ಕೇಳಿಸದೆ ಕಲ್ಲು ಕಲ್ಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ನುಡಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ನುಡಿ ಕಾಣಿಸದೆ ಹೊನ್ನ ಚರಿತೆಯಲಿ ಹಂಪೆಯ ಗುಡಿ ಹಂಪೆಯ ಗುಡಿ ವೈಭವದ ತವರು ಕೂಗಿದೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿಸುವ ಹೃದಯ ಬೇಡಿದೆ ಕೇಳು ನೀನು. - ಹಂಸಲೇಖ
My translation: Didn't you hear Kannada from each and every stone and boulder at Hampi? Didn't you see the great Hampe temples in the golden scriptures? The hometown of glory is urging for hearts to love it. Please hear it! - Hamsalekha
The composer has so beautifully described the great Indian historical place. This is one of my favorite verses I have ever heard in my entire life. Honestly, I think is it not possible to put the beauty of that place in any word. That place is all an immense experience!
Hampi is a plethora of rich art and culture!
Rasika Gasti.
When you stand in the midst of all the wonderful archeological ruins and close your eyes, you can imagine the dazzling beauty and richness of the Royal Vijaynagar Empire- the largest and the richest empire in the entire world back then. You can imagine the hard work of the architects in building these numerous temples and mantapas (assembly halls), and decorating each and every part of the stone with intricate and speechless designs and sculptures. And, when you walk down the streets of town bazaars (markets), you can picture the hustle and bustle of international traders and buyers with amazing thinks like huge stacks of gold and precious stones for sale, elephants and horses. When you will walk around the dancing halls for queens, you can envision a beautiful queen dancing graceful with long, thick braids, bright eyes, and anklet bells. She is surrounded by skillful musicians, hanging curtains and earthen lamps that illuminate the entire place. It feels so awesome to stand in the middle of a Durbar (king’s court) and picture the great king on the elevated throne and other courtiers along the pillars. It feels really fantastic to experience history so closely. Overall, it’s all about how you perceive that place. For someone, it can just be some random stones or boulders, while some can hear the stories that these stones are shouting to us.
The beauty of Hampi lies all in your eyes.
Rasika Gasti.
Situated in Karnataka, India, this Unesco World Heritage Site sounds so inquisitive that people from all over the world pave their ways to the great royal city of Hampi out of curiosity. People prefer to stay many days in this single place to research, explore each and every place in detail, embrace the lifestyle of staying in traditional homes of Karnataka, riding across the enormous paddy fields on a motorbike, indulge in Carnatic music and dance, savor spicy and mouthwatering Karnataka cuisine and just spend some peaceful days in the midst of great history. This is a complete package of leisure and educational travel.
This place beholds some of the great scientific inventions like musical pillars, multidimensional sculptures, camera lenses, etc. These talents expressed by the craftsmen nearly 500 years ago, still has baffled many scientist and researchers all around the world. Hence, this place is visited by a lot of scholarly people to figure out how they were able to do all these exceptional things and from where did they gain this knowledge 500 years ago. Further in my blogs, I will make sure to explain about some of the inventions that I learnt from my visit to Hampi.
Today, I bring to you a complete detailed guide about all the marvelous places I visited in Hampi. Whenever content creators from all around the world make travel blogs or vlogs about Hampi, they always split them in different episodes. The reason being that Hampi is such a huge empire, that it is not possible to explain all in one content. The creators need time and energy to wrap their heads around all that they have seen, heard or experience in few world, photos or videos. Also, curious audiences like you need time to digest such a huge amount of information. Hence, I will also be splitting my blogs in different sections to make it easier for me as well as you.
Let’s get started. Before diving into the main tourist attractions, it is important to understand a little bit of geography and history about this place.
Geography and History of Vijayanagara empire.
Hampi is the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire situated in the eastern part of central Karnataka, Bellary District. This region is blessed by the holy Tungabhadra river, numerous mountains of boulders and natural bio-diversity.
This place has been in knowledge of the people since the era of Ramayana as Kishkinda. This place is the birth place of Lord Hanuman, an important character in Ramayana. Hence, a lot of stories and legends of Ramayana have taken place over here.
Establishing the Sangama dynasty, two brothers, Harihara I and Bukka Raya I founded this empire in 1336. The Sangama dynasty ruled this empire till 1485. Then, the Suluva dynasty ruled Vijaynagar from 1485 to1491. After the rule of Suluva dynasty, the prominent period of progress and prosperity began with the onset of Tuluva Dynasty from 1505. Especially, during the rule of great king Shri Krishnadevraya (1509-30). Throughout the history of great Indian rulers and emperors, Krishnadevraya is the most renowned one because he made his empire to reach its golden heights. Valuable minerals like gold were naturally blessed to this land. The glory of Hampi’s richness and prosperity reached overseas because of extensive trading. The Portuguese, Persian, Italian, Mongolian and European traders frequently visited the great Hampi Markets because it was one of the largest and the richest markets on the planet. Hence, Hampi was know as the richest medieval-era city during that time. That’s why long time ago, India was referred as ‘a golden bird.’
It is also believed that most of the beautiful monument and palaces that makes Hampi special was made during the rule of Krishnadevraya. Krishnadevraya was able to win the hearts of all the people in his kingdom, hence he became a revered king. Some of the reasons being progress, improvement and prosperity into the lives of the people. The most prominent reason that stands out is the attitude of protection towards his people. At the time when the northern past of India was conquered by the Bahamani Sultans (Mughals), the Deccan sultans wanted to invade into the souther part as well. But Krishnadevraya built such a strong army that they stood like a strong shield and protected the land from Mughals. The strong army protected its empire from east coast to the west coast. Hence, this was a very war prone zone. Every time a war ended, Krishnadevraya took the responsibility to take care of the injured and deceased soldiers along with their families.
He made Hampi a golden city. Unfortunately, after he died, the Deccan Sultans were able to invade into the empire in 1565. This war is referred as “Talikota war.” The Mughals destroyed this enormously created beautiful city. They burnt the temples, wreaked the palaces and assembly halls, demolished the God’s idols and looted this rich land for 6 months. They snatched away all the glory that was created for decades in just 6 months. Hampi was left as a ruined and lost city…
In 1800, when India was under the British rule, Colin Mackenzie rediscovered this place. Archeologist started discovering this place. In 1986, UNESCO declared it as a world heritage site. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is looking after this place. Thus, it has done a great job of restoring, maintaining and conserving the ruins of Hampi. Till date archeologist from all around the world visit this place because they believe that there is a great palace hidden under the soil. Hence, Hampi is getting the attention and respect that it needs.
The charming and prosperous city of Hampi has been turned into a poor and destructed archeological ruins. But you know what? every stone and boulder has a story of prosperity, wealth, success, difficult times and even despair. It is we who need to make an effort to see something valuable beyond the stones. I agree that invaders have snatched away the opulence, but the architectural talents, craftsmen-ship, great ideas of inventions, and countless stories that are left behind are more valuable.
I think, all the basic information that I shared today will be enough to get you started on our psychological ride to Hampi. So, stay tuned for the series of coming up blogs about this treasure of Indian history.
Pack your bags, fasten your seat belts and get ready to ride!!😎
Journey Through India. 