considered going to towards the Tungabhadra dam site, but since it was already quite dark and as there was no water being released from the crest gates, we decided to drop it and head back to get some well deserved rest after a great day.

The pic below is of the TB dam from a trip sometime in 07, when all the crest gates were opened after the rains…

Hospet to Chitradurga is around a 2.5 hour drive, we decided to stay back for a second night in Hospet and proceed towards Chitradurga early next morning. A quick dinner and we logged off for the day.