My last year’s holiday trip was to Hampi with my cousins. Hampi is a village of Karnataka. It was here the former capital of Vijayanagara Empire situated. Now you can find its ruins here. We were for a 4 days holiday trip there. As we entered Hampi via Hospet we could see Sasivekalu Ganesha. This is a statue of Lord Ganesha with a snake tied around its tummy. There is an interesting story behind this. Once the Lord Ganesha ate so much food that his tummy almost burst. He immediately caught a snake and tied it around his tummy as a belt to save his tummy from bursting. Our entry was amazing with Lord Ganesha’s Darshan.
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Hampi[/caption]
We stayed at Shanthi Guest house. That was an ideal place to relax and rejuvenate. The cool serene green scenery around the guest house makes it a perfect setting to chill out.
The ruins here are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site and are listed as Group of Monuments. Each and every site I saw here was really amazing. We also had a dip in the Tungabhadra river of Hampi. The people here are very friendly. No need of a guide they just explained us about the history of the village in detail. Each and every monument, sculptures, and rocks here has their own story.
The Vijaya Vittala Temple here is a shrine built in the form of temple chariot. The stone chariot built here is just a wonder of ancient architecture. There is an image of Garuda in the sanctum. Floodlights were installed in the temple complex which added to the beauty of the architecture.
Ugra Narsimha Statue carved out of a single rock is another must watch site in Hampi. The statue is about 6.7 meter high and is on the south region of the temple complex of Hemkuta group which contains the Virupaksha Temple.
The Musical Pillars here is a great example of unique architecture style of the Vijayanagra Empire. These pillars when tapped will produce a different sound and if you are tapping all these pillars at the same time they will produce beautiful melodies of musical note. I just can’t explain in words that how amazing was that experience.
The Monolithic Bull of Hampi also known as Yeduru Basavanna or Nandi is located on the east end of the Virupaksha Bazaar. We also saw a great sunset at Matanga Hill. From here we could explore the scenic beauty of Hampi to a great extend.
The Humongous Elephant Stables is another really interesting piece of architecture we saw in Hampi. This was built in Islamic style of architecture. Now only its ruins can be seen here. This is the one among the few least destroyed structures in Hampi. We also saw the long building with a row of domed chambers used to ‘park’ the royal elephants.
The Air Conditioned Lotus Mahal is the place where queens used to rest and relax in the ancient times. It had a built in air conditioning system. Hazara Rama Temple is the other site I saw in Hampi. Even though, the temple is ruined there we could see some of the beautiful wall carvings of Ramayana. We also had a small boat ride in the beautiful Tungabhadra river to reach the Anjaneya mountain where Lord Hanuman was believed to have lived during the times of Ramayana.
Octagonal Bath in Hampi is a large bathing area made in the shape of an Octagon. Near to this place we saw the ruined bases of numerous palaces.
Virupaksha Temple was our last site to visit in Hampi. The temple is also known as the Pampapathi temple, it is a Shiva temple in the Hampi Bazaar. The temple complex also had shrines of the Goddesses Bhuvaneshwari and Pampa. We also enjoyed shopping in Hampi bazaar. We also bought replicas of Hampi ruins from the market. Our trip was amazing you all should experience it.