Former glorious capital of Vijayanagara with unrivalled sculptures - Group of Monuments at Hampi 241
What and Why
Hampi (Hindi: हम्पी) was the capital of the Vijayanegara Empire (Sanskrit: विजयनगर साम्राज्य) and reached its zenith during the 14th century CE when it was the second largest city in the world, after Beijing (Chinese: 北京). As a result it developed rapidly in terms of culture and religion and was considered the richest and most prosperous city in South Asia. As a result it attracted foreigners, especially from the Middle East, which also led to its eventual downfall, when the a coalition of Muslim sultanates invaded the state during the mid-14th century CE, and left the city in ruins ever since. Ironically the city is chosen at a site where it was considered unconquerable, it is surrounded by rocky ridges and boulders and several rivers run around it serving as a natural defence.
Today what is left was the pillaged citadel that spreads all over 30 km2 and includes forts, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines and various memorial structures. Due to the remote nature of the area, these ruins are preserved surprisingly well and leave us with a visual delight of what used to be one of the most powerful states on Earth.
Toponymy
The name 'Hampi' comes from anglicised name of the town called 'ಹಂಪಿ (Hampe)' in Kannada. This in turn derives from the 'Kshetra (क्षेत्र के)' river that runs through it, meaning a 'pilgrim site' or a 'crossroad'. The river is locally called Pampā (Kannada: ಪಂಪಾ), after the Goddess Pārvatī (Sanskrit: पार्वती) in local language.
See
Hampi is a massive site and can be divided into four main clusters, as shown in the two maps. We started from the village where we arrived and proceeded roughly southwards and then back. There are over 100 monuments scattered around the entire site and it is impossible to list them all. Highly recommend to get a local guide.
Cluster 1 (क्लस्टर 1)
The first monument that we visited was the Sasivelaku Ganesha (शशिवेलकु गणेश). This is a monolithic temple carved out from a single piece of stone. Sasivelaku (शशिवेलकु) means a mustard seed due to its resemblance of the sculpture. In Hindu mythology Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश, Gaṇeśa), the elephant-headed deity, is notorious for his food habit. One day he ate so much of food that his tummy almost bursted. He therefore caught a snake and tied it around his tummy as a belt to save his tummy from bursting, making his body shaped like a mustard seed. Ganesha is the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon, and is revered for wisdom, remover of obstacle and a problem solver.
From there one can go to the market and see the temples from atop the hill. Upon entrance once can observe the delicate interlocking stones that reflects the advanced state of architecture at the time.
The most important showpiece in Cluster 1 is the Virupaksha Temple (विरूपाक्ष मंदिर). The highly revered temple is dedicated to Lord Virupaksha (विरूपाक्ष), a form of Shiva (Sanskrit: शिव, Śiva), one of the Trimūrti (Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति): the holy trinity of Hinduism. The temple is extremely well maintained in spite of the wars in Hampi and remains intact ever since its inception in the 7th century CE.
The tapering structure is made with brick and mortar and was built in the typical Hindu temple style. It is easy to observe that there are many interesting stucco figures around the temple. Many of them are erotic figures which are associated with fertility.
The most striking feature of this court is the central pillared hall known as the Ranga mandapa (Sanskrit: मण्डप, maṇḍapa) added to the temple complex in 1510 CE. Two mythical lion-like creatures, called yali (Kannada: ಯಾಳಿ, yāḻi) forms the balustrade for the entrance to this elevated open pavilion. This hall with five aisles and 38 pillars is used for temple rituals including the marriage ceremonies. The highlights include rows of pillars shaped with yalis standing on another mythical aquatic creatures called makara (Sanskrit: मकर). The makara is the vahana (Sanskrit: वाहन) of Ganga (Sanskrit: गङ्गा, Gaṅgā), the deification of the river Ganges and is the equivalent of Capricorn in western zodiac.
In front of the the temple is Hampi bazaar, which is a basic market on the two sides of the road, which stretches approximately 1 km.
At the far end of the bazaar stands the smaller Gopuram (Sanskrit: गोपुरम्) temple, which is more like a gateway. The main attraction of this temple is the camera obscura image of Virupaksha temple on the wall through a pinhole.
An interesting temple is the Lakshmi (लक्ष्मी, Lakṣmī) Narasimha (Sanskrit: नरसिंह, Narasiṃha) Statue near a big lingam (Sanskrit: लिङ्ग, liṅga), symbolising Shiva. Lakshmi is Vishnu's (विष्णु, Viṣṇu), the second of the Trimūrti, consort, while Naramsimha is the other from of Vishnu.
The lingam.
Cluster 4 (क्लस्टर 4)
Cluster 4 features what is called the royal centre where the king used to stay. It is now mostly ruins of the former Krishnadevaraya (कृष्णदेवराय) palace. One can easily imagine and envision the palace former grandeur by its sheer size and decor.
This is the Queen's bath.
Next to the queen's bath, which is the stepped tank called Pushkarini (पुष्करिणी).
Hampi has developed a very sophisticated hydraulic system to pump water from the river to the city. Observe the massive channels and surrounding aqueducts.
Other monuments include the Hazara (हजारा) temple with extensive friezes containing the Hindu epic Rāmāyana (Sanskrit: रामायणम्).
A very well protected buildings are the Lotus Mahal (कमल महल, Kamal Mahal). This is one of the finest architecture constructed during the Vijayanagara period and is the retreat pavilion for the king.
And the elephant stables, again very well preserved, especially the roof domes.
There is a monolithic pillar called the Ganigitti (गनिगिट्टी) Jain temple, literally meaning oil women temple, with unknown reason. It is dedicated to Tirthankara (तीर्थंकर, Tīrthaṅkara) Kunthunatha (कुन्थुनाथ). In both Hinduism and Jainism, Tirthankara is the spiritual teacher of the dharma (धर्म), the righteous path, and Kunthunatha is the 17th of them.
Over the sanctum is a Dravidian-style, narrowing square, pyramidal tower. The pillar is a lamp-post.
And more massive ruins...
Cluster 2 (क्लस्टर 2)
At cluster 2 stands the king's balance (राजा का संतुलन, rāja ka santulan). The king’s balance was used by the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire on special occasions like the New Year’s Day, coronation ceremony, and the king used to weigh himself with gold, silver, gems, precious stones and jewelleries and donate those things to the Brahmins of the temples as charity. The interesting part is that as such an occasion approached, the royal kitchen would usually prepare all the favourite dishes of the king for him to gain weight intentionally, so that there are more jewelleries to give out.
The epicentre of Hampi attractions ought to be the Vitthala (विट्ठल, Vitthal) Temple.
This is regarded as the apex of Vijayanagara art and power. The temple is obviously dedicated to Vitthala, reincarnation of Vishnu. However the temple was only constructed in the mid-15th century CE and lasted only 11 years before the city was ransacked.
The other very important monument of Hampi is the chariot. This is in fact a shrine built in the form of a temple chariot. An image of Garuda (Sanskrit: गरुड, Garuḍa) was originally enshrined within its sanctum. Garuda, according to the Hindu mythology, is the vahana of Vishnu and thus the Garuda shrine facing the temple’s sanctum is symbolic. Garuda is usually depicted as an eagle-man figure and is part of the Buddhist dharma protection team of deities called Aṣṭasenā (Sanskrit: अष्टसेना). Please read the blog on Bōdh Gayā (बोधगया).
In the pavilion of Vitthala temple, one extremely interesting feature is the musical columns. There are 56 of these monolithic pillars, called svara (Devanagari: स्वर), are known to give our different tones when tapped. These pillars are known to give the four tones, Sa, Ri, Ga and Ma in Hindi tunes, as our guide showed below. It has long been debated if these musical properties are just accidental or engineered intentionally.
Eat and Drink
Mysore pak (मैसूर पाक)
There is a snack in India (भारत: Bhārat) that I never miss whenever I am in India: Mysore pak (मैसूर पाक), which is common in South India. It is essentially a brick made of a hearty amounts of ghee, sugar, flour and cardamom. The origin of this sweet dessert is interesting. The Maharaja (Sanskrit: महाराजा) of Mysore (मैसूर, Mysuru) Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (कृष्णराज वोडेयार चतुर्थ) had quite a sweet tooth and one day when the Maharaja was having his lunch, the chef had forgotten to prepare any dessert. With time running out and no options, the desperate chef began randomly mixed gram flour, ghee and sugar and came up with a soft yellowish goo. This was presented on the royal thali (थाली) as a hot fudge-like sweet. The delighted king was very impressed he asked what the new dessert was called. He said the first thing that came to his mind - the ‘Mysore pak’.
Getting There and Around
This is another trip where the process of going there is equal the fun of visiting the destination itself. Again I was based on my usual sentinel in Bengaluru (बंगलौर) and from there we took a 12-hour sleeper bus-trip, as above along the bumpiest roads though the countryside, almost feeling the bus was about to capsize. We stopped somewhere in the middle for a midnight-pee and then we would reach Hosapete (होसपेट) somewhere the following morning at 9 am. We would need to take an auto-rickshaw to reach Hampi. This trip would take another 1/2 hour. Recall our trip to Pattadakal (पत्तदकल).
Within Hampi, one needs to constantly grab the auto-rickshaw to be ferried around between the clusters and even within them, and it is highly recommended one gets a local guide. The locals there only speak their local language.
Spend two days in Hampi. There is no entry fee to the sites of Hampi, after all it is all over the place.
UNESCO Inscription
The austere, grandiose site of Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces which won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th centuries. Conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565, the city was pillaged over a period of six months before being abandoned.
References
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