This Prism !: February 2011

WALKING THROUGH THE RICH HERITAGE OF A RICH EMPIRE's CAPITAL !

My daughter-in-law wanted me to share a few 'general' photos of Hampi with her. I thought of picking up a few photos from Ruby's and my respective albums and write out a blog sans Siva iconography.

We reached Hospet - nearest railway station of Hampi - from SriKakulam by Amaravati Express. The train proceeds to Goa. Therefore, seats are in demand and a very early reservation is prudent. Autorickshaws work in cartel @ Hampi and Hospet - therefore charges are unreasonable. We found an auto-rickshaw driver quite reasonable and we utilised his services during our stay at Hampi and later when we returned from Badami. His mobile no is 090 350 96672.

Rudresh poses before a Kannada Film's poster

I clicked on our way to Hampi from Hospet.

We were put up @ Hotel Bhuvaneswari , located at Kamalpura, a rather thinly populated area 4 km away from Virupaksha temple. This hotel has an excellent semi-open dining room. We loved the dining room. A cat will give company, specially when you devour an omlette .

This hotel is very popular among tourists from abroad. Get your reservation done @ 08394 241574/241474 or Mr Deshmukh, hotel's Manager @ 089 706 50025. Take advices of Mr Deshmukh regarding the architecture around Hospet and he has many suggestions to offer. It is he who suggested the temples of Lakundi to us - we loved the 6 temples of this village which lie on the route to Badami from Hospet vis Gadak.

A view of the Dining Room of Hotel Bhubaneswari.It opens on a nice lawn in its east side.

Mosquito control during evening is commendable.

One may move around in hired cars,autorickshaws or 2-wheelers.We took a conducted tour on the 1st day and hired Rudresh on the 2nd day. Seeing Pampa Sarovar was not in our agenda. We instead spent time in a relatively unknown Vishnu temple, now getting reconstructed, on Hospet-Hampi Road.On this road, lies an old chariot in excellent condition, painted in black, with interesting statuettes carved on it. More on these two subjects later.

Hampi caters to various types of travelers. If one loves history, one can move around the this once-very-rich city's reconstructed temples and shopping areas and palaces , marveling at the grandeur of Vijayanagar empire's capital . For lovers of nature, Hampi offers a wonderful topography, with its huge boulders strewn around , wonderful sunrise and sunset points, L-shaped river-bend to boat around. For the religious, Hampi has Virupaksha temple, Hazara Rama temple, bhajan at Malyabanta Raghunatha temple and other spots connected with Ramayana's KishkindaKando.The best way to savour Hampi is to go prepared with a bit of homework and then enjoy the oeuvre. The regret we have is : the famous 'Sangeet Hall of Vitthala temple has been closed to public to stop vandalism causing deterioration of the 'musical' pillars !

I end with a few photographs from our HDD :

First Gopuram of Virupaksha temple. Closer view shows numerous

deities on the alcoves at various levels.

Second Gopuram was constructed by KishnaDebaraya II.

At the distance, we see the 'sikhara' of the main temple.

Uma-Maheswara relief on the 'Garbha griha' of the temple.

Lovely fresco on the ceiling of the 'Mandapa'. Here we see Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswara.

On the second day of our stay, we went to the riverside.One can enjoy boat ride paying an exorbitant price.One hour's boating for two comes at Rs 1000/- !! One can compare this with the auto-rickshaw fare we were paying for the day's ride - Rs 500/-. We decided to skip the same . The scenery is beautiful though the sun was scorching.

We loved the rock formations !

I liked the the work on the entrance of Krsna temple very much - our friend Mr DJ Ray brought my attention to these details.The photo here does not offer the view of RH part of the Gopuram - the view of the roof of the large 'Mandapa' blocks the way. Now, wait for the future postings.

KrishnaDebaraya II leading his army .

Those who are interested in details of the panel may please write to me.

Before we come to the sunset point, let us have a look at the Vitthala temple complex - better description of the wonders of this complex would need at least 50 photographs. One regret we have is that the 'Sangeet Mandapa' remained out-of-bounds ! The few photographs I could take were by standing on my toes!