A travelogue from T N Hari, (studied at IIT Madras and IIM
Calcutta), expert in helping Start ups/ Scale ups,Bengaluru, Karnataka
I had always wanted to visit Hampi. As much as the history
of the Vijayanagara empire, the images of the ruins at Hampi fascinated me. It
is difficult to believe that a city like this ever existed. For my friend,
Satish, who is a photography buff, Hampi presented a great canvas and a backdrop
to shoot. The nice thing was that Satish had sufficient interest in history to
tolerate my passionate discourses on the rise and the ultimate fall of the
Vijaynagara empire, and I had enough interest in photography to listen to him
expound on the deeper insights about angles and filters! So, in the middle of December, we packed our bags and
boarded the Hampi express.
Hospet is the nearest railhead and a popular base for most
Indian tourists visiting Hampi. If you are passionate about Hampi, then Hopset
is the wrong place to stay. You should stay at the Hampi village, which is just
a small collection of houses that have been re-purposed as home stays for the
travelers, and a hundred odd shops selling trinkets and Hampi memorabilia.
There are a large number of small, cozy and boutique restaurants that cater to
every exotic palate. The village has the feel of a small hippy settlement. It
provides the right ambience to go back in time and lose yourself in history and
spirituality. Most of the tourists you encounter at Hampi, and almost
everyone that stay at Hampi, are foreign tourists. You have to stay at Hampi
right in the midst of the ruins to soak the experience.
Hampi has history, art, culture, and mythology etched all
over. Only a prosperous empire, with rulers who patronized the arts, could have
built such a city. If the Maurya empire was founded on the inspirational partnership
between a visionary Chanakya and an ambitious Chandragupta, the Vijayanagara
empire has a similar genesis wherein Sage Madhava (Vidyaranya?) inspired Hakka
and Bukka to break free and lay the foundation of a strong and independent
kingdom in the Deccan.
At the southern edge of the small town of Hampi is the
Hemakuta hill (it’s actually a very large rock formation). Every evening, we
would amble up the gentle slopes of the hill lugging the photography equipment
and some books. While I would find a comfortable point to park myself with my
books and read, looking up intermittently to watch the sun’s journey towards
the horizon, Satish would find the best spot to fix his tripod and patiently
wait for the best shots.
From the vantage point at Hemakuta, the sunsets were
awesome. I didn’t realize until then that every sunset could be different.
There are Jain temples on Hemakuta that predate the Vijayanagara empire. There
are a number of other small temples that belong to the Vijayanagara times. The
architectural differences between the Jain temples and the more recent
Vijayanagara temples stand out. Clearly, Jainism has had some continuity in
this part of India starting with the great Mauryan emperor, Chandra Gupta,
renouncing his kingdom and travelling south to Shravana Belagola with the Jain
guru Bhadrabahu.
From the Hemakuta hill you can see the beautiful Virupakhsha
temple. Virupaksha is a form of Shiva. This is the only temple at Hampi where
prayers are still held. This temple too predates the empire, though additions
were constantly made over the course of the centuries during which the empire
lasted. You can still see devotees at this temple, though nowhere on the scale
that one might see at the other religious centers like Puri or Tirupati.
Thankfully that’s the case! There is no worship at any of the other temples at
Hampi.
These temples are a quiet testimony to a great cultural past
and the glory of a bygone era. They are also a testimony to the hate and
vengeance that resulted in their destruction. After the death of Mughal emperor
Humayun in Delhi, there was a short period of Afghan rule followed by chaos
during which Hemu, who hailed from a modest trading family, demonstrated rare
grit and military strategy to challenge the Mughal empire. After taking Agra
and Delhi, in one of those epic twists in battle, he was defeated at Panipat
(popularly referred to as the second battle of Panipat). It was in Akbar’s
destiny to rule India. At about the same time, a similar situation was
unfolding in South India. In 1565, the five Deccan Sultanates got together in a
rare act of unity, and completely crushed the Vijayanagara empire at the battle
of Talikota. The victors went about destroying every visible symbol of the
empire with an unbelievable vengeance. The destruction went on for several months.
Vijayanagara never recovered. Three centuries earlier, the Mongols, under
Hulagu Khan, had sacked and destroyed Baghdad with similar vengeance.
Vijayanagara was abandoned, never repopulated, and was eventually lost to the
world, until it was rediscovered in 1800 by Colin Mackenzie, and the pieces of
this puzzle put together. It is almost as if the destruction and vandalism
happened yesterday. Every statue and every work of art has the mark of hammer
and crowbar.
Every morning, we would be up by 5 am and hit the road,
climb up one of the rocky hills and watch the sun rise. No trip like this is
complete without an element of adventure. On one of these mornings, when it was
still dark, while we were travelling in the auto rickshaw (the driver was a bit
reckless and we were moving at a high speed), a litter of pigs decided to
suddenly cross the road. At that instant when the auto lost balance and went
cartwheeling my mid was racing on how this would all end. Thankfully, we came
out completely unscathed, though the guide ended up with a dislocated joint and
severe bruises.
The temples and the ruins are in far better condition than
what can be seen in some of the portraits from the British era. The
Archaeological Survey of India has done an outstanding job of preserving these
monuments and beautifying their surroundings. Some minor repair works have been
carried out at places where there might have been continued and rapid
deterioration without these special efforts. Care has been taken to use exactly
the same construction materials that had been used in the original
construction. I must confess that I was surprised by the extent to which some
of the temples have been preserved. We have all been brought up to believe that
there is nothing left in Hampi excepting for a few ruins. It was this thought
that made me wonder at times, if the beauty of Hampi could ever be perceived.
To my delight I found that the architectural beauty of most temples is still
reasonably well preserved despite the best efforts of the victors of Talikota.
Hampi is surrounded by hills full of boulders. It almost
looks like someone has taken the pains to pile up these boulders on these
hills. The beautiful Tunghabhadra river flows on one side and the other three
sides are surrounded by hills that were strategically defensible. A ride down
the river in a coracle is a great experience. These boulder strewn hills
provided abundant raw material for the sculptors. The rock is the hard variety,
unlike the much softer rock used to carve out the temples at Belur or Halebid,
and cutting these to shape wouldn’t have been easy.
The myth is that Sugreeva of the Ramayana lived here along
with his general, Hanuman. Two of the Hills are named Kishkindya and Rishyamukha. The guide will show you two long marks etched on the rock
along which Ravana the demon king dragged Sita on his way to Lanka. Sitting on
top of the Anjanayya hill gives one such a serene feeling. From the top of this
hill you can see the Gopuram of the Virupaksha temple between two hillocks. You
can see the Tungabhadra river wind its way between the range of hills and large
patches of green banana plantations all along the banks of the river.
We also trekked up to reach the Anegundi fort. Anegundi is
the place where the early kings of the empire started before settling down at
Vijayanagara. The view from the fort is breathtaking. The Anjaneya hill is on
the opposite side. Quiet music wafts through the still air. We are told that a
small temple in the distance is playing some devotional music.
A week quickly flew by. It was time to take the auto
rickshaw to the Hospet railway station and start our journey back to
Bengaluru/Mysuru. The haunting memories of Hampi still linger in some corner of
the mind and I am drawn to Hampi in some inexplicable way. Next on the list are
Ajanta, Ellora, and the Buddha trail. After we finish this, it will be time to
go back to Hampi once again!
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