Hampi

In case god gives me the opportunity to reborn. I would love to be born in the era of great king Krishnadevraya who built the mighty Vijayanagara Empire with its capital as Hampi.

The kingdom where the diamonds and rubies were openly sold on the streets, the kingdom which boasts of world's best stone architecture, the kingdom for which Deccan Muslim kings spent 6 months only to destroy, the kingdom that still stands with its beautiful ruins and complete city is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Place in India, where you come to know what ASI (Archaeological survey of India) is and what it does.

If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi a Photographer's delight, an open air museum.

A must visit Place.

You should plan for at least 3-4 days stay at Hampi to visit all important monuments at Hampi. Anything less than 3 days would be a complete waste. It has been said that to visit complete Hampi one requires months, as each and every stone at Hampi is having their unique history.

Once in Hampi, you should have a plan ready with a map in hand. There are three main areas in Hampi that you should discover. Every area requires a day to visit.

1)      Royal Enclosure.

2)      Religious Enclosure.

3)      Hampi Bazaar Area.

You can start from any area without any particular order. We had covered the areas in the order given above.

Day -1 Royal Enclosure-

To start the Royal Enclosure tour, you need to reach the Under Ground Temple .You can reach this temple either by auto or by state transport buses running between Hampi and Hospet. The buses are available at every half an hour and they drop you just at the gate of Under Ground Temple. From here you can complete the enclosure on foot.

Under Ground Temple- The roof of this temple is at the ground level hence the name. You should spend at least 30 Min here. Sanctum sanctorum remains knee deep under water through out the year. There are some broken Nandi idols and a shiv-linga inside the temple. The Kalyan mandapam have some nice carvings. The temple complex has nice and well maintained lawn.

Just 2 min walk to the right from here; you can see a Muslim style watch tower. This is Mohemmadan watch tower. In the same complex you can see Mint, Band Tower and remains of a Mosque.This complex is known as Dannayaka’s enclosure means the complex of commander in chief of Army.

Just in front of this complex, you can see a flight of steps. These 20 steps will take you to a platform. From this platform you can watch the remains of “Noblemen’s Quarter’s” and a wonderful view of surroundings. The important point to see from here is a big rock that was cut by putting small wooden blocks in between and then pouring of water for days. The wooden blocks would swell by continuous seepage of water and the rock part ways. This was the traditional method used by artisans at Hampi to cut the mammoth rocks and give them a meaningful shape.

Just ahead of this are remnants of recently excavated “King Harihara’s Palace”.After King Harihara’s palace you can find a T point with a mammoth temple complex at your right and a way that is going towards Left. The Temple at right is Hazara Rama Temple but you need to go towards left first to cover the “Zenana Enclosure”.

Zenana Enclosure:  This is a fortified complex and you have to buy an Rs.10 ticket from ASI to visit this complex. This is a must visit place at Hampi.

After entering the complex, at your left you can see a museum with some good excavated figurines majority of them are of Jain Tirthankara’s.

The other important places inside the enclosure are Watch Tower’s, basement of Queen’s Palace and a very beautiful Lotus Mahal.

Lotus Mahal is a two storied structure made of Mortar to keep it cool in the summer months. It could have been a rest house for queens. You can see the facility for hanging curtains at the windows. It is also known as Chitrangini Mahal.

Just behind the Lotus Mahal, you can see a small gate. This gate will take you to the Elephant Stable. It was meant for the Royal Elephants. Total 11 interconnected stables are here with a small gate at back to be used by Mahouts. The stable at centre is most ornate and known to host the King’s Main Elephant.

You can see a big building just besides these stable. This is Guard’s Quarters now a museum. You should spend some time here in the lawns of elephant stable and have the cheapest cool coconut water available.

From here you have to take the route that is going behind the Elephant stables. This path takes you to the series of Jain Temples with most important one is Lord Parshwanath Temple. All are beautiful but in ruined state. The important point to note here is the presence of series of Jain temples just behind the queen’s palace/Zenana enclosure & royal enclosure signifies that most of the King’s and Queen’s of Vijaynagara empire were staunch Jains. The Elephant stable could be used to park the elephant’s of King’s visiting the temples. After the Jain Temples just 300 meters ahead you can see  a grand gate possibly the main entrance for the Jain temples. This gate is known as “Shringarit Buland Darwaza”. You can also see the beautiful boulders spread all over from here. From here you need to come back to elephant stable and take a left towards “Ranga Mandir”.

Ranga Mandir is a beautiful temple restored by ASI. The main attraction here is a huge slab with Hanuman carved on it. The dagger at hanuman’s waist is beautifully ornamented. After visiting this temple you need to come back at same T Point near to hazara rama temple. Zenana enclosure requires a good two hours to cover. Keep the tickets with you, as the same can be used at Kamalapura Museum later in the day.

Hazara Rama Temple: This is a royal temple situated between the King’s and Queen’s Palaces. This is a big temple with friezes depicting the story of Ramayana on the temple walls. If possible, hire a guide here for Rs.100.This temple was built by King Krishnadevaraya in year 1513. This is a picturesque temple; spend some time here to take the photographs of each and every wall. There is a beautiful Jain idol engraved on the outer wall of this temple at backside. The inner sanctum sanctorum has the ornate pillars built by granite. Just in front of this temple lie “Pan-Supari Bazaar” and some granaries.

Ironically Pan-Supari Bazaar was used for the trade of Diamonds and not for betel nuts as the name suggests.

Just at the right of hazara rama temple, you can see one more fortified enclosure this is King’s Palace.

King’s Palace:  This is the largest enclosure with two major platform structures. Inside the King’s enclosure just after entering you can see the King’s Audience hall .It is used by the king to listen the grievances of general public. There is a large stone trough just in front of this audience hall. This Trough was used by the horses to drink water. At a time 40 horses could drink the water. This audience hall was must be a two storied structure made of wood as the steps just behind the hall suggests. Under ground Chamber, rectangular blocks, basement of King’s palace, Stepped tank and Mahanavami Dibba are the other important places to see inside this enclosure. The important one are –

Stepped tank/ Pushkarni: This is a stepped water tank excavated in 1980.It was built by rectangular granite slabs and there are carvings on each and every slab. It is not allowed to step onto these slabs. There is a proper water channel system visible in this area.

MahaNavami Dibba: This is a mega platform with 80 sq. feet in area and 22 feet in height. It was built by Krishadevraya in memory of his win over Orissa. This platform was used by the king to view the Mahanavmi and Dusshera processions. The walls of this platform host the beautifully carved figures of dancers, soldiers and depiction of various aspects of life of Hampi. You can also see the procession of elephants, Holi festival and foreigners bowing to the king carved on the platform walls.

To be continued……………….