HAMPI, The land of Ruins

What is Hampi and Why to go?

Hampi (Hampe) is a village and temple town recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi. in northern Karnataka, India. It is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.

If you have little interest in history, this place has lot to offer you.

Hampi is popular for 2 things. Foremost is the ruins and secondly the HIPPIE ISLAND. As the name suggest hippie island is filled with people who come to booze and party. The environment around the island is Fantastic.

How to reach ?

Hampi is located in north Karnataka. It is nearly 350km from Bangalore. The nearest railway station is Hospet which is 14 km from hampi.

A lot of private bus services run sleeper busses from Bangalore to hospet or Bangalore to hampi. Bus takes 7-8 hours from hospet.

If you have 2 or less than 2 days of time, prefer taking sleeper bus or train instead of self-driving a vehicle.

Hampi is small village and commute inside is not a problem. Moreover, if you self-drive yourself. It will be tiring journey and you will not get much time to relax and enjoy the place.

North side of the river: Hippie Island

South side of the river: Hampi Ruins

Best Time To Visit

Best time to visit hampi is from October to March. A 3-day festival is organised in Hampi from 3rd to 5th November every year and another one is in January.

January and February is less humid here and offers a good climate.

Even if you are going in monsoons, don't worry the place have lot to offer, just make sure you carry a poncho or raincoat. Rain comes in waves and lasts for 1-2 hours.

Where to Stay

There are two parts of Hampi travelling, separated by Tungbhadra river.

So, you can either stay in hampi bazar or cross the river and stay in hippie island. The water level is less in the river most time of the year so it can be crossed easily. When monsoon is high, you might face some problem.

PS: Staying in Hippie island is better option. In off season, i.e. from June to August you can get a good furnished room for as low as 400 Indian rupees.

Itinerary:

There are total of around 2000 ruins in Hampi which are scattered around in big region. The famous ones are mentioned in the map below. The below map covers the places of interest in the south side of the river.

In the north of the river i.e. towards Hippie island there are 5 places which one can visit. Out of the 5 places only 3 of them are worth visiting rest 2 are just the hype created by locals.

Hampi city map

Day 1:

The first step after reaching hampi is look for a place to stay (if not booked already), freshen up and have breakfast. Next is to hire bicycles, mope, scooters or autos for sightseeing hampi.

Due to recent strike by local auto drivers, only a few people have scooters/bikes for rental. When I went there was only one provider on south side i.e. ruins side of the river in hampi bazar. There were multiple options of rental on other side but it is not allowed to rent bike from one side and take it to other.

Start with Virupaksha temple highlighted by big solid black circle. Then follow the black path on south to see Ganesha Temple. It is highly advisable to hire a tour guide for roaming in hampi if you have no knowledge about the history of the place. The tour guide charges around 1000-1300 in peak season and 500 in off season.

Next stop is krishna temple and spice market in front of it. So if you follow the black road towards south east (as in map), you will cover following places in the below mentioned order.

Virupaksha Temple
Ganesha temple
Krishna Temple
Badavi Linga
Ugrah Narsimha/ Lakshmi Narsimha
Sister's stone
underground shiva temple
Watch towers
Queens palace ruins
Lotus Mehal
Elephant Stable
Pushkarani
King's Area
Queens Bath
Lunch at food point
Beemas gate
Vittal Temple + stone chariot + musical pillars
King's Balance
Varaha Temple
Back to Hampi Bazar

Day 2:

There are in total 5 places on the north side of the river out of which only 3 places are worth visiting. Unlike first day cycle is not preferable to go to this part of the hampi. There are lot of scooter/bike rentals who charge 250- 300 per scooter. Ask your hotel/stay owner to arrange and he will take care of it.

Start with filling up petrol at Anegundi and taking cash from ATMs
Durga temple
Pampa sarovar
Sanapura lake
Lunch near sanapura lake
sunset at Anjana hill(birth place of Hindu Lord Hanuman)

List of monuments in Hampi

Brief History about some of the monuments and ruins:

Stone Chariot:

It's a shrine meant for Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu. It may appear to you (and sometimes even referred to) as a monolithic structure. This stone shrine was built with many giant 8 granite blocks. The joints are smartly hidden in the carvings and other decorative features that adorn the Stone Chariot.

Earlier the wheels of the chariot were rotating but due to the damage made by pilgrims by rotating the wheels, the wheel were cemented by Archaeological department.

Lakshi Narsimha Temple:

This is the largest statue in Hampi. Narasimha is sitting on the coil of a giant seven-headed snake called Sesha. The heads of the snake acts as the hood above his head. The god sits in a cross-legged Yoga position with a belt supporting the knees.

Sometimes this is referred as Ugra Narasimha (i.e. Narasimha in its terrifying form). The protruding eyes and the facial expression are the basis for this name.

Narasimha (means half-man half-lion in local the languages) is on of the ten incarnations (avatar) of Lord Krishna.

The original statue contained the image of goddess Lakshmi, consort of the god, sitting on his lap. But this statue has been damaged seriously during the raid leading to the fall of Vijayanagara. Even the damaged portion of such a large statue of Lakshmi carved on his lap is missing. Probably it may be laying around in tiny pieces. But the goddess’s hand is visible resting on his back in embracing posture. If you get a chance to go inside this enclosure, it is possible to see the hand of the goddess. Even the nails & the rings on her fingers are so perfectly executed.

Lion face of Lakshmi Narasimha also sometimes called as Unganarasimha (the ferocious Narasimha)

Somehow this single statue alone can demonstrate at the same time how creative and destructive the human mind can be.

The Hindu mythology has a tale of Narasimha’s origin. See the story of Narasimha.

Badva Linga:

This is the largest Linga image in Hampi. Located next to the Lakshmi Narsimha statue the Linga is housed inside a chamber with an opening in the front. A close look on this icon can reveal three eyes (depicting the three eyes of Shiva) carved on it. Legend has it that this was commissioned by a peasant woman and hence the name (Badva means poor in local tongue).

The sanctum in which the Linga is installed is always filled with water as a water channel is made to flow through it.

According to Hindu mythology the River Ganga (Ganges) was brought from heaven to earth to quench the drought. But the river was so forceful that it could split the earth into two pieces if allowed to fall on earth. Lord Shiva consented to take the impact by allowing the torrent of Ganga to fall on his matted hair. Thus helping to release a smooth flowing river on to earth from his hair. As an iconic representation of this, in Siva temples you can spot a dripping pot hanged over the Linga.

Both Lakshmi Narasimha & Badavi Linga shrines can be visited together.

Sister's stone:

There is a local fable about the stone. It is believed that hundred of years back 2 sisters came to visit Hampi, but as hampi ruins were spread in large region and there was no way to commute. They had to walk all around and on getting tired from long walks. They began to curse hampi. A great muni who was doing his meditation in hampi heard them and cursed them to become stones.

One of the two stones broke into 4 pieces in 2011. But it is still a popular site for travellers. It is located along the main highway from kamlapur to hampi.

Lotus Mehal:

The style of it is a pleasant departure from the typical architecture you see in Hampi. The exact function of this is not surely known. Located inside the Zenana enclosure, most probably this was a socializing area for the women folks in the royal family.

Also, known as Chitrangani Mahal and Kamal Mahal, this falls under the secular or nonreligious categories of structures in Hampi. It’s peculiar to note that this is one of the beautiful structures that were left undamaged during the siege of the city. However, there are some signs of mutilations on a few sculptures placed on the outer surface. It is believed that the small structure which resembles the top of mosque pleased the Muslim attacker and hence this place wasn't destroyed like others.

The structure is designed in a way that it remains cool. The pillars have mud pipe inside them. So, to keep the palace cool water was poured from the opening at the top of this palace from the well beside it.

It is not allowed to get inside this mehal but If you are tempted to take rest, a catnap on the lawn under the tree shade is allowed!

Elephant Stable:

This was home for royal elephants. there are total 11 chambers. The head of the chambers are depicting different. As krishnadevaraya respected all religions he constructed it in such a way that 5 chamber heads depict structure like Hindu temples, 5 to Muslim mosques and center chamber's head similar to Jain temple.

Next to this stable is a small museum which contain old scriptures, idols and deities which were found by archaeological department when they dug around hampi.

Pushpakarni:

This is one of the rare places which is made using black stone. This was a water storage facility near to king's palace. If seen from the 90 degrees top it resembles pattern of a flower and so it is called pushpakarni.

Anjana Hill:

Anjana Hill from bottom

It is considered as birth place of Hindu God Hanuman. The temple is located at the top of the hill and there are two ways to reach the top. One have 650 stairs other have 425 stairs. The view from the top of the hill is mesmerizing and is popular among tourists as sunset point.

View from top of Anjana hill

Sanapura Lake:

Sanapura lake is around 5 km from the hippie island. In peak time it is filled with people for boating. If you are lucky you can find some amazing weather which will be cheery to the landscape beauty.

Places to Stay and Eat in Hampi:

There are lot of places to stay in hampi from dorms to luxury resorts. One such good resort is kishkinda resort. It is bit far but manageable.
In hampi bazar, The mango tree and 1985 are good restaurants which offer variety of food starting from north indian to continental.