It had been my dream to visit Hampi since my childhood days. Unfortunately, it remained a dream for years. Though, I started my travel in 2002 and had been to all corners of the country (except the North-Eastern part), I somehow did not get a chance to visit Hampi, though it is not very far from my city (Hyderabad). Finally, I got the opportunity in April 2015 when I had 4 days off from work due to Good Friday and weekend.
We (my mother and myself) went from Gadag to Hospet on 4 April 2015 and reached Hospet at 9:45 PM. We had our dinner in a restaurant (Saravana Bhavan) opposite to the bus complex and stayed in Hotel Mayuri which is just 100 meters away from there.
On 5 April 2015, we came out at 8:30 AM and had our breakfast in the same restaurant where we had our dinner on the previous night. Hampi is just 15 kms away from Hospet. My plan was to hire a cab from Hospet, have the site seeing of Hampi and then to come back to Hospet in the evening. But, when I approached the cab drivers, they demanded a very huge amount. The hotel proprietor advised me to go to Hampi by bus and to hire a cab in Hampi. There are number of buses to Hampi from Hospet. We boarded a bus (which was exactly like the Metro Express bus in Hyderabad) and reached Hampi at 9:30 AM. The bus stopped at the entrance of Virupaksha temple. As Hampi festival was going on during that week, Hampi was a bit overcrowded.
On 5 April 2015, we came out at 8:30 AM and had our breakfast in the same restaurant where we had our dinner on the previous night. Hampi is just 15 kms away from Hospet. My plan was to hire a cab from Hospet, have the site seeing of Hampi and then to come back to Hospet in the evening. But, when I approached the cab drivers, they demanded a very huge amount. The hotel proprietor advised me to go to Hampi by bus and to hire a cab in Hampi. There are number of buses to Hampi from Hospet. We boarded a bus (which was exactly like the Metro Express bus in Hyderabad) and reached Hampi at 9:30 AM. The bus stopped at the entrance of Virupaksha temple. As Hampi festival was going on during that week, Hampi was a bit overcrowded.
Virupaksha Temple
This main deity in the temple is Shiva who is worshiped as Virupaksha. He was the Kula Devata of the Vijayanagara Kings. The temple is located on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. The Raja Gopuram of the temple is very tall and looks beautiful even now. The temple was constructed in the art which was a mixture of Hoyasala, Nagara and Dravida. The Vijayanagara Kings were said to have instructed the masons not to construct any other temple in the same style. That's why this temple is so unique in its style and architecture.
We had to wait for half an hour as the darshan was stopped due to a special pooja. It is one of the few temples in Hampi where daily pooja is still going on. After our darshan, we went to the backside of the temple. There is a small ventilator from which the sunlight falls on the wall opposite to the temple. The image of the Raja Gopuram falls on the wall due to the sunlight. To our utmost surprise, the image falls upside down. This is a great example of the engineering excellence of those days. I noticed that all the people who had their darshan, directly came to that place to see the image.
Big Ganesha
There is a big Ganesha statue in the temple premises. This statue is located exactly at the door from where we can go to the river Tungabhadra. There are two other Ganesha idols outside the temple. One is in a closed room and the other one is in an open Mandapa. Though the one in the closed room is bigger in size, the one in the open mandapa looks even more attractive than that one.
After having darshan of both the idols, we came out on to the road which looked like a small junction. There were a few vendors selling eatables in small tents which were like temporary shops for a short period. We both had lemon juice in one shop and walked towards the ruins of Sri Krishna Temple which is on the other side of the road.
Big Shiva Lingam
Within a distance of 500 meters from Sri Krishna temple, there is a big Shiva Lingam which is in water. The local people told that the water always exists around the Lingam irrespective of the season. It is true as we could see plenty of water around the Lingam though it was hot summer and there was no water anywhere around.
Ugra Narasimha Statue
Just beside this Shiva Lingam, there is a big idol of Sri Ugra Narasimha. It is one of the top three tourist attractions in Hampi, first two being the Stone Chariot and Virupaksha Temple. Narasimha is depicted as sitting on Aadisesha and the seven heads of the giant snake shielding Narasimha. However, some parts of the idol were damaged including the right hand of Narasimha..
After spending a good amount of time in front of the idol, we came out and walked back to the place where the bus stopped in the morning. There were a few restaurants around and we went into one restaurant which looked a bit decent when compared to the others. We had our lunch there which included rice and roti. The waiter spoke with us in Telugu. When we told him that we would like to visit the other tourist attractions in Hampi and wanted to hire a cab, he told there were not many cabs at that time as all cabs would generally be booked in the morning itself. He said he would arrange an auto as he knew one auto driver. When we said OK, he called the driver and he himself fixed the far as well.
Vithal Temple
We boarded the auto and went to Vithal temple which is around 12 kms from there (in fact, Vithal temple is just 3 kms away from Virupaksha temple, but that route is only for the pedestrian and vehicles can`t go in that route). As vehicles are not allowed to go close the temple, our vehicle was stopped two kilometers away from the temple. This arrangement is to protect the stone chariot from pollution. We boarded a 12 seater, which runs on battery. It took 5 minutes to reach the temple. The stone chariot is located exactly in the middle of the temple.
The stone chariot is the main attraction not only in that temple, but in entire Hampi as a whole. In fact, it is the first thing that strikes in anyone's mind when he/she thinks about Hampi. It is referred as a monolithic structure in books, but the guide here told us that it was built of a few giant granite blocks. There used to be the idol of Garuda inside the chariot, but, we can`t see it now as it was destroyed and the parts were removed.
In front of the chariot, two elephants were positioned as if they were pulling the chariot (generally, chariot is pulled by horses). What surprised me was the size of the elephants. The two elephants were very small in size when compared to the size of the chariot. After coming back to Hyderabad, I read somewhere that there were originally two horses positioned in front of the chariot. As the horses were broken, they were replaced by the elephants later. The tail and the legs of the horses can be seen between the elephants and the chariot even now. However, as we were not aware of this when we were in front of the chariot, we couldn`t notice that.
After taking a few snaps there, we went into the main temple. The main deity of the temple is Vithal who is one of the incarnations of Vishnu. However, there is no idol in the temple now as it was destroyed way back. There are musical pillars in the temple. The guide told us there are 56 such pillars in the temple.
These musical pillars produce music when someone taps them. These pillars are rock solid like any other pillar and not hallow as they would look. Now, to protect these pillars from further damage, tourists are not being allowed to touch the pillars.
We came out and boarded the same vehicle to go back. We then changed to our auto and moved ahead. Our next visit was the famous Hazara Rama temple which was very close to the palace where Sri Krishna Devaraya lived. This temple used to be visible from the window of his bedroom. Our driver told us that everyday, after Sri Krikrishna Devaraya woke up, he used to see the Gopuram of the temple first in the morning.
There are no idols in this temple also. However, the architecture in the temple is very beautiful. There are four pillars inside the temple which are made of black stone. They look so smooth and we could experience the smoothness when we touched them.
After being in this temple for around 30 minutes, we came out and moved ahead. We also saw the bath place of the Queen on our way to the Lotus Mahal. The bath place was constructed in such a way that the water remains warm during winter and cold during summer. Amazing. Isn't it. Just opposite to the bath place, there are two doors made of stone and were beautifully carved.
The Lotus Mahal is located in the Zanana Enclosure. It is also known as Kamal Mahal and Chitrangini Mahal. Though it is not sure why it was built, it was said to be used as the meeting place for the ladies of the Royal family. It has two floors and the first floor looks open with no doors anywhere. However, the second floor looks a bit closed as it has only windows, though they are also open. It was constructed in the Indo-Parsian architecture. This is one of the few structures in Hampi which is not much damaged. However, nobody is allowed to go inside the Mahal now.
Elephant Stable
Just a few meters away from the Lotus Mahal, there is elephant stable. It is the place where the royal elephants were housed. The entrance of the stables are so wide and so big in size. There are eleven in number and the top portion of the stable has gopurams (like the ones we usually see in temples).
Uthana Veerabhadra Temple
After watching all these, we came out to go back. On our way back to Virupaksha temple, we stopped at Uthana Veerabhadra temple. The temple not so big in size, however, the shrine of Veerabhadra is very big. The priest told that the shrine is 3.5 meters in height. The shrine is in standing pose (in Sanskrit, Uthana means standing - may be, the Hindi word Uttna was derived from this).
Big Nandi
We came out after being there for 10 minutes. Our last visit was the Big Nandi which is on the other side of the road exactly opposite to the Virupaksha temple. This Nandi is not so beautiful in terms of sculpture, but still looks very strong though some parts of it have already been damaged.
The road from Virupaksha temple to this Big Nandi is more than half a kilomer in distance. It is called Hampi Bazar as there used to be small shops on either sides of the road and this road used to be busy with vendors and their customers. We came back to Virupaksha temple and had our evening tea in a restaurant. I asked the driver to have tea with us and he happily agreed to that. He said Hampi was crowded for that entire week as Hampi festival was gong on. On the remaining days, the streets of Hampi are generally empty.
I enquired about the other tourist attractions around Hospet. He then told about a small village called Huligi which is around 30 kms from Hospet. There is a temple and the deity in the temple is called Huligamma who is considered to be very powerful. He said we would get private vehicles to go to Huligi at the entrance of the bus station in Hospet. He also said it would be more convenient to go to Huligi in the private vehicles than going in RTC buses as there were not many buses in that route. After having our tea, we paid him the fare and thanked him.
We boarded our bus back to Hospet after 10 minutes. I noticed that more than 90% of the bus was occupied by foreigners and there were hardly any Indians. Same is the case with other buses standing around though I could see so many Indians in all the places I visited in Hampi. May be, most of the Indians hire private cabs in Hospet itself.
After a 40 minute journey, we finally got back to Hospet. We were in Hampi hardly for 9 hours, but the memories of Hampi will cherish us even after 9 years.
6 April 2015
On the next day, we woke up late and came out of our room at 9:30 AM. As our train to Hyderabad was at 4:00 PM, we wanted to visit Huligi that day. We had our breakfast in the same restaurant, and opposite to that restaurant, there were private vehicles. They were four wheeler autos and the drivers were shouting "Huligi..... Huligi.....". So we didn`t have to ask anybody. We boarded one vehicle and noticed that it was designed for 8 persons (including the driver), The vehicle started immediately when six people boarded. Thanks to the driver as he didn`t want to adjust 8 to 10 people in that. We reached Huligi in 45 minutes after the vehicle started.
Huligi
Huligi is on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. This village was earlier known as Vyaghrapuri. In Sanskrit, vyaghra means tiger. There is a famous temple in this village which is dedicated to Goddess Durga who is worshipped as Vyaghrapuradheeshwari here. She is the Grama Devata of the village and, hence, is popularly known as Huligamma. The temple is a 10 minute walk away from the bus stand of Huligi, where our vehicle stopped.
The temple was open and was not much crowded. There were around 100 women in side the temple who sat on the floor and were singing religious songs in Kannada. We didn`t have to stand in queue for darshan. The priest of the temple told us that the Goddess is always decorated with flowers.
The temple is flooded with hundreds of devotees during Fridays (it was Monday). There are temples for Parashuram and Matangi in the same premises. After spending more than 45 minutes in the temple, we came out at round 11:30 AM.
