Hampi: In the company of fallen monuments

Shweta — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:33:51 +0000

As the car rolls down the approach road to the famed ruins of Hampi in Karnataka, an involuntary gulp of expectation arises. Set in a forbidding backdrop of boulders precariously perched on one another, Hampi is the seat of the 15th century Vijaynagara Empire, capital of the famous King Krishnadevaraya.

The ruins wrought mainly in stone are scattered over 26 kms with the river Tungabhadra as a boundary in its North. Declared a world heritage site in 2002, this medieval city has also been identified as Kishkinda, the monkey kingdom mentioned in the Ramayana.

The first stop in Hampi is always the Virupaksha temple, the only active place of worship in the ruins. The temple has a 120 feet tall tower and houses the shrines of Shiva, Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari. Replete with carvings and ancient vegetable dye paintings, some parts of the temple are supposed to predate the Vijayanagara kingdom.

Moving on, one can see the 9 ft monolithic structure of the Mustard Ganesha and the 6.7 m tall monolith of the Ugra Narasimha, which for many is the symbol of Hampi. These are but two of the many monuments, which fell prey to the swords of the invaders who finally felled the city.

Driving on through the dusty terrain, one reaches the Hazari Rama temple, believed to be one of the finest specimens of South Indian temple architecture. As the name suggests, it boasts of 1000 exquisite stone carvings of scenes from the Ramayana.

A pathway from the temple leads to the striking Mahanavami Dibba seated on which the royal family is said to have viewed the nine-day Dasera festival parades. The structure is a huge nine storied platform with carvings detailing the art of warfare inscribed on its walls.

The next stop is the famed Lotus Mahal, a summer retreat made for the queens in a lotus flower like structure. A fusion of the Indo-Muslim styles, the monument has a unique air cooling system. Within the same grounds are the huge and elaborate Elephants stables which housed the king’s 11 elephants.

Next is the most anticipated stop, the Vittala temple complex, known as one of the most splendid monuments of all times. A magnificent stone chariot with movable wheels in the temple complex is a shining example of Vijayanagara Architecture. Another testimony to the same is the Sangeeta Mandapa made of 56 finely carved stone pillars which emit different musical notes when struck.

As one says farewell to the city there is awe and silent admiration for those ancient builders. Thanks to them, today, more than 500 years after it was silenced, Hampi is still a city with many stories to tell.

Image Courtesy

HAMPI

Sightseeing with Eyes wide Shut

Shweta — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:21:15 +0000

Call me elitist if you will, but I believe respect for history in specific and people in general needs to be made a prerequisite for entry into historical monuments. There I was in the famed Wodeyar palace grounds in Mysore enjoying and overwhelmed by its grandeur, when 2 tourist buses came to a screeching stop in the parking area. Out tumbled a pack of tourists armed with mobiles, caps, cameras and sunglasses. Rushing to enter the palace, practically elbowing my Mom and me out of the way, onward they rushed in their haste to add ‘Mysore Palace’ to their list of places visited during the holidays. And I am not being harsh at this point. As I for a fact know that this bunch did not see a thing inside the palace-this with eyes wide open. Yes I can see you snorting with disbelief and saying ‘Don’t Be so judgmental’ Well, I’ll tell you why I will be.
First of all they had their cell phones on LOUD mode, which means we had to listen to an assorted collection of hits blaring in monophonic and polyphonic tones while trying to absorb Karnataka history. Oh and by the way cell phones are supposed to be on silent or switched off mode inside the palace, but the group just didn’t care. And they were above the no pictures ban too! So what if ordinary people had to submit their cameras at the safekeeping area, ‘Ooo,’We’ have 2 GB mega pixels, hi-fi, hi-tech ultra zoom camera phones which cant be confiscated because the cameras can be hidden. So ‘we’ will take all the snaps ‘we’ want’. You know what the sad part is, the fact that they would not enjoy the photos later too. I say this with much conviction because they were strolling through the highly decorated palace without sparing a glance at the sculptures or the portraits or the colour scheme. The only things they were doing were looking at one-odd mirrors and loudly commenting that ‘this must have been the mirror where Tipu Sultan combed his hair. Tipu Sultan for god’s sake!!! The current Wodeyar Palace was built in the early 1900’s -and this is of course after Tipu Sultan’s death. A gang of 20-odd guys was concentrating at the collection of statues at the palace but only to fix them with a rather lecherous gaze. Enough to make one queasy don’t you think.
I don’t claim to know Wodeyar history in and out nor do I claim to know as much as I should before visiting the palace. My point is if you are genuinely not interested, then why bother coming? An archaeological monument is after all a place where human beings like you and me used to live. They used to have their share of laughter and tears there. People were married and born there. For us it might just be a tourist spot or place to go for time-pass, but for them it was their home and for the Wodeyar’s who is a living dynasty, it still is.
How would you like it if after you died a bunch of strangers barged into your house, laughing at your family portraits and sniggering at the way your home sweet home was decorated? Not very much I assume.
Precisely, my point!

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Hampi: In the company of fallen monuments

Sightseeing with Eyes wide Shut