"Hampi"ness
Hampi...
Where do I start from?
3 days ago I only knew that Hampi which is in present "Vijayanagara" district is something which has wide variety of architectures , constructions and was one of the rich cities in Indian History.
Prior to this while reading a book called "Tejo-Tungabhadra" I had some small imagination of how the city might have been and this also gave me a little more trigger to my dream of visiting Hampi.
And then, it was there...in front of my eyes...the stories of how a vast amount of architectures were demolished by Bahamanis , the stories of richness , the stories of culture and heritage, the beauty of Indian architects...Each pillar had a story to tell.
Each place was clearly shouting aloud its history.
No, Hampi/Vijayanagara is not only about Krishnadevaraya... It's from Vidyaranya who laid a foundation to such a dream, it's from Harihara and Bukka who made the dream into reality.
Here's to Hampiness....
Hampi was originally known as Pampa (denoting lord Shiva as Pampapathi) and prior to that Kishkindha(from the times of Ramayana).
It was an auspicious day of Ganesha Chaturthi which was also our first day of Hampi exploration.
After prayers to the lord, we left for Hampi which is 11km from Hospete.
The first place we reached was where we saw "Badavi Linga" and "Ugra Narasimha"(originally Lakshmi Narasimha) statues.
So, the Narasimha statue is destroyed at its chest and hands where it's believed that Lakshmi was residing.
It's written in a scripture which is near to the statue that it's actually Lakshmi Narasimha but because now the Lakshmi statue is destroyed and the statue looks wild it's named as Ugra Narasimha over the years.
The belt is a recent construction by Archeology department to provide strength to the statue.
Beside to this is Badavi Linga, a beautiful Shivalinga. Every morning at around 6.30 this gets the worship.
It's not wrong to assume that to give equal respect to both Vaishnavas and Shaivas these were constructed.
A short walk from here will take us to Krishna Temple unfortunately which doesn't have any diety currently in it. The main idol is now at the museum of Chennai because of the damages it had undergone.
What's interesting is you can observe in Hampi, that all the constructions have a pattern where Stones were laid as foundation/base first and the rest of it were constructed by wood/bricks.
These were burnt by Bahamanis because of which now all you get to see is the base which is of stones and some burnt/destroyed remains of these buildings.
You can see the connection to water sources were given by having pipe like constructions in stones.
If you are here by 11.30-12, by now, you'll start to feel the heat of Sun 🌞 so be prepared to get tanned. Also, the distance between these places is walkable yet you feel slightly tired at this point.
Hazara rama temple is also around here which is having entire Ramayana theme carved in it!
It's said that Queen's after bath were visiting this temple and since this is the only temple inside the palace area.
Near to this is, Elephant stable where you can take a while to relax and sit back watching a majestic stables!
And finally you can see Lotus Mahal/kamala mahal which is a mixture of Indo-Islamic style of Architecture.
This is one of the few architectures which is not damaged.
Besides this, you can see lots and lots of remains and buildings like Queen's bath, watch towers etc.
This was the lunch time and we were almost exhausted due to heat.
Lunch was at Mango Tree restaurant which is just beside Virupaksha Temple, our next destination!
Mango tree is considered as one of the best cafe/restaurant in Hampi. Food was authentic and delicious! Give it a try next time when you are in Hampi...😌
(This isn't a promoted statement!)
The final destination for the day was very beautiful and famous Virupaksha Temple.
Its vast and is dedicated to Pampa Pathi/Lord Shiva.
Inside of it is big and has stage where the dance used to be, conference halls, hundreds of pillars...!
This is also one among two temples in Karnataka where we have "Bhuvaneshwari" statue that was constructed in 13th century. (Watching this after hearing her name in all Kannada movies is a whole different feel!)
The temple elephant "Laxmi" is the cutest and grabs all the attention by default. You want her blessings? Get yourself ready with Rs.10😉
After this, we had a short walk to reach Kadle kaalu Ganesha and Sasive kaalu Ganesha. The names are because of the size difference both statues has. Well Kadle kaalu Ganesha is a 100 times bigger than Kadle kaalu😁!!!A huge one.
It started to drizzle by the time we reached here.
As a perfect closure for the day, we went to the sunset point where we had very beautiful two storeyed Mantapa.
We had one perfect view of Hampi, that is covered with rain and sunsetThis was an almost end to the Hampi diaries. In fact, you can spend 3 days to 3 weeks exploring this. If you are someone who loves to dig deep into the history and archaeology then 3 days will not be enough for you to actually get into Hampi.
#Hampiness
Where do I start from?
3 days ago I only knew that Hampi which is in present "Vijayanagara" district is something which has wide variety of architectures , constructions and was one of the rich cities in Indian History.
Prior to this while reading a book called "Tejo-Tungabhadra" I had some small imagination of how the city might have been and this also gave me a little more trigger to my dream of visiting Hampi.
And then, it was there...in front of my eyes...the stories of how a vast amount of architectures were demolished by Bahamanis , the stories of richness , the stories of culture and heritage, the beauty of Indian architects...Each pillar had a story to tell.
Each place was clearly shouting aloud its history.
No, Hampi/Vijayanagara is not only about Krishnadevaraya... It's from Vidyaranya who laid a foundation to such a dream, it's from Harihara and Bukka who made the dream into reality.
Here's to Hampiness....
Hampi was originally known as Pampa (denoting lord Shiva as Pampapathi) and prior to that Kishkindha(from the times of Ramayana).
It was an auspicious day of Ganesha Chaturthi which was also our first day of Hampi exploration.
After prayers to the lord, we left for Hampi which is 11km from Hospete.
The first place we reached was where we saw "Badavi Linga" and "Ugra Narasimha"(originally Lakshmi Narasimha) statues.
So, the Narasimha statue is destroyed at its chest and hands where it's believed that Lakshmi was residing.
It's written in a scripture which is near to the statue that it's actually Lakshmi Narasimha but because now the Lakshmi statue is destroyed and the statue looks wild it's named as Ugra Narasimha over the years.
The belt is a recent construction by Archeology department to provide strength to the statue.
Beside to this is Badavi Linga, a beautiful Shivalinga. Every morning at around 6.30 this gets the worship.
It's not wrong to assume that to give equal respect to both Vaishnavas and Shaivas these were constructed.
A short walk from here will take us to Krishna Temple unfortunately which doesn't have any diety currently in it. The main idol is now at the museum of Chennai because of the damages it had undergone.
What's interesting is you can observe in Hampi, that all the constructions have a pattern where Stones were laid as foundation/base first and the rest of it were constructed by wood/bricks.
These were burnt by Bahamanis because of which now all you get to see is the base which is of stones and some burnt/destroyed remains of these buildings.
Front of this lies the Krishna Bazaar where it's said to have the place to sell Pulses and grains during Vijayanagara dynasty.
What can be more beautiful than Blue sky with the texture of clouds and clear water amidst which lies the architectural beauty surrounded by rocks!
It was around 3 pm this time and we wanted to have lunch. Now, you get many options for food in Hampi. N number of resorts , restaurants will be available to welcome you with whichever type of food you like.
If you are someone who wants to chill out with party vibes around or willing to have a camp fire night then the resorts/guest house that were part of Hippie Island is the best option! There are many of these.
(Hippie Island was closed when we visited Hampi and the restaurants there were relocated in and around Sanapura)
We had our lunch at Hampi Nature cottage which is a Guest House & Restaurant in Sanapur Village.
This is a little distance away from Hampi but you can rent an auto/cycle/bike and visit them.
From here we left to Anjanadri Hills.
The places in Hampi closes by 6pm so make sure to have a check in done at the right time😉
Anjanadri...as the name depicts is the place where Anjanadevi resided. She is the mother of Lord Hanuman and it's believed Lord Hanuman have took his birth here.
It's a climb of ~500 easy steps.
Top of the hill is where you can see how beautiful entire Hampi is.
It's all about mountains, hills made of pieces of rocks and the beautiful Tungabhadra river. Hampi was considered as secure city because of which it was developed and made as capital by Vijayanagara empire. No wonder about this because there are seven Hills that surrounds the city, massive river that's flowing across and huge rocky hills that are said to have formed during volcanic eruption ages ago!
It's also a perfect sunset point. (Unfortunately we missed it because of the climate which was cloudy🌥️)
We got down by 6.30 and ended the day.
Next day, the Hampi Darshana continued... Started with the very famous Vijaya Vittala temple, which also has exceptionally wonderful Stone Chariot.
It might be an amazing fact or hard to imagine to know that this Stone Chariot used to have a revolution around the temple. The stone made wheels of this which was once rotating, the complete carving of stone chariot is nothing less than any other architectural wonder.
Now, the temple has an unmatched craftsmanship. Literally, each pillar has a story to tell!
From Dashavataras to many stories of Vishnu, this also shows how the culture of Vijayanagara dynasty was during 15th century.
The temple has small pillar kind of structures which is also called as "Musical pillars". It's said that one knock to this pillar gave out the sound that was reaching A km distance!!! It's not allowed now to make any sound because of the restrictions in order to prevent the pillars from damage.
It was around 3 pm this time and we wanted to have lunch. Now, you get many options for food in Hampi. N number of resorts , restaurants will be available to welcome you with whichever type of food you like.
If you are someone who wants to chill out with party vibes around or willing to have a camp fire night then the resorts/guest house that were part of Hippie Island is the best option! There are many of these.
(Hippie Island was closed when we visited Hampi and the restaurants there were relocated in and around Sanapura)
We had our lunch at Hampi Nature cottage which is a Guest House & Restaurant in Sanapur Village.
This is a little distance away from Hampi but you can rent an auto/cycle/bike and visit them.
From here we left to Anjanadri Hills.
The places in Hampi closes by 6pm so make sure to have a check in done at the right time😉
Anjanadri...as the name depicts is the place where Anjanadevi resided. She is the mother of Lord Hanuman and it's believed Lord Hanuman have took his birth here.
It's a climb of ~500 easy steps.
Top of the hill is where you can see how beautiful entire Hampi is.
It's all about mountains, hills made of pieces of rocks and the beautiful Tungabhadra river. Hampi was considered as secure city because of which it was developed and made as capital by Vijayanagara empire. No wonder about this because there are seven Hills that surrounds the city, massive river that's flowing across and huge rocky hills that are said to have formed during volcanic eruption ages ago!
It's also a perfect sunset point. (Unfortunately we missed it because of the climate which was cloudy🌥️)
We got down by 6.30 and ended the day.
Next day, the Hampi Darshana continued... Started with the very famous Vijaya Vittala temple, which also has exceptionally wonderful Stone Chariot.
It might be an amazing fact or hard to imagine to know that this Stone Chariot used to have a revolution around the temple. The stone made wheels of this which was once rotating, the complete carving of stone chariot is nothing less than any other architectural wonder.
Now, the temple has an unmatched craftsmanship. Literally, each pillar has a story to tell!
From Dashavataras to many stories of Vishnu, this also shows how the culture of Vijayanagara dynasty was during 15th century.
The temple has small pillar kind of structures which is also called as "Musical pillars". It's said that one knock to this pillar gave out the sound that was reaching A km distance!!! It's not allowed now to make any sound because of the restrictions in order to prevent the pillars from damage.
You can also find lot of scriptures around the area which mostly are in Telugu/Kannada. These are the times when Guide is useful..to understand how many scriptures were discovered, how much of treasure is found and what the story of each place is!
Behind the temple is Tungabhadra river, where you can also find Purandara Dasa mantapa. Water fills up this monument during monsoon.
You'll have Electric vehicle to reach Vijay Vittala temple from around One Km far. You can choose to walk as well. Outside the temple also you can find remains of bazaar where it's said to have the Horses from various countries like Malaysia, China, Persia were being sold. Also in exchange for Indian Spices!
(You can read the book Tejo-Tungabhadra to have an imagination of how much in demand the Indian Spices were during 14-15 century!!!)
Later this, we left for Mahanavami Dibba. As the name suggests this is a huge stage where the Royal Family used to watch the Dasara Procession.
The place around here completely speaks about the royal times of this empire.
The palace remains, the tourist stays, open bathyards(modern swimming pools!).
8 stepped well is another beautiful attraction here.
Behind the temple is Tungabhadra river, where you can also find Purandara Dasa mantapa. Water fills up this monument during monsoon.
You'll have Electric vehicle to reach Vijay Vittala temple from around One Km far. You can choose to walk as well. Outside the temple also you can find remains of bazaar where it's said to have the Horses from various countries like Malaysia, China, Persia were being sold. Also in exchange for Indian Spices!
(You can read the book Tejo-Tungabhadra to have an imagination of how much in demand the Indian Spices were during 14-15 century!!!)
Later this, we left for Mahanavami Dibba. As the name suggests this is a huge stage where the Royal Family used to watch the Dasara Procession.
The place around here completely speaks about the royal times of this empire.
The palace remains, the tourist stays, open bathyards(modern swimming pools!).
8 stepped well is another beautiful attraction here.
You can see the connection to water sources were given by having pipe like constructions in stones.
If you are here by 11.30-12, by now, you'll start to feel the heat of Sun 🌞 so be prepared to get tanned. Also, the distance between these places is walkable yet you feel slightly tired at this point.
Hazara rama temple is also around here which is having entire Ramayana theme carved in it!
It's said that Queen's after bath were visiting this temple and since this is the only temple inside the palace area.
Near to this is, Elephant stable where you can take a while to relax and sit back watching a majestic stables!
And finally you can see Lotus Mahal/kamala mahal which is a mixture of Indo-Islamic style of Architecture.
This is one of the few architectures which is not damaged.
Besides this, you can see lots and lots of remains and buildings like Queen's bath, watch towers etc.
This was the lunch time and we were almost exhausted due to heat.
Lunch was at Mango Tree restaurant which is just beside Virupaksha Temple, our next destination!
Mango tree is considered as one of the best cafe/restaurant in Hampi. Food was authentic and delicious! Give it a try next time when you are in Hampi...😌
(This isn't a promoted statement!)
The final destination for the day was very beautiful and famous Virupaksha Temple.
Its vast and is dedicated to Pampa Pathi/Lord Shiva.
Inside of it is big and has stage where the dance used to be, conference halls, hundreds of pillars...!
This is also one among two temples in Karnataka where we have "Bhuvaneshwari" statue that was constructed in 13th century. (Watching this after hearing her name in all Kannada movies is a whole different feel!)
The temple elephant "Laxmi" is the cutest and grabs all the attention by default. You want her blessings? Get yourself ready with Rs.10😉
After this, we had a short walk to reach Kadle kaalu Ganesha and Sasive kaalu Ganesha. The names are because of the size difference both statues has. Well Kadle kaalu Ganesha is a 100 times bigger than Kadle kaalu😁!!!A huge one.
It started to drizzle by the time we reached here.
As a perfect closure for the day, we went to the sunset point where we had very beautiful two storeyed Mantapa.
We had one perfect view of Hampi, that is covered with rain and sunsetThis was an almost end to the Hampi diaries. In fact, you can spend 3 days to 3 weeks exploring this. If you are someone who loves to dig deep into the history and archaeology then 3 days will not be enough for you to actually get into Hampi.
Every architecture, every pillar in Hampi has a story to tell. It clearly is an indication of how rich our culture is and how grateful we should be!
Other visits around:
1) Jolada raashi gudda : Small hill to climb on the early morning to have fog filled misty view of entire Hospete. From here you can see the Tungabhadra dam.
What's more wonderful is the greenery you see around when all that we hear is it's a dry land with high temperature!
2) Tungabhadra Backwaters:
Nothing but beach vibes🥰 She's magnificant she's peaceful.!
For sure one perfect place for sunset lovers.
1) Jolada raashi gudda : Small hill to climb on the early morning to have fog filled misty view of entire Hospete. From here you can see the Tungabhadra dam.
What's more wonderful is the greenery you see around when all that we hear is it's a dry land with high temperature!
2) Tungabhadra Backwaters:
Nothing but beach vibes🥰 She's magnificant she's peaceful.!
For sure one perfect place for sunset lovers.
And that was a wrap to one of the most blissful trip that stays in heart forever...❤️
#Hampiness
Comments
Post a Comment