Hampi - the ancient marvel

I am not quite sure on how to sum it all up in one line "A trip down the old city", "The ravaged city", "The ruined ancient city". I just cant think of anything! And not because I am suffering from a writer's block.. I hardly write :D, but I guess its more because there is no simple way of explaining what my 2 day vacation to the ancient cities of Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal was. This blog would cover only Hampi as it would be injustice to everyone (the readers, the places, the author.. ahem) for me to cover everything in one go.

Getting there....

Now it all started with my constant persistence (nagging?!?) which finally made my hubby dear to take me to Hampi, a relatively tiny place in Karnataka.For those who wouldnt have heard of it.. it was once a prosperous capital of the VijayNagar empire. It was ravaged by the invaders, thus being called "Hampi", meaning the ruined city. I heard of it as being one of the Unesco Heritage sites, saw a few pics and decided that while I am in Bangalore, I might as well see all the exciting places down south while I can.

So after spending a few weekends of research on places to see, place to see and ways to commute, we finally took the trip in early September. We took the Hampi express which left Bangalore station around 10:30 at night only to reach Hospet around 7:30 in the morning.

Hospet was to be our base as Hampi was just about 15 Kms from here and had good accomodation. We chose to stay at Hotel Malligi which turned out to be a good decision. The hotel was neat and clean and had decent food. We freshened up and left for Hampi at about 10:30 in the morning. We took a cab which the hotel travel desk had provided us with.

Landscape

Hampi, was beautiful! The entire landscape was unlike something we had ever seen before! With huge rock boulders scattered around. Fortunately, we chose the right time as well. September meant that the monsoons were almost over so the entire area was lush green and the weather just about pleasant. Hampi can get really warm during summers. We stopped to take a guide as without that, our understanding would be incomplete. After some bargaining, our guide agreed to show us the entire site for around 600 Rs.

Sacred Centre and Royal Centre

Hampi is spread over a vast site. It was the most prosperous city of its times and was known as VijayNagar and was compared to the likes of Rome. The guide went on to tell us the tale of how this city fell in the hands of invaders and was ravaged and reduced to a ruin. Hampi has two main areas- the sacred centre and the royal centre.


Sacred Centre
We started with the sacred centre. On the outskirts, where we were standing was a Ganesha temple known as the mustard ganesh which was built by the royalty for the locals. They had another Ganesha temple built just for themselves which was much bigger and is referred to as the peanut Ganesha. Both the idols having been destroyed, are no longer worshipped.

Behind this temple is the Virupaksha temple which is still an active temple! Inside the temple, one would easily be able to make out the architectural differences as they were created and enhanced by different kings. One would also be able to see the inverted shadow of the main temple Gopura (tower) from inside the temple! They surely had the knowledge of optices in place!

Outside the temple is the hampi bazaar which used to be a famous market. After seeing all of this and a little bit of souvenier shopping at the market, we proceeded towards the Royal Centre!

On the way to the Royal Centre we stopped midway to see the Krishna bazar and Krishna temple and the temples of Laxmi Narasimha and Shiv temple. The LaxmiNarasimha idol is also now referred to the the "Ugra" or angry Narasimha. Reason being that the invaders destroyed the idol is such a way that the laxmi idol was removed. However there are evidences that the Laxmi idol was present. Now since she is no longer there.. he has no option but to be "ugra" :)

On the way to the Royal Centre..

The ride towards the Royal centre was great. The entire area rocky and spectacular. Our guide informed us that this area was once under the sea and hence the rocky terrain. And then we saw two huge, gigantic rocks, supporting each other precariously and forming a triangular space! It looked wonderful. We stopped our cab and decided to take a closer look. Quite a site that was!
We explored the site a bit. Our guide told us a legend associated with the rocks. These are referred to as the sister rocks. Apparently two sisters were on a visit to the city and had a fight with the guide who cursed them to turn into rocks. Ok, we got the message :)

Royal Centre

Finally, we reached the Royal Center.

The Royal Centre, housed the chambers, temples, meeting places for the royalty. The highlights were the Zanana Quarter which had the Lotus mahal for the queen where she took rest after taking a royal bath before going to the temple. Talk about how exhausting a royal bath can be :D

The palace was wooden and hence destroyed. All tha remained was the basement. From the Zanana Quarters, one could see a few towers oon top of the surrounding hills which acted as watch towers. Adjacent to the quarters were elephant stable where 11 elephants were kept specifically processions. As legend goes, the famous Mysore Dusshera procession had its origin here. This is the place where the Dusshera processions began.

A little away from the quarters was the Hazara Ram temple, which the queen used to frequent. The temple walls are carved with stories from the Ramayan. and many other carvings of that time.

A little further was the basement of the audience hall where the king addressed his people. There were scattered ruins of the houses of eminent people from the kings court. We also saw the kings secret underground chamber where he held meetings which were confidential in nature.

Also was another high rise basement which was once 7 storeyed and from where the dusshere procession was viewed by the royalty.

What was most fascinating in this entire section was the stepped tank. There was an elaborate stepped tank, made in black granite with water at its base. This was like a swimin pool/meeting point for ppl. There was also an aqueduct supply to the tank. Good stuff.

Lunch Time!

It was around 2 in the after noon and we were getting a bit tired, so we decided to break for lunch. We had read about a riverside restraunt, adjacent to the river tungabhadra which passes through the ancient city. Mango tree was a one of a kind restraunt and definitely an experience to mention! This quaint little open air restraunt is actually parallel to the river on the river bank. The tables are low slabs which are parallel to the river . There are no chairs. One has to sit, stretch your legs through the table as we did on the floor, the table being just a feet above it. Food nice and hot.. and had great cold coffee :) We relaxed a bit there, it was just what the doctor had ordered after a heavy sight seeing session :)

Last Bit...

The last part of was the Vittala temple. Outside the Vittala temple, were vast rows of rocks which during those time was a huge horse bazar where horses were bought and sold.

Vittala temple was a marvel, with a mighty chariot and tulsi pot at its entrance, intricately carved. Then was the Rangshala, or the first part of the temple, which has musical pillars. This was closed when we visited, but each of the pillars produce a musical note when struck.

Within the temple complex were marriage halls. The entire place was oozing with the creativity and talent of the craftsmen who created it. A small sculptuer would have many interpreations. There werent just pieces of rocks, they were symbols through which people of those times still communicate and guide us.

We saw a few more ruins adjacent to the temple. It was almost 6 and our day was approaching a warm, tiring but a insightful end .

We left overwhelmed with our past glory, only to be proud to see that some of it still remain. The tungabahdra dam, a must see for all Hospet visitors is one of the biggest dams in India and has a huge reservoir. There was a pretty display of musical and colured fountains in the evening.

With that, was the end of day one of our marvelous day at Hampi.

Quick Tips -
Weather - We visited in September, the place looked quite fresh, clean and green after the monsoons. The weather wasnt too pleasant but was bearable
Food - There is a small market close to Virupaksha Temple where u can buy some stuff to munch. Lunch at Mango tree
Nature's call - Hmm.. there is one at the restaurant Mango Tree which we visited for lunch
Place to stay - Hotel Malligi