And thus starts the story of Hampi – the capital of the grand Vijayanagar empire. Situated among giant boulder strewn hills and criss crossed by the Tungabhadra, the ruins of Hampi today stand as the last testimony to the architecture, history and religion of the great Vijayanagar empire.Another set of folklore associate Hampi with the Ramayana – Kishkinda is potrayed as the region around Hampi. It is here that Ram and Lakshman meet Hanuman in their search for the lost Sita.
A trip to Hampi was recommended by many when I moved to Bangalore. A long weekend on the Gandhi Jayanti and quick planning with 'travelaholic' friends from Mumbai -Rathi and Vinay (who also got my new Canon DSLR..yippee!) was the perfect set up for a journey to Hampi. We started off early Friday morning. The scheduled 8 hour journey by road from Bangalore, however,extended to a painful 10 hours drive thanks to the rains which wrecked havoc and the dismal state of the NH 13 (so much for the tourism infrastructure for a UNESCO world heritage site).
Day1: Vijayanagar architecure- Tungabhadra- Hampi bazaar- food!
Hampi presents a bizarre but brilliant combination of the rocky , peninsular landscape interspersed with man made architecture. We started with the Saraswati temple dedicated to the Goddess Saraswati. The temple is mostly in ruins but the terracota made stucco figures can still be seen. Behind the Saraswati temple, the road leads to the Octagonal Bath – a gigantic bathing area shaped as an octagon. Our next stop was the Virupakhsa temple located in the Hampi bazaar. Dedicated to Lord Shiva , this temple is a crash course in typical Vijayanagar architecture.
For most of the temples , Vijayanagar architecuture is apparently similar to the Cholas for making its towers. The top portion of the tower is made of brick and mortar , the outside of which is packed with terracota images. Usually , a large open hall stands between the tower and the main shrine. Another typical feature of Vijayanagar architecture is the use of Yalis – giant mythical creatures carved on pillars situated around the porch in these open halls.
Behind the Virupaksha temple , flows the Tungabhadra – coloured as red as the laterite soil all over in Hampi. The monsoon lends this river an intimidating fury and force as it rages through the gorge. Southwards from the temple , the path leads to the Hemkut hills scattered with Jain temples and an incredible canvas of rock structures. My personal favourite was the double storeyed temple – a Greek acropolis like double storeyed structure on the rocks. Hemkut hills also provides a panoramic view of Hampi – a perfect place to get sunset shots. As you climb down from the Hemkut hills, you can walk down to see monolithic statues of Lord Ganesha ( Sasvikalu and Dodda Ganesha) and the Ugra Narasimha located a little ahead. Another must see site is the Krishna temple built by Krishnadevaraya to celebrate the conquest of Udaygiri ( present day Orissa).
Our next important agenda of the day was discovering food in Hampi. Most of the eateries are located around the Hampi Bazaar dotted with shops selling clothes, artefacts and antiques. It is interesting to observe the standardisation of the flea market – from Janpath and Sarojini nagar in New Delhi to Hampi Bazaar and Jew town in Kochi, flea market products (be it the colour,the fabric or the style and cuts of the clothes) are now pretty much uniform. A must go eating place is the Mango tree restaurant located on the banks of the Tungabhadra with terraced floor seating facing the river. A giant mango tree stands right in the middle of the restaurant. A great place to relax and chill out with sumptous food – from traditional Thalis to assorted dishes. Another favourite was the Shanthi restaurant – just a small walk away from Virupaksha. An exotic menu serves everything from Israeli to Italian food , a predictable hit with the foreign tourists who flock here everyday.
Day 2: Vittala -Achyuta Raya –attack of the Xenophobic Hampi Buffalo – last glimpses of Hampi
The Vittala temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu is one of the most sprawling temple complexes in Hampi with the iconic stone chariot inside it. The temple built in the 15th century has been enhanced by many kings in successive regimes. Around the temple complex, are the remains of a township called Vittalapura. From the Vittala temple , one can walk to the Achyuta raya temple. The road is interspersed with ruins and runs across the Tungabhadra. Like the Virupaksha , the Achyuta Raya temple also has a bazaar leading to the doorstep of the temple. This street known as the Courtesan's street was once a flourishing centre of trade. From here, a trekking trail leads through the Matunga hill to the Hampi bazaar , and it was here that occured the “landmark” event of the trip.
As we made our way through the boulders , a herd of seemingly harmless buffalo passed by. Vinay decided to crack a joke on the red cap I was wearing which he said would enrage the buffaloes. Very prophetic! A split second later , one of the buffaloes suddenly came charging , but surprisingly at Rathi ( who by the way was wearing a yellow cap, colour blind buffalo maybe!). The brave woman made a kung fu style gesture faced with the buffalo's horns few cms away, I , in my attempt to pass by fell in the bushes on the side , while chivalrous Vinay kept watching on the side (our ex post analysis since he could not provide any feasible explanation to what he was doing at that exact moment). Colour blind-aka-xenophobic buffalo however , simply walked by lazily, after having achieved the desired impact – three stunned travellers , a moderately bruised one (i.e me) and a Nokia phone with a splintered screen ( I now need to check with Nokia if their warranty covers buffalo attacks).
We trekked back to Hampi Bazaar trying to recover from the hilarious incident and keeping our distance away from suspicious looking cattle (including goats). We decided to spend the afternoon at the Mango tree , gorging on food and reading up on Hampi. Post lunch we headed to the Queen's bath and the Zenana enclosure- a blend of Indo Islamic architecture built when the sultanates of the Deccan managed to percolate down south and squashed the Vijaynagar regime thus ending the grand empire.Sunset was spent at the Hemkut hills , where we managed to get some shots of the double storeyed temple . As darkness fell ,we walked back to Hampi bazaar, had a quick dinner and headed back to the hotel.
Early next morning we drove back to Bangalore to resume the humdrum of our daily lives.The ruins of the ancient metropolis lay behind ,where time it seems...has forgotten to move on.
* Excerpt from the book 'A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) - Robert Sewell'