Going to Hampi is a dream of every wander lust person.I along with my few friends planned it meticulously a month before and executed it successfully.
Three of us were travelling from Pune and one of our friend was joining us from Hyderabad.We boarded the Bus from Pune to Hospete on 27th December and reached Hospete by 9.00 A.M in the morning.
Year end is a peak season there. We had booked our rooms from OYO in Hospet. The Hotel Owner in Hospet ditched us, he asked us to pay for 5000 INR for the two rooms whereas we had just paid 1700INR booking them online. My friend who had reached two hours early was constantly on the phone talking to the customer care executives, persuading the owner but nobody paid heed to what she had to say. The Hotel Owner was adamant about the price and the customer care executives were helpless. So we chucked the idea of staying there and decided to move to Hampi to find some other option for the stay.
We hired a rickshaw for 300 INR which took us from Hospet to Hampi. These rickshaw guys also have there own connections with the hotel owners. He tried to show us some place of a residential building where the family was staying on the ground floor and we were being provided room on the first floor. The lady and the rickshaw driver tried to persuade us about how there is no place left to stay in Hampi and how we would be stranded in Hampi if we dont take this option. Here I took a stand and asked him to take us to Hampi. At last we found a decent hotel cum motel which rented rooms for the tourists. The name of the village was Kadirampur which is few kilometers away from Hampi. We booked 2 rooms for 2 days for 4000 INR, which costed 500 INR per head.
The first day we decided to go to the Hippie Island which is to the other side of the river Tungabhadra. My friend was interested into Coracle ride. Its the huge cane basket where 3 to 4 people have to sit down and the boatman takes you to the other side. To our disappointment that day due to some reasons the Coracle rides were not there. So we did take the boat ride. The boat has the capacity of around 20 people and they charge 20 INR per head.
Once you cross the river you get to see pretty home stays made up of cane. Clean surroundings, Shops adorned with ornaments stuff and shops who rent out bikes and mopeds. Actually there are 3 to 4 important places on the Hippie Island side. So even though ou might have the energy and thoughts of walking all the way, simply chuk that thought. You need to hire a rickshaw for the whole day or take a bike on rent and roam around as per your wish. We chose the later option, we took two bikes which costed us 1200 INR that means 400 INR per head.
The first thing we did is we travelled to Sanapur lake. A calm pristine lake with clean water just soothes the mind. To our bad luck, the Coracle ride guys were packing their stuff and were about to leave.
Next thing is we rode towards the Anjaneya Parvat. It is believed that the kingdom of Kishkindha, the kingdom of the Vanara king Sugreeva and his brother Vali was situated here. And Lord Hanuman was born on this mountain.
You have to climb 575 steps to reach to the top. Once you reach there you see a 360 degree view of Hampi. A small but beautiful temple where Hanumanji is carved out of the rock fills your eyesight. One of the rock which was used to build the Ram-Setu, a bridge between India is Sri-Lanka is kept inside theis temple. You can see it floating on water. Besides the Hanumanji Idol there is a Ram Panchayatan- A Collection of Idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanumanji. If you are a religious person you would love this place as it brings you peace.
We had enquired in the morning that the boat ride to cross the river is closed after the sunset. You ahve to take a longer 18KM route to reach back to Hampi. So we wrapped the things and decided to head back. We also had to return the bikes. This time the boat ride costed us 40INR as it was evening time.
The next thing we did is we headed to Virupaksha Temple. Virupaksha a avataar or a form Of Lord Shiva is worshipped all over South India. The temple dating to Vijaynagara era is well worshipped and well maintained here. Though you need to visit this temple in the day time to see its aura and grandeur, but the darkness and the peace added more to it beauty. We sat there for almost 3 hours feeling the peace and the tranquility.
The second day started a bit early as we had to cover lot many places. We booked an auto rickshaw for 1400 INR which would takes us all over the places and drop us back to the lodge. Per head that costed us 350 INR.
After having breakfast of Idli, Medu Wadas and Masala Dosa at the local shop we did head towards the first destination.
The first thing we did is we reached the VijayaVitthala Temple. The temple dating back to the 15th century was built by King Devraya on the Vijaynagara empire. Adorned with beautiful scluptures and musical pillars this is the temple of exquisite architecture. The temple complex is so huge that you can just imagine the grandness at its peak time. There are huge protective walls around this temple.
The major attraction here is the Stone Chariot of the Garuda.It is one of the three stone chariots in India, others are in Konark in Odisha and in Mahabalipuram in Tamilnadu. Here the things to be noticed is you cannot find the joints of the stones.
As you stroll around this temples you fall in love with this abandoned and vandalized city. There is a ride from the entrance to the premise to the entrance of the temple it takes 20INR. We ditched it and had taken a walk around the complex.
There is a stepped water pool known as the Pushkarni used by the people in those times. The architecture is similiar to the stepped wells of the Rajasthan. My friend joked about that these kings have spent a lot of money on the bathing and water system. :-)
Pushkarni's were the part of water systems of the city. Every temple had its own Pushkarni. the Pushkarni lakes is were the gods and goddesses were taken for the coracle rides. During special occasions the gods were given baths in these lakes. The silence and the peace just makes you feel good and to be very frank you feel like this is what you had spent the money for.
Next thing in the list was The Octagonal Bath. This was the are for the royals. Currently there is no water, but once you enter you find a octagonal rock surrounded by a vacant area where the water might be getting filled.
After clicking photos at the Octagonal bath and getting awestruck we headed towards the Queens bath. Built in the Vijaynagara Era it exemplifies the architectural marvel. The outsides are so simple that you would feel there is nothing inside, but once you enter again you are dazzled by its scaling and intricasy. Hampi must have been well designed water system, connecting each temple, each lake and baths. Sigh even after more than 500 lack such kind of designs. You find a bridge, locally called as moats like structure here. These moats would have been used to stop anyone entering when the royal women would have been inside.
Next we halted at the Dasara Dibba. The area where the courts were held and the royal buildings might have been. It is said that Hampi was one of the richest kingdoms until the Deccan sultanetes looted, destroyed and vandalized it. The first thought flashing your mind is the scene from Bahubali where Bhallaldev is crowned. A similiar stone pedestal were the king might have seated and the watched the display of the sports and march pasts.
You find the stone doors while entering this area, with a special locking system of these huge heavy stone doors. The place is heavily destroyed but the carvings have been survived. You find carvings of Chinese businessmen. You find war scene carvings, elephants and horses. The dancers, musicians and the scenes of daily lives of the royal families are carved out here.
Adjoining this area you have a lake similiar to the Pushkarini where you can even find the canal through which the waters might have been supplied. There is a secret room of the king here which is below the ground level. The kings might have used this for meditation and finding peace purposes.
The name HazaraRam Temple says the thousand carvings of Lord Rama. This temple is adorned with the carvings of Ramayana. Each nook and cranny of this temple is an architectural marvel. This temple was of private use of the royals. The temple has a separate lawn.
One noticeable architecture is steps going to no-where. Why no-where because, the rest of the architecture might have been broken or vandalized or this might have been the pedestal to have a watch all over the area. Kind off a Watch tower (Watch Steps) to be precise.
As the name suggests its shaped like a Lotus flower. The dome and the pillars make up to look like the Lotus. This Mahal was a palace of the Royal women. Having a protective wall around it this place is properly secured as compare to the other areas in the premises. The two-storeyed building has 24 pillars. Its is said that the walls and pillars were decorated with beautiful paintings. Currently you are not allowed to enter this builiding. You can just watch it from the outside. There is also a well besides this place.
Elephants stable is one of the most intact structure in Hampi. As the name suggests this was the place where the royal elephants were kept. This rectangular structure has eleven chambers, and these chambers are so huge that they could accomodate two elephants at the same time. Each chamber has a door at the back side. It might have been used by the mahut, the man who controlled the elephants. The central dome is more decorated as compared to others. Each structure in Hampi makes you fall in love with Hampi more.
There are some Jain temples and also some Shiva temples behind this structure. I did visit there, but most of my friends energies had started to drop down. This was around 4-5 PM. Next thing we did was we headed to the Ugra Narsimha statue
Ugra Narsimha or the Lakshmi Narsimha statue is a largest rock statue found in Hampi. Carved out of the monolithic rock this statue is a must visit if you are here in Hampi. Narsimha is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This statue had a statue of Goddess Lakshmi seated on Lord Narsimhas Lap. But during the Mughal plunder of this statue Lakshmi statue has been vandalised, if you are lucky enough to see the backside of this statue you could see a hand on Narsimha's back. Its is said that the Lakshmi's statue is at the Museum in Kamalapura. If you look at the statue keenly, you find beautifully carved mane, beautifull eyes, broad shoulders and strong hands. This is a 6 meters statue carved out of single monolithic rock.
Besides this Ugra Narsimha Statue is a huge Shiva Temple called as the Badavilinga Temple. The word Badava means poor which literally means that this temple was built by the poor woman for the poor people who had no access to the temple of the royals. The huge shivlinga is surrounded by stone walls but no ceiling. Though this temple is few hundred years old this temple as well as the shivlinga is still intact.
The last spot was the Sasivekalu Ganesha situated on the sides of the Hemakuta Hill. This 8 feet tall statue is surrounded by pillars. Sitting in the Lotus position this statue has a tusk held in one hand. Though the statue is vandalized, its tusk broken the pleasantness still oozes out of this statue. The inscription here says that the structure was built in 1500 A.D
The last destination was the Hemakuta group of temples. We reached there by the sunset. There is a cluster of temples on this Hemakuta hill. There are few abandoned temples on this hill. But each temple radiates energy and tells a story of its times when the Vijayanagara was at the pinnacle and also its vandalization and downfall.
You can view beautiful sunset at this place. Hampi makes you think and remember the Vijaynagara empire.
This was all about Hampi. We left Hampi and headed towards Badami the third day of the trip. I will write about it in the next part as this has become a bit lengthy one.
Thank You for the read.