Lost in the ruins of Hampi

Hampi - a must visit place in everyone’s checklist. A place where my best friend Vj wanted to go so badly. A place which I kept pushing as I was not a history person. For people who don't know about Hampi, it is the destination if you are a person who likes to demystify the ruins of the past. Also, if you want to take some amazing photographs, undoubtedly it is your shooting spot! Located 350 kms from Bangalore, it was once the capital of Vijayanagara empire with the best architecture. Also, the reason for Hampi to be chosen as the capital is even more interesting. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and Tungabhadra river on one side, which made the place very secured and difficult to be conquered. Hence the kings of Vijayanagara empire had saved their precious jewels here, which triggered the opponents to conquer this region and it happened on one fine day leaving behind the ruins for the future generation. 

 

We decided to visit Hampi suddenly because we wanted to make Vj’s long term wish of visiting Hampi to come true before the D-day (She was getting married in July!) The plan started one week before the decided date (June 18,19) and we were worried about our travel tickets as the trains didn’t show availability. The best mode of transportation from Bangalore to Hampi is to take the Hampi express which leaves from Bangalore at 10pm and reaches Hospet (13 kms from Hampi) early morning. Out of nowhere, I got the idea to search for tickets from Mysore and hurray! There were 2 tickets available and booked them right away with 2 confirmed and 2 on RAC. I tried the same logic for the return travel but it didn't work out and we ended up booking in KSRTC sleeper which starts from Hospet at 10pm. Gagan booked the accommodation at Padma guest house (Rs.2160 for two rooms) just a day before our travel and we got it as this was off-season to visit Hampi. But I would say that June is the best time (provided if you are lucky to escape from the rain)

Geared up for the trip, we hurried to the railway station to catch the Hampi express at 10pm. Bidding goodbye to Bengaluru for the weekend, we set our expedition towards the majestic Hampi. After a good sleep, we woke up to the bright weather. The train reached Hospet on time at 7am.Refilled our empty bottles with Aquaguard purified water in one of the railway station stalls at a minimal cost of 5Rs per litre. We walked in search of the Hospet bus stand near the railway station. It would be best to withdraw cash at this town as the probability of finding an ATM in Hampi is very less.

Hunger panic began, yet we convinced ourselves to reach Hampi and then have our breakfast. As the bus entered the small village, we could see boulders on either side with temples visible all around. We stepped into the ruined city and oops! We realised that there is absolutely zero network coverage on all our mobile phones and wondered how we were going to find our home stay. Luckily some random person directed us to the hotel, which was very close to the bus stand. Refreshed quickly and stepped out on our next adventure. But our stomachs were starving for food and we walked across the four streets in Hampi again and again in search of a restaurant who would give us some hot dosas. Unfortunately, this place is mostly visited by the foreigners and hence the restaurants also adapted their style. With a lot of struggle, we found the treasure, the hotel who served from hot masala dosa to mouth-watering pooris. They didn't fail in surprising us with some wholesome English breakfast compromising of the masala omelette, pancakes, potato mashes and a tall glass of coffee.

Then we decided to explore Hampi by auto as we were aware of the impact of cycling in Hampi. Right in front of the Virupaksha temple, we managed to hire an auto for the entire day, who promised to cover most of the places by sunset as most of the heritage sites would be closed by 6 PM charging us 800 per day. Without wasting our time any further, we boarded the auto by 12.30 pm and in no time, we reached our first temple in 5 minutes. The auto driver took us through the history behind Kadalekalu Ganesha temple. It was a 4.5 m long monolithic statue in the shape of a peanut (kadala) and hence the name. Also, this Ganesha was so sophisticated that only the Kings get to visit this temple. They walk via this Ganesha to reach the Virupaksha temple. But, this didn't escape from the hands of English invaders who had broken Ganesha's stomach expecting for gold, thus ruining the single stoned architecture. As a tourist, we only got to visit the broken Ganesha but he was really huge. Like a foreigner in our own land, I was surrounded by the local kids who asked me to click a picture of them. History of Hampi had changed, but the current generation in this village is still struggling for a stability in their life. 

Next, we hopped into the auto to visit 2.4m long Sasvekalu Ganesha who was just 2 minutes away from the current place. The story behind this temple is even more interesting that the people had constructed the temple thanking God for the flourishing growth of mustard in the area and hence the name. While one side of the statue is in the shape of a mustard, the other side is sculptured depicting Ganesha sitting on his mother’s lap, which is supposed to be known as Gowri Ganesha. Unlike Kadalekalu Ganesha, this statue is kept in an open environment where anyone could get access to him. And the history tells that all the villagers would cross this temple to reach the Virupaksha temple. However, this beautiful temple was also ruined by the Muslims who broke the trunk in search of jewels.

On our way to Lakshmi Narasimhan temple, we got a glimpse of the Krishna temple, but we did not stop there as the statue had been moved to Chennai. The 6.7m long Narasimha is considered to be the largest statue in Hampi. Next to this temple was the 3m Badavi Lingam where the Lingam was placed in a pool of water filled with small fishes. To quench our thirst, we drank tender coconut and lemon soda outside the temple which were sold at 20 and 15 rupees each.

Our next halt was the Underground Shiva temple. This was known as Prasanna Virupaksha temple, with the Shiva located under the ground. The temple was filled with water as we kept going down the steps and it was slippery as well, as the water was filled with algae and fishes. Initially, we wanted to go inside and explore, but little did we know that it was occupied by bats as well and we took back our steps. If you are brave enough, you can dare to go inside the temple, as nobody is going to stop you apart from the random bats. But be ready to walk on knee length water which increases as you move inside!

It was 2PM and we never felt hungry. We proceeded to an abandoned area which had a mosque, watch tower and a band tower. We took lot of photos standing on multiple rocks, but was chased by the localites who asked us to get down the stones. Our next stop was my personal favourite among the entire trip – Lotus Mahal. It constituted the Elephant stable, Rani’s summer palace, watch towers and museum, among which the palace and the science behind it attracted me a lot. As the name tells, this was constructed mainly for the queen and hence it was protected by watch towers on every corner, however these watch towers were in the control of trained aravanis (half man half woman humans). However, the main logic lies in the construction of this palace. The building is constructed on top of a tank which had continuous supply of water from the nearby river. This water was transferred to the pipes in the building and the pipes transferred water to all the pillars in the palace, thus providing a cooling effect even during the hot summer and hence the name ‘Summer Palace’. Science had indeed played a major role in the past, that the people had invented air coolers without the use of electricity or any components.

On moving further, the beautiful elephant stable was constructed. History says that the elephants which are used every year for the Mysore Dushera festival are given the best care in this stable. With each elephant having its own private space, there were 11 partitions in the entire construction. Towards the right side of the stable was the museum which contained multiple sculptures of Gods and Goddess, which will be open from 10AM to 5PM and closed on Friday. The Lotus Mahal also had an entry ticket of 30Rs. per person, while they charged the foreigners at a much higher rate.

Next, we moved to the Hazara Rama temple, and as per the name, it contained 1000 carvings of Ramayana in the walls. Well, if you know Ramayana, you could relate to the story, but if you are a person like me, then you have a beautiful lawn outside the temple where you could capture some beautiful photographs. But beware of monkeys in this place.

Then we went to visit the Royal Enclosure, which hosted multiple buildings. An elevated, now partially dismantled construction, is the King’s audience hall, which the King used to address the grievances of the people. You could capture the entire view of the village from this elevated building. Adjacent to this is the Mahanavami Dibba, which is mainly used to entertain the Tax collection officers on their visit to this region. This was opened only for 9 days and the elephants are used for this function. We could also spot a small swimming pool at one end, where the water was transferred into the pool using an open pipe-like structure.

By 4.15pm, we headed to the Queen’s bath, which was protected by a huge pit around the building, so that nobody can surpass it easily. Apart from that, it was a small closed pool at a reasonable depth. Then hunger panic began and the autowala took us out to a restaurant outside the village. Nobody could easily spot the Tamarind tree food point. We had some good food, among which the curd rice was the best of the lot and headed to Vittala temple.

We reached the Vittala temple by 5.20PM and it was getting cloudy. You could either walk to the temple or take an electric car by paying Rs.10 per head. We were happy to observe women empowerment in this UNESCO registered site, yes, the electric cars were driven by female employees. The Vittala temple was so beautiful especially with the sun setting at one end and the swift breeze, this place had some magic in it. The temple was constructed in the form of a chariot with the horses pulling the Vishnu temple. The beauty lies in the outer pillars which are constructed such that it will create musical waves when you touch them. Since the temple was about to close, we had to get back and the autowala bade goodbye by dropping us near the Virupaksha temple at 6.50 PM. None of the places will be opened after 6 and hence we had to find ways to kill time.

We walked to the sunset point (after the sunset though! J) and it was nothing but heaven that we witnessed. The environment was so silent and peaceful, with the continuous mantras enchanting from the temple on one side and darkness falling everywhere, it would be the ideal place to get into deep meditation, if you can deal with the mosquitoes. We sat over there and spent some quality time looking at the silent village around us, imagining how the capital city would have flourished in the past. The capital was carefully situated in a secured place which was covered by rocks on all three sides and Tungabhadra river flowing on one side.

Then it was dinner time and we wanted to visit the popular Mango Tree restaurant. The place was properly designed for the hippies in town, there were few chairs but you could sit on the mattresses spread on the floor and enjoy the meals at your own way. We spent more than 2 hours at the restaurant, just chatting and talking non-sense. Ordered food crazily as we always wanted to taste the varieties, our madam Vj wanted Hash brown potatoes and since it was unavailable, she ordered Mashed potatoes without thinking of the actual end result. Then we made some weird combos to empty the mashed potatoes, pancake stuffed with potatoes and pepper sprinkled on top of it, my crazy lady was actually enjoying it. Indeed, we wrote a small birthday note on the pancake using honey and wished Gagan in advance. It was raining heavily outside and the umbrellas were in action, Sriram and myself went to the restaurant to collect the secret pie ordered for Gagan’s birthday. A birthday cake became a pie because the little village did not have even a single bakery.

Bidding good night to the silent city, I slept off while others were busy on their phone searching for networks. It was midnight 12 and Happy birthday Gagan! Not sure if he expected the pie, but it was a different birthday celebration altogether and I went back to sleep again. As usual, I was the first person to get up and wanted to visit the Sunset/Sunrise point. But none of them woke up and I slowly disturbed everyone’s sleep.

We had our breakfast in the same Venkateshwara restaurant as our boys didn’t want to taste anything different and we were impressed by the food served here. Ordered all the varieties from English breakfast to the local South Indian pooris and filled our stomach. The rates were also normal for a tourist place that the set breakfast costed 150Rs, egg masala dosa at 70Rs and egg bhurji sold at 90Rs. Vj finally got to enjoy her hash brown potatoes as part of the set breakfast and many newer items. By 9.30am, we started on our mission and the first spot was the famous Virupaksha temple. This was one among the few temples in the city where poojas are still done and the spirituality has been restored. After the temple visit, we went to explore the other side of the Tungabhadra river – the hippie side of Hampi.

The river crossing is not an easy task and we had to use the regular boat service to get to the other end. You could either take the coracle ride, which is a bit expensive, or take the normal boat which will cost you 10Rs. per head for the 2-minute ride. However, you might have to wait until the boat gets filled completely. In no time, we were on the other side of the village, with people surrounding us marketing their two-wheelers. Yes, the best way to explore the town would be to hire a bicycle or motorbike. The TVS XL had a day rent of 100Rs. with an extra expense of 75Rs. per litre for petrol. While there were no concrete roads, we were riding on the zig zag broken roads around the village. We also got to witness a crocodile in a river crossing around the village area.

We were on the roads without deciding about the destination. Then we asked a localite for the places to visit and they directed us to the dam and the backwater area. The entire area was so peaceful with grasslands on either side of the roads. While there were few slopes in the path and the vehicle didn’t accelerate beyond a limit, the pillions got the privilege to push the vehicle forward. After a quick round of photo session around the dam, we moved to the backwater area.

With the river on either side of the road, connecting the dam and backwater, we halted at a random point where there were options to take a relaxing ride in the water. While we were hesitant to spend money on a ride in still water, Vj wanted to take the coracle ride as she had never got the opportunity. So we hopped off our vehicle and bargained with the boat guy for a decent rate. The place was completely remote with guys coming around to have some gala time around this place. This place was definitely unsafe for girls, but since we were escorted by our guys, we did not have any issues.

The 20-minute ride costed us 250 bucks for the four of us, yet it was so silent and relaxing. The boat guy dropped us in a so-called-island and we were playing throwing stones at the water aiming for longer distance. After some gala time, we got into the boat and reached the source point. We were completely clueless about our next halt and let our bikes to go in its own way. Then we got to know about the Aanjaneya Hill, which is considered to be the birthplace of Hanuman. If you are planning to visit this temple, be ready to climb the mountain which has 600 steps carved in it. You can park the vehicle at the basement and take the steps. As we reached the top, it started to rain heavily and we spent some time under the shades enjoying the weather. The temple had a piece of floating rock in a glass of water, depicting the Rama Sethu connecting Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka in southern end of the country. Since we were running out of time, we came down quickly and returned the two-wheeler, bidding good bye to the hippie town.

It rained heavily and the boats were stopped and hence we had to wait until the rain stopped. There was one another beauty in this river crossing, where the little Nandi statues were located on the river, with the head popping out of the water. Once the rain stopped, we got into the first boat and went to the other end. It was 5PM and we forgot about our lunch. So, we looked for restaurant around the same street and ended up in a place which served freshly made pizzas, but Gagan did not want to miss few places for food and hence we walked out of the restaurant after drinking lemonade.

Then we walked to the Hampi bazaar which was located exactly opposite to the Virupaksha temple. As we climbed the stairs, there was a huge monolithic Nandi with Matunga hill located on the right. As the rocks were slippery after the rain, we were advised to not to take the climb and hence we moved further inside to reach the Krishna temple. Things were ruined around, yet the place had so much history carved in the walls and pillars. Outside the Achyuta Raya’s temple is the famous Courtesan street, popularly known as the Sule Bazaar which was flocked with merchants around the world to sell their expensive gems. Further ahead on the bazaar is the Pushkarani, a stepped tank with lotus spread around the place. This was the place where the statues of Gods and Goddess were placed during the annual boat festival. As it was getting late, we got a glimpse of few more temples around the area and came back to the hotel.

As we had packed our things already, we wrapped up and reached the bus stand quickly. Bidding goodbye to this amazing town, we went back with lots and lots of memories. As we reached much earlier and didn’t have proper food after breakfast, we wanted to eat loads and ordered loads of food crazily in a restaurant in Hospet near the bus stand. But we were almost full half-way through the order, and we forced ourselves to eat more than what our stomach wanted. After a heavy dinner, we reached the bus stand and our sleeper bus was already waiting for us.

The weekend flew so quickly that we were worried about getting back to work from the next day. With lot of random discussions, we dispersed for the night and a wonderful trip came to an end.

My fellow mates in the trip: Vijayalakshmi (Vj), Shamili (me), Sriram, Gagan