Hampi - Where the Heart Bleeds

There was a time when I suddenly Got interested in the subject of in between Death and Life, I should admit I am not a master to write a blog on this subject, but what I do want to write about is “Life” in between Jobs, After a long battle within, I moved out of NXP and yet to join the new company, I managed to get myself a small 2 weeks break in between
Priya ( My wife, ppl. Who don’t know and my own recollection ) also managed to get a week off and we went to Kanyakumari, Munnar and Thekady and cameback, what happened after we came back is of more importance

Me and My Friend Sanjay ( My M.Tech Classmate) decided to go to Hampi for a couple of days and look around and come, what next…, We reserved a VOLVO Bus to Hospet and we were off on the Journey….
We arrived in Hampi morning 7:00 AM, checked in to a small hotel, took bath and set out on our exploratory trip of Hampi.
I had made couple of visits to Hampi and roamed around in Auto, this time we decided to Rent a Cycle and make our own roads, Sanjay was quick to second the opinion, we went to Virupaksha temple


As we waited in the queue for the temple to open, this Mother Monkey caught my attention, look at the affection with which it holds its kid..

In the temple complex there is a example of the expertise of physics during the 7th Century, Optical marvel, the inverted image of the temple tower is seen on the wall, A nice way to explain the Pin hole camera...

A beautiful view of the temple tower and its reflection in the kalyani, in the background of clear blue sky.

Now it was Breakfast time, we decided to get Idly Vada packed and have them on the way, we got 20 Idly and 10 Vadas packed (Not that we are gluttons…, Believe me they were really small), it was not too long after we started from the temple, we decided to sit and enjoy the Breakfast in the Natural sets of Hampi

While we were busy with munching on our Idly Vada, we had some interesting on lookers around us…
After a heavy breakfast in the midst of Nature, the best thing we could do was to lay down and enjoy the wind and Bird calls..., but we were on the Exploratory journey so we continued and next stop was "Kadlekai Ganesha" translates to "Groundnut Ganesha", we will under stand the meaning when we see the Sasivekalu Ganesha..., the size does matter..

The Thing to observe is the stomach of the idol is Broken and is not fit to be worshipped.
Just behind the Kadlekal Ganesha is Jain temple complex on Hemakuta hills.

As we get down the Hemakuta hills and start moving away from the virupaksha temple complex, we see a relatively small Ganesha, this Sasivekal ( Mustard Seed) Ganesha, Again the idol is Broken and not fit for worship. Further down the Hemakuta hill is Krishna temple, Dedicated to Lord Krishna and also the king Krishna Deva Raya.


Right in front of the Krishna temple is the Krishna Market, you can see the width of the market,

I guess craze for shopping was the same at that time also ;-)

More Important is the pushkarani ( water Source ) next to the Market, so that people who come can relax, Dont even Try to compare this Krishna market with KR market of bangalore.

Further down from the Market is the complex of temples, deep inside the banana platation. as we cross the Banana Plantation the one who welcomes you is lakshmi Narasimha, People call this Ugra Narasimha, but the research has shown the slim hands around Narasimha could be of Godess Lakshmi sitting on his laps, so how can he be Ugra ( Angry) ?

The Cross bar at the center was the one created by restoration team, but because of the protest from locals and few others it was stopped, its difficult to say if it was right or not as it depends on what you look at.

In the same temple complex you can a huge Shiva linga, called Badavi linga, only one place where even today the pooja is performed.

If you follow the main road further it leads to two gaint rocks embracing each other, these are called "Akka-tangi Betta" means, the sisters rocks.

further if you go down, you get an underground palace, now occupied by bats and futher if you proceed, we get a small rock, it is a nice view point to see the royal quarters, the top view shows a nice accomadation that provided to rolay servents.

As we were proceeding towards the mosque there was a small visitor peeping thru his house

passing thru a huge Banana plantation behind the Elephant stable, we reach two unseen, unheard temples saraswathi temple and Chandrashekara temple, nothing much remains that can be really called temple, but the small idols around tell the tale of the days gone by.

Cycling further we reached Hazara Rama temple, one of the architectural marvel of the place, not too big but the decoration on the wall are bound to make you spell bound, mostly based on ramayana, mostly that's why name Hazar Rama ( Thousand Rama )

As you cross the Hazar rama temple there is huge canvas that just unfolds in front of you and if you are to imagine the glory of the canvas duing the vijaynagar empire, I am sure you will find your eyes wet and your heart miss a beat.

A huge Pushkarani a beauty in itself, surrounded by the civil engineering knowledge of the era. look at the beauty of bringing in water from river to the place where royal army used to reside.

By the time we coverd this much the sun was saying good bye and we just managed to take the glimpses of the Ganagitti temple on the main road connecting hampi and kamalapura an amazing Jain temple stands witness to the years where all the religions were equal and had the place they deserved. Nextday we decided to see thru the other side of the Hampi that is Vittala temple and Anegundi. we started with the Market Bang in front of the temple, the Market with the back drop of Matanga hill and a Nadi standing by the maket to all the trades that have happened, this is the place where Hampi Utasava happenes. Again look the Broad roads, and the fecility the traders were given.

This is some guest I found in kodanda rama temple. just a comparison of the size of the visitor with my finger.

Kodanda Rama temple, so to call means Rama holding the Bow, but nothing much remains other then the building that used to house Rama.

In Front of the Kodanda Rama temple is a huge street which used to be a Market once upon on time, interestingly this Bazaar is called "Sule Bazaar" litrally means Prostitute Bazaar, I was shocked and wanted to know what was the motive behind having this right in front of the temple. I spoke to couple of Historians around the discoverd to relief that it is "Suli Bazzar" means Bazaar at Center of the circle, where a Road from Virupaksha temple, Kodanda Rama temple and Vittala temple meet...now the whole things makes sense.

Now its time for some Mythology, I dont know if you believe in Ramayana, Mahabharata the great Indian epics, but after seeing Hampi you will be forced to think..
apperently this is place were the stage for the kishkinda kanda of the Ramayana was set. When Sugreeva fought with his brother and Vali keeps Sugreeva's wife as captive, sugreeva comes and hides in a cave that is what you see below.

You can even see foot prints of Rama and Lakshmana in the cave.
we will see more of Ramayana as we go thru our journey, but next proceed towards the famous vittala temple, and on the way what we see the kings balance, this were Kings tulabhara was done, means the grains, silver, perls equal to weight of the king were given away to noble men and temples, now what stands is just the frame of the weigh scale.
From the kings Balance as we take few steps we get the vittala temple, as soon as somebody hears the name Hampi he is reminded of the Stone chariot and musical pillers, this the temple that hosts both the marvels.
The temple complex has four parts, and each part is special inself, The pillers of this temple are special in way that each piller makes a sound of different musical instruments. Now because of the people exploiting the pillers and crowd the Dept. has blocked the access to the piller, that gives us some hope that generation to come will see atleast some remains of the amazing construction.

Below is a small cliping of the musical pillers when I visited this place about 5 years ago.

In front of the shiva temple is the stone charriot with... stone wheels that were actually revolving. Resting on a richly sculpted basement, its roof is supported by huge pillars of granite, about 15 feet in height, each consisting of a central pillar surrounded by detached shafts, all cut from one single block of stone. The carved pillars of the charriot were attacked with such fury that they are hardly more than shapeless blocks of stones and a large portion of the central part has been destroyed utterly. But still the sight of this charriot makes the blood rush thru your head and hairs stand up right.

As we exit from the vittala temple on the left we see a huge vishu temple, this is a recent discovery, and the row of pillers in front of the temple is a sight to be seen.
Right in front of the vittala temple you see a Wide street, with pillers on either side, nd behind the row of pillers is a pushkarni, a typical market setup of vijayanagara kingdom, but this is no ordinary market, this is the famous market of rubys, pearls and diamonds, can you hear the traders shouting, Diamond....., Ruby...., can you imagine the site of the market in those days ?

As we walk of the glorious past of Vijayanagara kingdom, we one again land up in the Ramayana period, once you cross the river using a country boat "Teppa", we land in Aane gundi, this is the place that was called Kishkinda during Ramayana period.

One side of the river is Tara Parvatha, named after Sugreeva's wife who was kept Captive by Vali. Here I think we need some recap of Ramayana, Tara Parvatha is the place where Vali and Sugreeva fought a long battle and end of the battle, Rama who was hiding in the Chintamani Mantapa Bang oppsite to Tara Parvatha, shot a arrow to kill Vali and declair Sugreeva the king of Kishkinda, in return Sugreeva helps Rama with his Monkey army to find Sita.....
The mountain you see ( below ) in the back drop is the Tara Parvatha and in the fore Ground you see the Chintamani mantapa( The thinking Mantapa) and the mark of the arrow which was shot to kill Vali who was fighting with his Brother.
The Chintamani Mantapa is called so, because this is the place where Rama sat and came out with the plan to kill Vali, that is the reason its called Chintamani or Thinking Mantapa.

In Front of Tara Parvatha, behind the a huge mountain is a hidden place called Nava Brindavana, this is the place where Nine leaders of Madhva sect attained their Samadhi,

As we go further in our journey we reach Pampa Sarovara, the Pampa Lake, this is a lake surrounded by hills on three sides and a Shiva temple on the other, filled with water and lotus through out the year is one among the several lakes mentioned in the Hindu Epics.

If you have read Ramayana, you might of heard of Shabhari, the old lady who waits for the arrival of Lord Rama and gives atti fruits as offering and she tastes them before offering to the lord to make sure they are good...what a gesture of love and devotion, and this is the Place where she waited for the arrival of the lord.

And how can we complete the Story of Ramayana without the mention of the Hero, Hanuman, yes Anjanadri Hill, the birth place of Hanuman in the heart of Kishkinda, we see a Bala Hanuman temple on the top of the hill.

After seeing the temple, we came down and cycled back to the hotel to catch a bus to Hospet and then back to Bangalore. but as we cycle back, our Heart was bleeding for Hampi, we had too many unanswerd questions, like Why Hampi was destroyed ? Is Ramayana just a Epic ? and lot more...Even now if you think Ramayana was a story, think again....

Next Day Morning as I got down the Bus, My Thoughts were still in Hampi, waiting for a next to chance to land there, as the thoughts slowly started to settle it was time to get into the New job and Even today I am not sure what lies between Death and life, but yes, in between two jobs there is LIFE.....