Hampi

Vijayanagar – “the city of Victory” is the old name of Hampi – The Ruins. Infact, great effort was made to make all the great places and historical events to be distorted or resort to different names and the credit goes to the British era to look down Hinduism, Indian Heritage and its History.

This “Hampi” is the same place called “kishkindha” in Ramayana, where Vali, Surgriva and Hanuman lived and the cave where Surgriva killed a Rashatya (demon) is called as Surgriva cave even now and once Sugriva kept sita jewel inside the cave (which was brought by Hanuman from Lanka) and a mark made on the rock by it, is still visible. Vali is also cremated in Nimbapuram, and u find lot of monkeys here.

Hampi is on the banks of Tungabhadra river and covered by rocky hills on all sides. There are lot of natural rock formation in Hampi may be due to the earthquakes or formed naturally. These hills contains many mineral springs which are said to cure health problems. The local people are familiar with this type of water medicines in a particular place for particular disease and are using them for centuries. The “Water therapy” which has now become popular in the west was used by our ancestors to cure the diseases and they knew the importance of water and its importance for the survival of the life on the earth. Water as considered as the purest and lot of importance was given to the water in daily life, starting from bathing in the natural flowing water in the early morning to the coconut water as a soft drink. There were special festival, puja and homas for the gods/goddesses who were worshipped by all.

Many Dynasties like Sangama, Saluva, Narasinga, and Karnataka have ruled this part of South India till 14^th century but only one among them, Sri Krishnadevaraya, who ruled in 15^th century, built what Hampi is now. He not only acquired power on all fronts by spreading his kingdom in South India, but also patronage literature, Arts, music, poetry, dance and above all constructing many incredible temples, forts, dams, building and also restoring and supporting almost all major temples in South India. He has contributed a lot to the temples and Hindu culture in the South India post 15^th century.

ENTER THE RUINS……..

Ur Guide – TIRUMALANATH

U can reach Hospet from Goa, Bangalore and Hyderabad by train or bus and travel 13 kms from Hospet by bus or taxi and u will step ur foot on the world’s famous and only ruins – The Hampi.

The first temple u sees on the right side from Kamalapur (a village on the way to Hampi from Hospet, where u can stay with the local people in their houses as a paying guest) is Chandrasekhara temple.

Almost in all the temples in Hampi, statues or sculptures are missing or damaged by the invaders after the defeat in 15^th century and what we see the ruins are only the foundations of the temples or buildings. The whole of the empire was burned, looted for months after the defeat of Hampi rulers. If the ruins can mesmerize us to such a extent, then imagine how the original Hampi would be at that era.

Opposite to Chandrasekhara temple is octagonal baths used for bathing and Saraswati temple on the back side. Come back again to the main road, just adjacent, u will find Queen’s Bath, as usual used by the Queen – as saying go. But my doubt is if the Rajmahal is far away and the building is also on the entrance to the city, people don’t build bathrooms at that juncture, that to in those times, when high society women are kept away from common man’s eye. One arguable point to agree is that this is the first point of water to reach the town from the river. But my gut feeling is, this bath would be used by the Queen or others for taking dip before entering into the temples. In olden days, the King, Queen and all other people would visit various temples in the morning before starting their dialy activities. Even in Penukonda (second or summer capital of Sri Krishnadevaraya), there was a tradition where King would visit one temple everyday and the same number of temples were constructed in Penukonda for that purpose. Penukonda in Anantapur district is also interesting place with number of temples, forts and most famous Hanuman statues everywhere…….everything in my next blog on penukonda.

From there, if u moves towards right on the same road, u will find King’s palace .ha-ha….only foundations remain and everything else was burned or pulled down. I wonder which company made bulldozers were used as it takes lot of efforts for days and by a hundreds of people to do the destruction in such a large scale. After visiting Hampi, I realized that it takes lot of effort and rock ridden passion/dispassion to make or unmake something. Now climb on ‘Kings Audience Hall’ and u will get the full view of the whole ruins of Hampi. Spent some time to feel the light air and sweat a little in the hot sun as it is beginning to a hard trip of three days. Take as many as snaps u can and also keep in view the map of the kingdom, which u will be exploring in the coming days. While getting down, look at the bottom where u will find lot of sculptures on the heavy rock displaying various games played at that time. Ads and Advertisers never leave us alone. They are lot of playgrounds, underground chambers and bath tubs used during festival seasons. There is a very small well surrounded by beautiful artistic carved rocks.

Besides this, is the famous Hazara Rama Temple having all the epics put on the walls of the temple. The epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Lavakusha (sons of Sri Rama) and many other important tales from Hinduism and their culture including the animals are also presented in a very systematic manner (they knew the flowchart technique and explained such a long epics in short and straight manner). Its a wonder, huge volumes of epics are told in few scenes (same like film trailers) which people can understand and more surprise thing is that the illiterate people understands these concepts well than the literate one.

Move further, u will find a museum and Guard’s quarter. We must also demand Mr. Narayana Murthy to allocate quarters to all in Electronic City……heck with this traveling dialy to office.

Relax a bit, have tea under the tree in front of the museum and pay Rs.10 to enter into Zenana Enclosure. I don’t know how it got its name. There is a Queen’s place at the beginning (u see I have thinking mind based on the fact. Remember I told about the Queen’s bath at the entrance. Why would Queen daily go there for bath when her resides here) and right to that, the famous Lotus mahal and watch tower in the right corner. And just cross the wall, u r before elephant stables and Guard’s room. There is something messy about all these….how come Queen’s palace so close to elephant stables and guards’ room and bathroom such a long distance from here.

Again come back to the main road, it is very long and walking in hot sun, it’s a different experience. This is a right place for people who want to be active physically and stretch the body for 2 to 3 days. If u r tired and bored with the routine…going to films, parks, discos, then Hampi is the place to be in for a weekend. My suggestion is to go alone, stay in small lodge in Hospet or Kamalapur. Take bicycle for rent (Rs.50 per day) and explore the ruins in the heat and dust. That makes the trip manlier.

From there, if u moves on, u will find “underground temple”, then famous Narasimha statue and large stone linga immersed in water. There are Sri Krishna temple and Vishnu temple followed by Ganesha statue and opposite to that, few natural formed stones whose pictures are below. Just right to that is the “Kadalaikallu Ganesha Temple” - the biggest Ganesha and u will be mesmerized by the size. Sit in the temple facing towards to the Bazaar street and from here, u have the best view of the small town with big temples and the river in the backdrop.

Just moving further, I want to bring to ur notice about the size and type of the statues of Narasimha and Ganesha. Sri Krishnadevaraya is known for the big and great things. If u visit penukonda, u will find lot of big sized statues of the Hanuman on every corner of the town. We are very unfortunate to be left with one or two statues and the remaining lost in the time of history. But those few have given the gimsle of the art and talent of the earlier people.

Go down and u will find the famous Virupaksha, Pampati temples and Hampi Bazaar (it is the same place where diamonds where sold openly in the streets of Hampi as vegetables are sold today) and right to it, the famous – Matanga Hill (hill which had prominent place in Ramayana). Move further, u will find Achyutaraya temple, Varaha temple, Anantasayana shrines, many jain temples and Sugriva cave along with the old bridge on Tungabhadra river. On the way, u will find King’s balance which was used on special festival days to weight the king and donate same quantity of gold and diamonds to the people.

Move on to Vithala Temple, which houses the world famous “Stone chariot” which was used on festival days for taking the “Vigraha mutris” around the streets of Hampi. This Stone chariot is fully made of stone and was able to move freely….who was that great engineer?????? Who got the idea of building a chariot of stone???? How were the roads then in Hampi???? Do we have to laugh or cry with what we have …the roads and vehicle both. compared to the roads and vehicle of 15^th century. There are lot of many small temples and very big stones of the river side. Spent some time on the rocks but be carefully about people and make sure not to slip between the stones as they are lot of unknown small small caves.

Once thing u will notice throughout Hampi is the importance given to the animals, plants and eco system on the walls of every temple preaching the importance of the nature to everyone and the need to protect it as in return it protects us and the future generations. We are realizing the same fact which our elders have understood and injected this concept in the daily life either through fear or faith. Many of the superstition of the older time have their reason at that particular period and seem to look funny or degraded today for us. The religion in olden days was same as constitution of today, guidelines for living in society and coexisting.

The most striking in whole Hampi is the engineering and technology of yesterdays which solved their day to day problems in a very systematic manner which we are not able to do now. The water supply to all places and palaces from Tungabhadra river was passed through ‘stone water canals’ and supplied through stone pipes, even though the river is far below the town. Another is technical marvel is the passage of fresh air and light in all the buildings and forts in Hampi. And more over, this well designed capital with wide roads, temples, parks, water bodies and playgrounds in every corner of Hampi is lot better than any of our present famous cities. One important thing to note – two sides of Hampi is covered by water bodies and wind flow from that sides in the evening making the Hampi cool at night times. Records suggests that Sri Krishnadevaraya at the beginning wanted to build his empire at a place called Kashapuram near Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh which is around 100 kms from Hospet. But after giving due consideration to the water resources, Hampi was finalized. A small but famous Hanuman temple has been build by the king in Kashapuram.

More details in my next blog….just throw ur comments.

Suggestions:

1. Plan a three day trip to Hampi.

First day – Starting from Kamalapur museum to Zenana Enclosure.

Second day – Start with Narasimha statue to Matanga Hill

Third day – Vithala temple to river side temples

2. Don’t forget to go for “HERITAGE TOUR” in the morning at 6 am to 9 am covering many unknown temples on the river side and getting chance to interact with local people and know their culture. Cost is Rs.250.
3. Make a point to see Sugriva Cave and spent some time near the banks

Of Tungabhadra and top of the Kings Audience Hall.

4. Take lot of photos. I bet u will find all animals on the walls of Hampi.
5. Take bicycles/bikes on rent to go around. They are cheap.
6. Have big water bottles as u don’t get anywhere till u reach Hampi bazaar.
7. U can hire autos for Rs.200/- for side seeing, but not suggested.
8. Have the local food and spend nights imaging how Hampi would be in 15^th century. RUINS ur IMAGINATION.