Hampi, now in ruins is the site of the ancient city of Vijayanagar, capital of the Vijayanagar empire (founded under the spiritual guidance of Vidyaranya of Sringeri in early 14th century), which brought about a renaissance of art and culture, as it defended the region against the plundering armies. Much of Vijayanagar is now in ruins, as when the rulers were defeated at the hands of the invaders at the battle of Talikota in the 16th century, most of the marvellous structures and edifices were systematically destroyed.

Hampi is located in the central part of the state of Karnataka, in southern India. It is 353 km from Bangalore and 13 km from Hospet. This location was the obvious choice for the capital of the empire, as it is naturally fortified and protected on all sides; in the north by the mighty Tungabhadra river, and on the other three sides by steep, rocky mountains with massive boulders of granite. The treacherous terrain provided ample defence, and the few areas of access were well defended. The ruins of Hampi lie scattered in an approximately 26 square kilometre area, where the land was also fertile and had an abundant water supply.

General Architecture of buildings
By the 16th century, the Vijayanagara Empire ruled most of southern India. The characteristic feature of this period was the development of the temple complex: concentric series of rectangular enclosure walls with gopuras (towered gateways) in the middle of each wall, and the most important temple in the middle of the rectangle. Hampi displays a variation from this layout of centralized temple with outlying ancillaries. Religious buildings are scattered about in small units, each with its own importance and function. Perhaps one of the reasons for this change was the terrain of the area, with the plan of the city following the lay of the land. The temple architecture throughout is based on the traditional Hindu style - each temple typically has a sanctum, a passage, an antechamber, and pillared hall and a kalyana mandapa (marriage hall).

Each dynasty that ruled the Vijayanagara Empire left its mark at Hampi. The Vijayanagara style of architecture relied heavily on the availability of natural resources, namely granite, which was the material used primarily by the Sangamas. Other dynasties employed the softer schist rock, suitable for ornate carvings. Many of the palaces have long since disappeared, as the kings used wood and bricks in their construction. Some brickwork is still visible on the gates to the temple courtyards.

The temples of Hampi are famous for their large dimensions, florid ornamentation, both in painting and carving, majestic pillars, magnificent pavilions and a great wealth of religious and mythological depictions, including subjects from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Virupaksha Temple
The Hampi Bazaar a long street 32 metres wide and nearly 728 metres long, runs between Virupaksha Temple and the foot of the Matanga Hill and was once lined with magnificent houses and beautiful mantapas. The Virupaksha Temple rises majestically at the western end of the Hampi Bazaar.

Vitthala Temple
The most splendid of temples at Vijayanagar is the Vitthala temple, near the Tungabhadra river. It is considered to be the most ornate of the Vijayanagar temples.

Stone chariot
Though inside the Vijayavittala Temple complex, the Stone Chariot gets our special attention because it deserves. One will fall short of words if he/she tries to describe the beauty of this wonderful man-made Though inside the Vijayavittala Temple complex, the Stone Chariot gets our special attention because it deserves. One will fall short of words if he/she tries to describe the beauty of this wonderful man-made piece of art. Situated to the east of the hall, Stone chariot has stone wheels which some believe actually rotate. We have not tested it tough.

The chariot is a miniature temple. Though some believe it is carved out of a single rock, it is not the case. It resembles the temple chariots or rathas in which the idols of the temple are taken out on a traditional procession.

The Narasimha
These idols are in themselves temples. The gigantic 8 - 9 m tall Narasimha image is situated in the South of the Hemakuta group of temples that includes the Virupaksha Temple. The Narasimha is a seated four-armed figure under a canopy of a seven-hooded snake. Though in a damaged state, the image depicts the benign aspect of the God since apart of the right hand of Goddess Lakshmi skirts around the waits of Narasimha suggesting that goddess Lakshmi was originally seated on his lap. The monolith is disfigured and was partly destroyed in an invasion of the Golconda rulers but is magnificence is undisputed.

This image of Lakshmi-Narasimha, popularly called Ugranarasimha, meaning Narasimha of terrifying countenance, is hewn out of a rock in-situ. According to an inscription found here, it was executed in 1528 A.D. during the rule of Krishnadevaraya. Originally, the icon bore a smaller image of Lakshmi sitting on his lap. This gigantic image, 6.7 meters in height, was mutilated and the figure of Lakshmi was entirely damaged and vandalized in 1565 A.D. Narasimha with an articulately chiselled and well delineated mane and large bulging eyes and broad chest still retains His awesome charm. He is seated on the coils of the snake Adisesha, who rises behind him with seven hoods, which serve as a canopy. The entire image is set within a Makara torana, or arch, with a lion-mask above the hoods of Adisesha.

The statue of Lakshmi can now be found at Kamalapura Museum. As mentioned above, the whole statue of Narasimha and Lakshmi was cut in a single boulder. While other kingdoms further southwards used Schist, a soft stone as the medium of their constructions, the Sangamas decided to go in for granite as the building material for their temples. The hard granite was available on the site in plenty and was economic. Granite, being hard, was not suitable for the delicate filigree work that could be carved on Schist. What the artists had to sacrifice on the delicacy of the work was compensated by the massiveness of the sculptures. The statue of Ugra Narasimha is a perfect example of what they achieved in volume, which they could, not in delicacy.

The Shivalinga
It is situated next to the Narashimha and is again, gigantic in size. It is 3m high and stands permanently in water that comes through an ancient channel.

Srikrishna Temple
Krishnadevaraya built this temple in 1513 A.D. to commemorate his victory over Prataparudra Gajapati, the ruler of Orissa. During the battle he seized an image of child Krishna and brought it to Vijayanagara as war trophy. He then built this temple to consecrate the image. An inscription describing the conquest and the consecration of this temple on 16 February 1515 by Krishnadevaraya is found on a slab in front of this temple. Built in the centre of a courtyard, the temple possesses a sanctum, an antechamber, an ardha mantapa, a circumambulatory passage, a pillared hall with three entrances and an open pillared mantapa, in addition to a number of other shrines for the attendant deities. The sanctum is at present empty. The image of Balakrishna showing him as a child holding butter in the right hand is now resting in the Government Museum at Madras. The inner sides of the entrance exhibit beautifully sculptured Apsaras standing on mythical animals and holding scrolls filled with panels showing the ten incarnations of the lord. Like all major temple complexes, Krishnapura, a suburb, is developed around this temple. The bazaar in front is now a lush paddy field.

Achutaraya temple
This temple can be reached either from Kodanda Rama Temple through the Bazaar wrongly called "Soolai Bazaar" or "Courtesan Street" or from the Virupaksha Bazaar by climbing the steps next to the monolithic Nandi at the end of the bazaar. Achyutaraya Temple is a large complex built by an officer of the King Achyutaraya, Salakaraju Tirumaladeva. This temple is better known as Achyutaraya temple, in whose period it was built rather than the name of the deity "Tiruvengalanatha" or Lord Venkateshwara.

Kadelakalu Ganesha
On the slope of Hemakuta Hill, near the Sasivekalu Ganesha is another monolith called in the same vein, the Kadalekalu (gram seed) Ganesha. The huge seated God, carved in the round out of a massive boulder, is about 4.5 metres high and is housed in a large shrine with a fine open pillared mantapa in front. The tall, slender and graceful pillars are of the ornate cubical Vijayanagara type with solid early corbels. The mantapa is singularly classical in its architectural proportions and has been admired by many architects and critics. The temple also forms one of the important vintage points from which a good and picturesque view could be had of the Hampi monuments.

Sasivekalu Ganesha
On the slope of Hemakuta Hill beyond the Krishna Temple, there are two huge stone images of Ganesha. First one is the Sasivekalu Ganesha about 2.4 metres tall and ironically named as Sasivekalu or mustard seed. The God is seated in a large open mantapa with plain rough square pillars. The right hands hold the ankusa and broken tusk, while the upper left holds a looped pasa or noose. The lower left hand and the trunk are broken. The belly is tied with a snake. This Ganesha is fashioned out of a single boulder in sitting position.

How to get there
Air: The nearest airstrip at Tornagallu in Sandur Taluk, which is 32 kms from Hospet. Contact Anjan Rao at 98440-27699 for further details. The second nearest airport is Bellary (74 kms). Other convenient airports are at Belgaum (190 kms) and Bangalore (353 kms).

Rail: Hospet is the nearest railhead (13 kms). Hospet is linked by rail to Bangalore, Bijapur, Hubli and Guntakal.

Road: Hampi is 350 kms from Bangalore. KSRTC Buses ply regularly from Hospet. Best time to visit: October to March