It's 6 am in the morning, the sun is yet to rise and the moon is yet to fade. we started our road trip to see all the places enroute hampi. our first stop over was the Vani Vilas Sagar dam which was constructed in the reign of the Mysore Kings. At the bottom of the dam is a temple which is normally crowded but in order to reach the top of the damn we need to take another road which is not very crowded.after spending a good half an hour in the calm serene environment we headed towards chitradurga where we saw a lot of windmills. As you reach hospet we could spot the tungabhadra dam backwaters. There is also a tunnel which connects two mountains.in order to reach the highest point of the tungabhadra dam we can either take the shuttle service which closes at around 5:00 p.m. or we can trek to the top which takes around 15 minutes.we be opted to trek to the top and have a beautiful view. Inside the dam enclosure ,we also have a deer Park ,an aquarium, musical fountain,zoo . After a hectic day we decided to retire for the day we checked into our hotel The heritage resort hampi e way we had a sumptuous dinner and went off to bed.
Hellooooo..... Good Morning from the sleepy town of Hampi ... After a sumptous breakfast we headed to our one day adventure....
Just 15 minutes from kamalpur we can see the gateway to hampi . Now in ruins the beautiful structure welcomed us . It is adviced to have a guide and are available at all important landmarks. We booked ours at the kamalapur circle and they have ASI fixed rates.
First stop for the day was Vijaya vittala Temple. The entrance ticket needs to be purchased here . We have a electric vehicle from the gate to the temple.
The musical pillars : Inside the vittala Temple enclosure, these pillars can make sounds like musical instruments when hit with a sandal stick.
The very famous Stone chariot is the first to welcome us inside.
Behind the temple is the river tungabhadra flowing . On it's Banks we can see the temple which is a meditating place of saint/ singer panduranga.
After our visit we headed to next set which is the royal circle. First stop w is the royal queens bath . it's a two story building with the first floor where the water flows from the kamlapur tank. the second level where all the servants would add the perfume and flowers to the bath and also houses rooms to get ready.
Close to the Queen's bath we found a stepped well tank. This was excavated just 20 years ago by the archaeological survey of India . Initially only the canal could be seen.
We could also see many many dilapidated Stone carvings. The were destroyed in the war ,loot and invasion.
Next to the step well tank, you could find the hazara Rama temple which means thousand lord ram Stone carvings."Hazar" means 1000.
The Queen's enclosure which contain multiple monuments of one was the very famous lotus Mahal temple .It follows the Indo Islamic style of architecture. it has water pipes inside the enclosure to keep cool.
Also there are many watch towers inside the Queens enclosure .this is where the queen resided when the king went on war . The men were not allowed inside the closure.all the soldiers inside were all eunuch. Behind the enclosure, there are elephant and house stables. Also place for soldiers to spend the night.
After the Royal circle , the next was the spiritual circle .There is the monolithic statue of Lord narasimha. On his left was the statue of goddess Lakshmi sitting on his lap .The statue of goddess Lakshmi was ruined during the invasion .it is a giant life size statue.
Next stop was the sasvekalu Ganesha temple. It was a place of worship only for the royals during the royal era. A similar monolithic statue also was built which was open for the villagers .
Last but not the least, final stopover was the very famous virupaksha Temple. it houses the Lord Shiva which is the only temple where the priest perform worship even till date. One interesting fact is that we can see the inverted gopuram behind the Temple during the day. Don't miss that.
