Travel: Hampi saga continues

Further down the road, there's Udana Veerbadra Temple, which is still an active temple of Lord Vishnu. And another temple near it is a ruined one, again a beautiful temple. We kept going on the same way, to discover mre amazing structures. Then, on the right side of the road ahead, we saw Sister rock, these are two rocks joined at the top or more like two boulders leaning on each other; just amazing.Then we were near the Underground temple, known as Pataleshwara Temple, its ceiling is at the ground level. Another interesting thing we saw was that canal water always through this temple and beacuse of that the main complex where the shivlinga was kept it was filled with water, making it tough to go inside. But we took another route from the side and climbed inside, the view was great. The water has been logged there for so long, that even small fishes were there.

From there, we went on to see the Commander's Fort, completely in ruins, with only some structures visible. and right oposite to it are recently excavated palaces in the Nobleman's quarters. Right ahead on the road, there's the zenana enclosure, to the elft of the enclosure lies the octagonal basement of the queen's palace. And on the right is the beautiful Lotus Mahal. Right outside the enclosure, there's the elephant stables in the open area, which was used as parade ground. From a path to the right of elephant stables, a way through fields leads to the group of jain temples. And the way along the enclosure wall outside, one can find the ganigitti temple, with a big Lord Hanuman's figure carved in stone.

Travel: Mesmerizing Hampi

Hampi, a World Heritage Site. The second day of our trip and the second of May too. We were looking forward to this, got ready around 8.30 in the morning and had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. Hampi is about 12 Kms from Hospet, as we started drawing close, we could see stone structures here and there, and that made us wanna see hampi more. We saw an old temple and stopped to see it. On the way, we also saw a stone chariot of the Vijaynagar time. And then the rocky Hampi landscape started becoming visible. It was too pretty, it seems the rocks are kept on each other randomly. There are so many canals made by the empire at that time..which are still in use, like the Thurtha Dam, it is so surprising. And this shows they had technology, to build such a well developed canal system all through the city.

Hampi, also called as the 'City of Victory', the imperial city of Vijaynagar Empire South India's largest, wealthiest and most powerful kingdom. There are two ways of starting the journey in to the ruined city, we took the left way, which starts from the river bank and Virupaksha temple. The river bank and the view is breathtaking, ruined structures for bathing are there in large numbers and these are still used by the people. And then we reached the Virupaksha temple, the starting point, is also the only major temple which is still in active worship. Many stories are associated with this this temple, like the goddess Pampa married Shiva and some of the ceiling paintings of the temple show the marriage ceremony. And this region is also associated with Ramayana, as here Rama and Lakhmana arrived to find Sita, after Ravana abducted her.

Coming back to Virupaksha Temple, the 100 columed hall and smaller gopura was made by Krishadevaraya, during his coronation in 1510. The temple complex also has structures of the Rashtrakuta period (9th century) and Hoysala period (13th century). The Manmatha tank near the complex, is a beautiful sight and also the the famous hampi bazaar of those times, still has structures dotted all along the street (a sight to see). Next comes the Hemkuta hills, from pre and early Vijaynagara empire. The temples here are built on sloping granite, indeed another breathtaking sight.

Then there are two massive statues of Ganesha, one is called Sasivekalu (mustard-seed) Ganesha and the Kadlekalu (gram) Ganesha. Along the road ahead, lies the Krishna temple, another major temple and the vast market place and tank opposite to it. And the monolith statue of Lord Narsimha, lies on the right ahead of the road; and a monolith shivlinga (3 meters tall) stands in water (amazing) as a canal passes thru this temple.

Travel: Hospet and Hampi

This trip was planned, quite unlike our earlier trips. My husband and me started planning for it a week before, as it was supposed to be a long journey. We looked up on the internet- the routes, hotels etc. to have a fair idea of the place. And this time it was Hampi, a place we wanted to visit for so long. After seeing the brouchers, we were sure about it. Finally, as usual we left around 10.00 (1st May), from Bangalore, even after immense planning for leaving soon. The distance between Bangalore and Hampi is about 350 kms.

Had breakfast in Agarwal hotel (in the outskirts of Bangalore) our staple breakfast: Idli - vada and got on NH4 soon. Stopped for a short break in CCD, on the way. Our next tea break was in Sira, where i tried to speak 'Swalpa Kannada'. Around 2, we were in Hiriyur. and reached Chitradurga around 3, the distance from Bangalore to Chitradurga is 200 kms. Here, we stopped for lunch, in Aishwarya Fort Hotel, had gobi munchurian and some tasteless biryani and aishwarya fort special masala sabzi which was even more tasteless. Left for hospet around 4, after a long refreshing stop. And reached Hospet at 7, non-stop drive, except one coconut water (el-neer) break, where the villagers gathered around us, thinking we have come from abroad (strange).

Anyways, the drive on NH4 was too good but the drive from Chitradurga to Hospet was a pain, because there were hundreds of trucks on a single lane road but the view was awesome - with windmills and trees all around. The route was like this- Bangalore- Tumker- Sira- Hiriyur- Chitradurga- Jagalur- Kudligi- Hospet = 350 kms.

After reaching Hospet, we went around the place looking for hotel and finally checked in Hotel Priyadarshini. A good hotel is such a relief after a long journey. Came out for dinner around 9 and slept off.