STAY HUNGRY STAY FOOLISH STAY INNOVATIVE: Hampi

Yeah! its time for yet another trip and this time it was Hampi (a.k.a Humpi or Hampe) is both a historic & religious place. This was the capital of the Hindu empire, Vijayanagara, who ruled the south India during 14th to 16th century AD. It's about 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Bangalore.

Raghu had initiated our trip plan …with Prashant and me, as usual our old gang J We started out journey by taking the majestic Hampi Express train from B’lore on Friday the 13^th {nov-2009} which reached Hospet @ early hours on 14^th nov.

We wished every one on the train Happy Children’s Day!

Without wasting any time in the railway station we headed towards the bus stand coz we had done all our RnD before reaching Hampi as to where to stay and all…so we reached bus stand looked for couple of hotels and lodges and found one called Hotel Shanbhag International…truly one of the best place to stay in Hospet I must say. The rooms cost you around 700 INR and very very spacious…

Got freshen up by 9 AM headed towards Bus terminal and took a bus to Hampi which is around 12 KM from Hospet and would cost you just 10 INR. On the main street of Hampi is the Virupaksha temple we visited that then headed to hire a Bicycle u get lot of Bicycle and mopeds for rent on the main street. A bicycle per day would cost you around 50 INR.

Day 1: Saturday Nov-14 2009

We even saw the riverside ruins on a coracle, a circular shaped country boat to cross the river. A huge floating basket is a more appropriate description than calling it a boat. They are huge flat basket like craft to ferry people & sheep (yes sheep!). About 6 feet in diameter, coracles are made of bamboo, cane, plastic sheets and a fine coating of bitumen to make it leak proof! A coracle ride would cost u around 50 INR.

Day 2: Sunday Nov-15 2009

Stone Chariot inside Vittala Temple complex built on a rectangular platform of a feet or so high. All around this base platform is carved with mythical battle scenes. Though the chariot is not resting on it, the four giant wheels attached mimic the real life ones complete with the axis shafts & the brakes. A series of concentric floral motifs decorate the wheels. It appears from the marks on the platform, where the wheels rest, the wheels were free to move around the axis. You can still see the remains of the painting on the carvings of the chariot. Probably because it was relatively protected from the natural wearing elements, the undercarriage of the chariot spots one of the best-preserved specimens of this kind of paintings.

The main highlight of the Maha-Mantapa is its richly carved giant monolithic pillars. The outermost of the pillars are popularly called the musical pillars. These slender and short pilasters carved out of the giant pillars emit musical tones when tapped. Probably these do not belong to any of the standard musical notes, but the musical tone of the vibes earned it’s the name. Unmindful curiosity of the visitors has damaged many of these pilasters and tapping on it is banned for the sake of preservation.

The southern hall is dominated with the rampant mythical creatures called Yalis. The capitals of each of the pillars branches into heavily ornate corbels with terminating with lotus buds. The northern hall is surrounded with a series of pillars with the Narasimha (the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu) themes. The most notable ones are that of Narasimha slaying Hiranyakashipu on his lap. Prahlada is seen sitting at the base in a praying posture. The ceilings of the halls too are of interest with the lotus like carving at the centre. Further west is a closed hall with two porches on either side. Further ahead is the sanctum.