Hampi – The lost but grand glory of the empire

When I started this blog site almost 5 years back, My idea was to write about all the topics I like, travel, books, movies, cricket, politics, and other things. But now when I go back and start looking into my archive of the last year, it looks like more travelogue rather than a blog. Anyways I will try to write about other things in upcoming blogs but this time again you have to bear with me for another travelogue.

Last week you're truly visited heritage sites, Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal. Arun, Vijay and Rajesh Bhai were also part of this trip.

Hampi – Hampi is around 300 km from Bangalore, situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. Located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. The ruins are UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi.

I came to know there are about 350 temples in that city of 33sq km, and most of them are totally destroyed and have no idols within them. We saw the various huge monolithic Ganesha first, which was Khandit and hence were no longer worshipped, but the carvings on the pillars are worth admiring.

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We also saw other ruins, temple, they make you wonder how artists can weave such magic onto the stone and make it speak like a storyteller. Each stone has a story to tell in the form of the royal living of that era, how people hunt, how they play the games, dance. Their lifestyle of epics of Hindu mythology, they can be found all over the Hampi town.

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The road marking is very well done and a person new to the place can easily traverse his/her path. I noticed most of the tourists were foreigners and using the auto riksa or cycle to explore the town.

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I liked one monument called the “Mahanavami Dibba” which The tallest structure in the royal enclosure. This impressive structure is made of granite huge blocks. I really wonder how they put those real big stones on the top. Have to agree that our ancestors were really smart.

The Emperor watched the war games, sports, shows of the royal animals, musical performances etc.the view of the ruins of the structures from the Mahanavami Dibba is an amazing sight.

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Queens Bath is another monument we visited. The whole building is made with a veranda around facing a big open pond in the middle. Projecting into the pond are many balconies. The whole pool is open to the sky. This brick-lined pool is now empty. But it’s believed once fragrant flowers and perfumed water filled this bathing pool.

I felt bad when I saw the wall over there. Though it was ruined writing names and unnecessary drawing, love messages is not acceptable. I don’t know what UNESCO or Archaeology of India does. They should place some security guards over there that can stop people from writing their names on the wall or destroying such beautiful monuments.  People should realize that these monuments are part of their culture.

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If I am asked to describe Hampi in a sentence I would call it a Photographer’s Delight. But again this town is very large and so many monuments are there, you need to have patience and good 3-4 days, to see every monument and take good photos. Our plan was not that, we just wanted to visit Hampi and cover as many as monuments we can within one day.

Every stone, Every Boulder, Every Structure, Every Pillar, Every path, Every monument speak the same language, the lost but grand glory of the empire. If you like history then you would fall in love with Hampi. A must visit place but avoid traveling during summer. Will try to cover Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal in next blogpost

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