“Travel – And at the end of the day , your feet should be dirty , your hair messy and your eyes sparkling”
Hampi in Karnataka is known as the Vijayanagar kingdom in earlier days. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in India listed under the UNESCO world heritage site. Hampi is a mixture of ancient ruins, beautiful landscapes, holiest temples, retained culture, and rich history. Hampi is divided into two parts, Hampi side and Hippie side(another side of the river Tungabadra). It will take 3 days to visit all the places.
Most of the places in Hampi can be reached by walking. Cycles and Bikes are available for rent as well. All the places to visit in Hampi side comes under four complexes
1. Vittala Temple Complex
Vittala Temple(Stone Chariot and Musical Pillars), Old Shiva Temple, Pushkarini, Kudre Kombe, Vittala bazaar, Purandhara Mandapa, Kings Balance, Inscribed Vishnu Temple, Museum in kamalapur
2. Virupaksha Temple Complex
Virupaksha Temple, Virupaksha Temple Bazaar, Monolithic Bull, Matanga Hill (Needs a half an hour, medium difficulty Hike – For sunrise or Sunset), Achutarya temple, Achutarya Bazaar, and temple tank, Yanthrotaraga Hanuman Temple, Kothanda Rama temple, Archaeology museum (In front of monolithic bull), Hemakuta Group of temples[ Sasivekalu & Kadalekalu Ganesha, Krishna Temple – Bazaar and Pushkarini], Ugra Narasimha, Badavalinga, Underground Shiva temple.
Three-kilometer walk from the Vittala temple leads to Virupaksha temple.
3. Zenana Enclosure
Lotus Mahal, Queens Bath, Elephant’s stable, Ranga Temple
4. Royal Enclosure
Mahanavami Dibba, underground secret chamber, stepped tank, Hazara Rama Temple.
Apart from this, there are few Gates, Malyavantha temple Ganagitti Jain Temple can also be visited on the Hampi side.
Places to visit in Anegundi / Hippie side
The northern side of Hampi, Another side of the Tungabhadra river is called the hippie side, because you can see the number of foreigners, outnumber the locals over there. This place contains a lot of holy temples. This is also called as Kishkintha and many important incidents of Mahabharata is said to have happened here.
Anjanadri hill(Birthplace of Hanuman), Kothanda Raman temple (where Sukreevan showed jewels to Ram), Nava Brindhavana, Raghavendra mutt, Pampasarovar (Dakshina Kasi), Durga Hill, Tara Parvatham, Chintamani (Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Mahishasuramardhini, Kasi Viswanathar – this is where Ram killed Vaali)
Most of the temples in Hampi have only the ruins, they do not have idols inside, also the roof and the gopuras are greatly damaged.The reason being the basement and the pillars are made of stone, whereas the roof and the gopuras are made with Bricks.
This made me astonish about, lifting an 80-ton granite rock above 216 feet gopuram of Tanjore Big Temple.
Above mentioned are the places to visit in Hampi. Keep reading only if you are interested to know about the places in detail.
Vijayanagara Empire
Hampi was ruled by Chalukyas of Badami (5-6th Centuries AD), The Rashtrakutas (7-8th Century AD) , The Chalukyas of Kalyana(9-11th Century), The Hoysalas(11 – 13th Century), Yadavas of Devagiri(13th Century)
By the end of the 13th Century, the Mughals invaded south India. During that time the invention of the Vijayanagara empire by Harihara and Bukka (Guided by sage Vidyaranya) between 1336AD and 1344AD seemed to be promising. Their boundary lied in between Krishna river in the North, Indian Ocean in the south, eastern and western coasts.
Rulers belonging to Sangama, Saluva, and Thuluva dynasty ruled the Vijayanagar dynasty for more than 2.5 centuries until the dramatic destruction on 1565 AD. The battle at Rakkasa Tangadi sadly welcomed the disaster and destruction to the entire city. After which it never regained its past Glory.
Harihara II, Praudha Devaraya, KrisnhaDevaraya, and Achyutha Devaraya are the noticeable rulers of the dynasty.
Virupaksha Temple
This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, consort of the local goddess Pampa. This is one of the lively temples in Hampi, functioning uninterruptedly from the 7th century. This even stood beyond the destruction of Hampi happened in the 16th century.
Initially, this temple is constructed as a small shrine, later converted into a huge complex during the Vijayanagar empire. This is constructed in Dravidian style Architecture. King Krishnadeva Raya, has contributed a lot to this temple and a stone slab located in the hall, describes his offerings. The inscriptions in this temple are dated back to the 9th Century, whereas the ceiling’s paintings and some of the towers are developed during the early 19th century.
Achyutaraya Temple
This temple is located in the foothills of Matanga hill. This large temple complex is called as Thiruvengalanatha as per the inscriptions. This temple has a grandeur bazaar, built by Thirumala Raja, under the Vijayanagar king Achyutaraya in the year 1534 AD.
To reach there, you need to take the flight of steps near Monolithic bull and get down the short hill.
In front of the north-facing Gopura, there is a vast bazaar and temple tank
At the end of the Bazaar, towards the left, the Kodanda Raman temple and Yanthrotharaga temple are situated.
Yanthrotharaga Hanuman temple is considered a very holy place to visit. It is said that saint VyasaRaja, Rajaguru of Krishnadevaraya, was doing penance in the banks of the Tungabhadra river. He drew Hanuman in rock using charcoal and ever time the Hanuman became lifelike and ran away. This happened twelve times and for the thirteenth time, he put a hexagonal structure (double triangle star) around the Hanuman and it stayed there forever. This is the first installed Hanuman, out of 732 Hanuman installed by Vyasa Tirtha.
The twelve monkeys holding the tails depict the ones which ran away. The temple towards the left in the second picture is Kodanda Raman temple, where Lord Ram met Hanuman for the first time.
A Two-kilometer walk from here will lead to Purandhara Mandapa, near Vittala Complex.
Hemakuta group of temples
This hill is located, right of the Virupaksha temple. The characteristic of these temples is three shrines, facing east, west and north sharing a common Mantapa. There is a shrine which is still worshiped, called as Prasanna Virupaksha or Moola Virupaksha. Behind this, there is a small chamber containing a 3.6 feet high Hanuman image called as Prasanna Anjaneya. The rocks here contain many rock-cut Lingas. There are 33 shrines in total. Other notable deities here are Sasivekalu Ganesha and Kadalekalu Ganesha. These are giant monolithic sculptures that are 4.5 meters tall. These mandapas gets closed at 5PM, so we could only see it from outside.
Krishna Temple
This large and ornate temple, was consecrated with an icon in Balakrishna brought from Orissa , by krishnadevaraya. The pillars of the maha mandapa sculpted with incarnations of Vishnu.The main entrance has a bazaar extended to half kilometer and a sacred tank behind the bazaar.
Vittala Temple
This is a large temple complex and most visited site in Hampi. The stone chariot and the musical pillared mandapa are the notable structures here.
This temple is dedicated to lord Vittala, the incarnation of Vishnu.Currently none of the idols are present inside the temple complex.
The entrance of the temple has Gajjala Mandapa, presently battery cars are operated ,which drops in front of the temple.On the way we can see KudreKomba mandapa, Pushkarini,bazaar street where the horses from all over the world were traded.
Right to the entrance there is another temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, called Old Shiva temple.
Vittala temple is also called as Vijaya Vittala Temple and is constructed during the Krishnadevaraya’s period.Most of the temples in Hampi have kitchen and dining area.And the mandapas here have proper rain water outlet system, which enables the water to flow without affecting the sculptures.Also another notable about the mandapas, is that they have hooks in the ceiling which is used for flower decorations.
The stone chariot here is also a shrine, dedicated to Garuda , Vishnu’s Vahana. Initially the wheels roll, enabling it to move.Now the government cemented it to the ground to avoid damage.This structure can be found printed in a 50 Rs Indian note.
The musical pillared mandapa, called as SAREGAMA pillars is another unique structure here.It contains 56 musical pillars.There are main pillars , made of single stone, surrounded by 7 musical pillars, each emitting 7 different musical notes.The main pillars are designed like musical instruments and vary in sound depending upon percussion, string or wind instrument.The roof is currently damaged, but it is said that the queens dance inside the mandapa and the musical pillars surrounding this mandapa will be played and the roof is designed in such a way that the music played here can be heard for about 1.5 kilometers around.
Behind vittala temple is the Purandhara mandapa. Purandharadasa is considered to be a Pitamaha of Carnatic Music(Grandfather of classical music).He is a disciple of Saint VyasaRaja and also respected as a incarnation of sage Naratha. He spend his last years in this temple singing the Vittala Keerthanas / Bhajans. Hence a dedicated mandapa for him in the banks of river Tungabatra. The place is very calm and peaceful.
A three kilometer walk from here will lead to Virupaksha temple.
Museum in Kamalapur
We went to the museum , before visiting any other place in Hampi and that is the best thing to do.It has four Gallaries. First one displays Shaiva deities, Second one Vaishnava Deities, Third one displays the antiques like Arms, armory , pottery , copper plate grants etc,.The coin collection belonging to Vijayanagar empire, in various denominations made of copper and gold is noteworthy.The inscriptions of deities in the coins are outstanding.
Fourth Gallery contains miniature model of Hampi .Photographs of Royal Enclosure before and after excavations are must see.Outside this there is a big scaled model of entire Hampi which gives you a vast understanding of the places and the order of visiting them.
Zenena Enclosure
The structures present inside Zenena Enclosure constructed in Indo- Islamic style and looks beautiful.This contains Queens palace,Treasuries watch towers, Elephant stables, Workers quarters etc,.
Royal Enclosure
The structures here are completely excavated in recent times.The Dasara processions happening in Mysore in present times , initially happened in Hampi.
Mahanavami Dibba is a raised platform where the King sits and watches Dasara performances.
Aqueduct is the network of stone pipes which connect over 20 wells and ponds.Stepped Tank is a well maintained structure.It also contains Durbar hall which is a 100 pillared mandapa and Secret chamber.
Hazara Rama Temple
Personally , I liked this temple better than all other temples in Hampi. This temple dedicated to lord Rama and sequences of Ramayana are depicted as Bas relief in this temple complex.It is considered as the most extensive relics from all over India.
Malyavantha Temple
This temple is located in the Malyavantha Hill.It is believed,Lord Rama and lakshmana spent rainy days here while they were in search of Sita. There are lot of shivalingas , said to be installed by Ram.It is the only temple in the world where Rama Sita lakshmana seen in the seating position.
Anjanadri Hill
This is the Birth place of Hanuman. There are 575 steps to reach the top of the hill.It is very famous for sunrise and sunsets.This trek is very easy compared to Matanga hill trek.
Nava Brindhavana
This is one of the holiest place in Anegundi. This is where Prahaladha said to have done Penance.And the tomb of Nine holy Madhva saints – Padmanabha Tirta(Disciple of Madhvacharya),Kavindra Tirta, Vageesha Tirta,Vyasaraja Tirta(RajaGuru of Krishnadevaraya and incarnation of Prahalatha and Guru Raghavendra), Raghuvarya Tirta, Srinivasa Tirta, Rama Tirta, Sudheendra Tirta (Guru of Shree Raghavendra)and Govinda Vadeyaru are present here.
Apart from the tombs , there is a Hanuman temple in front of Vyasaraja tomb.It depicts three forms of Hanuman’s incarnations – Head depicting Hanuman, the shoulders depicting Bheema , and the manuscript in hands depicting Madhvacharya.
Other two temples , one dedicated to Hanuman , other for Renganathar. Goddess Lakshmi is seen in a standing position near Renganathar here.
This place is reachable only via a coracle or a boat during summer season.During Rainy season, the water floods this place and no one can visit.People come here, take bath in Tungabatra ,gets 11 lamps from the Raghavendra mutt in Anegundi and lights them in front of Nava Brindhavana.
Chinthamani
There are three temples here.One for Lakshmi Narasimha, Shiva and Annapoorani. Also there is foot prints , which is said to be the place , where Rama stood and killed Vaali. Shiva is present inside Rudraksha mandapa.
Durga Temple
This temple complex again contains three temples.one for Goddess Durga, other for Sakthi Ganesha and one for Shiva.The Sakthi Ganesha temple has a Saligrama Lingam and behind it is Valli cave , where he killed a Ratchasa. The Navagraha here are big idols and they are seated with their wife.
These places can be visited in 2 Days.If you want to see them leisurely it will take three days.If you get one more day you can visit Pattadakal , Badami and Aihole as well.
The room rent in Hampi International during peak days cost 3500 per night.We stayed in Hotel Thirumala near Hampi International which cost 1200 per night for a family room.Its advised to stay in Hosepete , than in Hampi because the room rents are cheaper here.Also variety of restaurants are present near the bus stand.Food cost here is cheaper compared to other tourist locations.It will take Rs.1000 for the Autos , 1500 for a Cab ,for the entire day trip in Hampi.
Entrance ticket of Rs.40 is need to be purchased which can be used in Museum, Vittala temple and Zenena Enclosure if used on the same day.
Hampi is a must visit place for Architectural and Heritage ruins lovers. But the temples in Tamilnadu are much more marvelous and the sculptures of south Indian temples ,Belur Halebid are kind of more perfect and futuristic, in my personal opinion 🙂
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