Hampi is located in the central part of Karnataka state, a south western province of India. Hampi ruins are packet with giant temples, palaces, market streets, aquatic structures, fortifications and many other ancient monuments, spreading over an area of 25 square kilometres.
The name is derived from the old name of Tungabhadra River: “Pampa”. Hampi is both a historic and religious place in India, considered by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Today, the ruins of Hampi are vast open museums of history, architecture and religion. These are the best known tourist attractions in South India.
The temples at Hampi are noted for their architectural splendours and for its some of the most exotic sculptures like Stone’s Chariot, Queen’s Bath, Elephant Stable, Balakrishna Temple, Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple, King’s Balance are also worth seeing like House of Victory, Lotus Mahal, Mahanavami Dibba, Mustard Ganesh and Noblemen’s Palace.
The famous Virupakasha Temple is the main attraction along with Achutaraya Temple, Hazara Rama Temple and the Vithala Temple.
Hampi is identified with the historical Kishkindha, the Vanara Kingdom, mentioned in the Ramayana, an ancient Sanskrit epic. Hampi was the capital Vijayanagara Empire, the last great Hindu Kingdom, before it was attacked by Muslims rulers. Due to its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra River and surrounded by defensible hills on the other sides.
The site demography is abundant with large stones which have been used to make larger than life statues of Hindu deities, and a structure of historic importance can to see every quarter of mile.
Nowadays, the city is in ruins due to invading Islamic aggression that treat idol worship as blasphemy. Many statues have been destroyed or damaged and successive governments have not been able to keep the place secure. Recently the Archaeological Survey of India has been discovering more artefacts and temples in continuous excavations in the area.
The major tourist Hampi attractions are divided into main part: the Hampi Bazaar Part and the Royal centre near Kamalapuram. The Riverside trek Path connects the ancient Hampi Bazaar to the Vittala Temple, along this path numerous shrines, carved artefacts and ruins of ancient structures are scattered.
Hampi is packed with countless number of monuments and other attractions, the most popular one are:
The most splendidly carved building dedicated to Vithala (a form of the Hindu god) the Lord Vishnu is an architectural highlight of Hampi.
It is situated about 2kms away to the east of Hampi Bazaar. Almost five decades after the Krishnadevaraya started, the temple was completed in 1565. The campus contains many halls and shrines. The halls are noted for its extraordinary pillars with the animated carvings on it.
Its main attraction in the temple is a huge Stone Chariot complete with wheels carved out of stone stands in front of the main temple, containing an image of Garuda and a 56 pillared hall, “the musical pillars”, which produce musical sounds when they are stroked. Non doubt, the temples beautiful sculptures exhibits the richness of Vijayanagara art and it is relatively in a better condition of preservation.
One of the oldest active temples from 7th century AD in India is located at a riverbank, at the western edge.
It is dedicated to the Hindu god of destruction. Also known as Pampapathi Temple, the biggest structure of the city consists of the god’s sanctum, pillared halls and a series of giant entrance towers, a mukha, mandapa and three chambers, with the most splendid of all, the Ranga Mandapa. It is considered one of the fine places to witness the Hindu religious functions in close proximity.
The temple has shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, Goddess Pampa and Goddess Bhuvaneshwari. Overlooking Virupaksha temple to the South, Hemakuta hill has several scattered ruins, which includes Jain temples and a monolithic structure of Narasimha.
The temple has a 120 feet high tower on its eastern entrance. Basically the hill is an expanse of rocky sheets with interesting undulations that houses numerous temples, archways and pavilions and offers a splendid view of the sprawling ruins site.
The highlights are the sets of triple chambered temples with its pyramid like granite roofs. In addition the Hematuka Hill is one of the best places in Hampi to see the sunrise and sunset and not as tedious to reach the top like to the Mataranga Hill. This is an important mythological site in the local folklore.
The temple is one of the most splendid works where visitors will find carvings on the outer walls of the temple which not very common in structures of Hampi.
The story of Ramayana is impressively carved on all around the shrine walls like a comics strips on stone. That is how the temple got its name as 'Hazara Rama Temple'. The temple now lay deserted but is believed to be the private place for royal family to worship.
The Queen's Bath is situated to the south of the Hazara Rama Temple; it is the most elaborate of the bathhouses belongs to the royal area of the capital. Probably used by the courtly ladies or the king himself, this looks like an indoor aquatic complex.
The building is a large square structure, known it for the perfect contrast between its plain exterior and the nicely ornate interior. The bath measuring 15 metres in width and 1.8 metres depth is surrounded by finely decorated arched corridors and projecting balconies. Non doubt, it is a typical example of the Indo-Islamic hybrid architecture.
Ugra Narasimha is a giant monolithic statue of Lakshmi Narasimha, the main lion god and one of the ten avatars (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu, built in 1528 during the Krishnadevaraya rule with 6.7m height.
Situated in the south of the Hemkuta group of temples that contains the Virupaksha Temple, the statue sits atop a coiled snake Adishesha and it completely build of granite, a very hard substance.
There was a small figure of Lakshmi sitting on the lap of statue which was destroyed during the enemy invasion. The figure of Goddess Lakshmi is now kept in Kamlapura Museum.
The massive Shivlinga is situated next to Narasimha statue. The 3 metre high figure stands in water that comes through an old channel.
The King's Balance was the place where kings were weighed against grain, gold or money that was then distributed to the poor.
The structure of this palace was probably used by the military of chief as his office or as a pleasure pavilion by the queens of the palace. Located in the 'Zenana' enclosure, it is a beautiful example of the Hindu and Islamic styles of architecture.
The palace shaped like a lotus flower from top, has beautiful arc ways set in geometric regularity. It was an air-cooled summer palace of Queen.
The Malyavanta Raghunatha is a swampy temple stands on the Kamalapura- Hampi road. With a Dravidian style, the outer walls of temple have been carved with strange looking fishes and marine monsters.
This temple is still a beautiful and sizeable monument, probably built during the rule of Achyuta Deva Raya (1530-1542) by an officer Salakaraju Tirumaladeva.
Dedicated to Thiruvengalanatha or Lord Venkateshwara a form of Vishnu, the temple is an example of Vijayanagara style temple architecture in its most advanced form than any other temples in Hampi. This was one of the last grandiose temple projects executed in the capital, before the fall of the empire.
The main shrine is located at the centre of two rectangular concentric courtyards. The inner sides of both the courtyard walls are lined with a cloisters or pillared veranda. The outer cloisters are mostly in ruins with the pillars scattered randomly along the wall base. Two huge ruined towers, one behind the other, give access to the temple courtyards.
A fortified campus, seat of the erstwhile kings is a sprawling area with the ruins of many stately structures. For example the Mahanavami Platform from where the king used to watch the annual parade of imperial majesty and military might. The area is packed with numerous palace bases, underground temple, aquatic structures and the likes.
A giant statue of the elephant headed Hindu god Ganesha who is responsible for removing obstructions.
The tall slender granite pillars with many mythological themes carved decorated the front hall of this shrine. Kadalekalu means gram seed in local language and the shape of this statue was the reason for this witty name for a god’s statue.
It is another giant statue of Ganesha located inside an open pavilion. Sasivekalu means of mustard seed in the local language. This four handed god is a fine example of the Vijayanagara’s artistic skills.
This temple is dedicated to lord Krishna, one of the ten incarnations of lord Vishnu. In Hindu mythology Krishna is known for his romantic encounters and political shrewdness.
This temple was actually dedicated to the lord in his infant form. The complex consists of the main shrine, shrines of the goddesses, the chariot/market street and the temple tank. The main hall spots a series of pillars carved with mythical rampant creatures.
That was the shelter for the royal elephants. This long structure is made of a series of chambers with domical roofs. Each chamber is big enough to accommodate two elephants.
The central hall with an elaborated tower probably was used by the ceremonial band troop.