If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi!

This erstwhile Vijaynagar Empire has cast a spell on me for years now. The first time I visited, I was engulfed by a déjà vu, almost like my past life had finally caught up with me. How else was it possible to feel so much nostalgia for a land I never knew? With time it has been replaced by an unexplainable sense of belongingness.
Hampi is believed to have been greater than even Rome,once one of the richest cities in the world with a population of over half a million. Destiny spares nobody and in the later part of the 16th century, hundreds of years of splendor and civilization were wiped to destruction by Mughal invaders. It’s a wonder how God allowed it. The ruins are so spectacular; it makes one wonder how majestic this place might have been before the obliteration! Today, all that remains is a thousand people reliving the lost glory, rustic ruins that bear testimonial to its times of yore and recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first settlement in Hampi dates back to 1st century and Buddhist sites belonging to that time have been found nearby. The Vijayanagar Empire spanned four dynasties and stretched over states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.
The best time to visit Hampi would be between October and March, but I love Hampi in the monsoons too! Mayura Bhubaneshwari is the usual choice; however there are a host of other lodging options in all budgets. We had a very bad experience with Mayura Bhubaneshwari on our last trip. They charged us a higher amount for basic rooms promising to move us to better rooms in the night but that didn’t happen and they refused to give us a refund!
You can either hire mopeds, bikes or cycles to get around the place. We drove around this time but I absolutely loved the moped rides from my earlier trip…wind in my face, beautiful boulder strewn landscape and surviving reminders of the passage of history.
Vijayanagara architecture is a combination of religious,civil and military architecture. It is to believe to be Indo- Sarasanic in nature.Most of my favourite places in Hampi come under the sacred centre.The main pilgrimage centre is the 12-storied, 15th century Virupaksha temple that happens to also be the tallest structure. It arises majestically above the innumerable ramshackled mandapams nearby. Saunter past Hampi Bazaar, you’ll notice that some of these are even converted into houses, dilapidated and draped in poverty yet cacophonously charming. Once you get to the foothills of Matanga Hill, as you climb those primeval steps past the monolithic Nandi and Sugreeva’s cave you’ll come to my single most favorite spot in the whole of Hampi. There is nothing more magical than sitting atop those rocks and admiring the Achyutaraya Temple complex and courtesans street from up above. I’m always transported back in time.
Hemakuta Hill houses pre-Vijayanagar temples dating back to the 9th century and two large monolithic Ganesha statues that look particularly charming, all lit up after sunset. Of the other temples in the Sacred centre you could also visit Anjaneya temple, Chandikesvara temple, Veerabadhra temple, Krishna temple, Badavilinga temple, Lakshmi Narasimha and Uddana Veerabadhra. A 500 meter walk from the Virupaksha temple through lush green banana plantations leads you to Mango Tree, an open air, river facing restaurant. We gorged down the best food we’d chanced upon in Hampi, as we sat cross legged on the straw mats.
The banks of the Tungabhadra house the famous riverside ruins. The most important of them being the Vittala Temple that is famed for its 56 musical pillars and the stone chariot carved from a single rock with rotatable wheels. You can stroll down to visit the neighboring King’s balance that leads to the banks of the Tungabadra. We crossed the Gejjala Mandapa and our guide told us that people sometimes use this Mandapa for marriages even now. That gave me a really crazy idea but let’s not digress.
The Royal Centre, comprises of mainly the Hazara Rama temple, Tenali Rama’s pavilion, Palace of Vira Harihara, underground Shiva temple, Bhima’s gateway and queens bath. The Royal Enclosure contains the Lotus Mahal, elephant stables, Zenana enclosure and watch towers. The huge platform known as Mahanavami Dibba, stepped tank and underground passages are also a must-see around there. Something about the noble men’s quarters left me fascinated and reminded me of Machi Pichu.
We used day two to cover few of the temples we did not visit previously. By mid morning we had set off on a coracle ride across the river to Anjanadri Hill, a rocky formation which will give you the opportunity for an arduous monkey infested climb to a Hanuman temple. Talking of which, Hampi is believed to be the mythical monkey kingdom, Kishkinda from the Ramayana. Once you get to the ashram you’d believe it was worth the effort. The panoramic view from atop is splendid. I would have love to experience a sunset/sunrise here. Maybe, next time!
I found out much later that one can experiment with some boldering around Hampi. That’s another thing I’ve adding to my to-do list for the next visit. My friends think I’m crazy but I indisputably believe I can live the rest of my life in Hampi. Until then I’ll settle for visits every now and then, there’s so much more to discover, unravel and experience.
We said goodbye to Hampi overwhelmed by a strange concoction of love and loss.

Bucolic Bijapur...

Having explored most of Karnataka I found myself frantically searching for other travel options when I spotted it, on the far northeast corner…a land most people had labeled as a cliché-"nobody really goes there!"…left with depressingly few options(non-availability of tickets as well!), we planned our next holiday rather optimistically and that was how it all began!
It brought about the desired result…our attempt at practicing Kannada made him drive like a maniac! We got off the cab five minutes before the reporting time to find out our bus hadn’t arrived yet. We settled with steaming hot cups of local chai and browsed over print outs of info about Bijapur that I’d picked off the internet. Twenty minutes later, still the only people waiting for a Bijapur bus we decide to venture out and find fellow companions only to discover to our dismay…that we’d missed our bus!
What followed was a wild auto chase to Rajajinagar and frantic calls to the travel agency en route pleading them to wait for us at the next stop. In record timing, ten minutes later four pairs of feet climbed onto a Volvo to Bijapur on a Friday night. The next few minutes found us fighting for ladies seats and glaring at sinister looking moustached men before we settled down. The bus was packed to its brim that night and we were actually joking a few hours back about who’d actually be on the bus to Bijapur but the four of us!
I fell asleep almost as soon as we saw the last of the maddening Friday traffic in Banglore. The next morning I couldn’t hear the end of the joy ride! Apparently one of my friends had a gentleman sneezing into her head all night, the other had a neighbor who snored louder than a bulldozer in action and the last one had the funniest man behind her…he kept tapping(more like slapping) his chest all night and rocking himself to sleep. Well, my friends also witnessed my supine slumber posture with my mouth wide open (a consistently achieved feat!) while I was clearly impervious to the fantastic acoustics on the bus that night. After an eventful ten hour bus ride from Bangalore, we had finally arrived!
Tucked away in the north-eastern part of Karnataka is the extant and charming city of Bijapur. Established in the 10th century by the Chalukyas, it was referred to as Vijayapura (City of victory).The city came under the rule of the Khilji Sultanate in Delhi, was later conquered by the Bahmani Sultanate and by this time the city was being referred to as Vijapur or Bijapur. Finally, the Adil Shahs broke away from the Muslim Bahamanis to establish their own kingdom in Karnataka. Bijapur’s charm lies largely in the architectural legacy from its earliest days. It is a land of Islamic influence with marvelous structures combining the Indo-Saracenic style.
We checked into a decent place, dofferd our travel clothes and had a mouthful at Kamat’s before we set off for the day. As we stepped out, we were hit by a wave of cozen city guides who I’m sure had alternate professions. That weekend it seemed like we were the only tourists who had been there since the last invaders! We embarked on the sight seeing trip on a tonga led by a tractable horse called Raja and his owner, who was not allowed to whip him, thanks to Anu!
Bijapur is truly an underrated historical destination despite the fact that the place has been maintained badly by the Government and a lot of the construction today is dilapidated and in ruins.
Bijapur’s is most known for the Gol Gumbaz. This gigantic mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah is second largest dome in the world after that of St. Peter’s in Vatican City. The interior of the dome is mysteriously unsupported and has a whispering gallery under it where a message carries through 38 meters repeating 11 times! We spent sometime mouthing names of dear ones and enemies(Arun Thomas!!) before we stepped out and admired the aerial view of Bijapur from the roof of the this gigantic dome. Experiencing the sunset from the Gol Gumbaz was an experience in itself!
We didn’t have too much luck with food though I’d read before the trip that Bijapur had some slavering mughalai cuisine but ended up masticating brackish morsels of flavored rice dripping in oil! Another thing we’d read about was the famous Ilkal sarees of Bijapur that nobody there had ever heard about! After asking twenty people from various strata’s of life an auto driver came to our rescue and rushed us to a store that sold these so called hand woven sarees. I dreamt of adding these exquisite sarees to my mothers existing collection and maybe save one for my trousseau too but what did I find? Checked sarees that could be draped on oneself incase you wanted to be paired with a mallu checked lungi clad man to come sort of a costume party! I’m not sure if there were more varieties of these varicolored sarees as the people at the store couldn’t care less about most of their customers!
That was how good the gastronomic and shopping experience got in Bijapur!
Among the other monuments that we marveled at I particularly liked the Bara Kaman, the unfinished masoleum of Ali Adil Shah. Inhabiting the other end of the town is the Ibrahim Roza, the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah and his family. Supposedly the design for the Ibrahim Rauza served as an inspiration for the Taj Mahal! The Jami Masjid is known to be one of the most beautiful mosques in the South.
The Malik-e-Maidan is the largest medieval cannon in the world! Legend has it that if you touch this colossal metal gun and make a wish, it will come true. So we did just that! I made a silent wish for many more such trips and hoped that these monuments would withstand the ravages of time and weather to tell the future generations tales of the glorious past of our country!