Destruction of Perfection

October 2018

Destruction of Perfection

A household name for beauties, a destroyed wonderland – we planned a trip to Hampi, a place that is said to have made even God feel that it was too grand for him.

I snored in the back seat for about 7 hours before we reached our hotel, The Heritage Hotel, located near all the 2,700 temples built by the powerful ruler Raja Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire.

These were built to promote Hinduism after its harsh decline as the sultanates forced them to convert to Islamic.

The hotel was filled with the lush dotted
 with little specs of joy

We set out in the afternoon to see a few of the many marvels. We were attacked by a group of brochure and food sellers whom we politely rejected for we had come just after lunch.

We found a guide who (pretty obviously) led us around. The UNESCO World Heritage Site also has plenty of information boards such that visitors can go without a guide.

Many info boards lined
the pathways

 We first went to the Virupaksha Bazaar, located before the magnificent Virupaksha temple itself. The Bazaar, translating to market, was a bustling one filled with traders from across the globe.

Flowers, garlands, spices and other items offered and used in the temple were traded here along with many other items.

After photographing this huge marketplace, we removed our slippers to enter the Virupaksha Temple itself, the only temple in Hampi where prayers are offered as the rest have been cruelly destroyed by sultans as it was not Islamic.

The temple was filled with not only people but also huge numbers of monkeys. We went around looking at old, intricate yet faded paintings that collaborated with the fine architecture to form breath-taking walls.

The gopura was remodelled which hence
 makes it different in colour

The architecture was made by definite perfectionists. One such marvel they made was the pinhole camera effect. In a room in the temple, the shadow of the gopura of the temple can be seen perfectly upside down. This was made to boast the architects’ talent. After all, anyone that talented would love to show their capability.

We bowed to all the idols before we left.

On our way, we went to a few small yet intricately constructed temples. The only imperfection was how much they were destroyed.

While the wooden palaces had been burned to mere ashes by the ruthless sultans, the temples were disfigured as well. Even the small carvings on pillars were not spared; they were individually chipped off. This was done as Hindus do not worship damaged idols and preventing us from worshipping was their main aim.

We next went to the Kadalekalu Ganesha Temple, a place of peace. Built for the common man, this temple is a huge statue of Lord Ganesha. This statue is named after kadalekalu, meaning chickpea locally, as his belly looked like a chickpea.

Now, however, it is cut flat and no more looks like one.

The picturesque view of the Virupaksha Bazaar and the Matanga Hill can be seen from this temple.

Another huge statue was the Lakshmi Narasimha statue. Narasimha is the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He sits atop the coils of a giant seven-headed snake called Sesha with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Or at least he used to before the Lakshmi statue was damaged so heavily that only her hand rests on his back while the rest of her is missing.

He is also called Ugra Narasimha, translating to Narasimha in his terrifying form.

Once sat with him the statue of Godess Lakshmi

We retreated back to our hotel, hungry and tired. We rested for the rest of the evening.

We set off once again in the break of dawn with the same guide.

Our first visit was to the Hazara Rama Temple, known informally as the comic strip of the Ramayana. Its walls are decorated with pictures of Lord Rama from his life story, a mythological Indian epic.

We later went to the Queen’s Bath, an enclosure where the queen and her friends used to bathe comfortably. This monument has not been destroyed due to its Indo-Islamic architecture where their culture was also incorporated.

Next, we walked through another lengthy market known for trading horses. The horses were traded by the Arabs in the famous Vittala Bazaar. The ruins of this market can be seen along the road leading to the architectural piece of beauty, the Vitthala Temple.

This temple is the real stuff; a quick search for Hampi’s pictures would show mostly pictures of this inspiration.

This temple is pomp at its very best. It is dedicated to Lord Vitthala, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

A blueprint of the temple

Legends state that this legend of a temple was built as an abode for the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in his Vitthala form. But looking at its magnificence, he felt it was too grand for his use and hence went back to his own humble home.

A small blueprint of the temple

This temple epitomizes the creativity and smartness they possessed. This temple is built in the Dravidian style of architecture.

It contains beautiful shrines, extravagant halls and the famous musical pillars.

The most photographed in all of Hampi is the stone chariot. With small figures representing mythical battles, the chariot is flawless.

The main hall in the temple is immensely awe-inspiring which is designed with sculptures of many designs.

The musical pillars in the Ranga Mantapa are the most fascinating. When tapped lightly, they emitted sounds of musical instruments in all 8 notes.

The main pillars are surrounded with 7 others to play each note. Each pillar was carved out of individual stone.

Huge hooks were at the base of this mantapa to which a cotton cloth hanging from the top was tied. This let the music be heard for kilometres of land.

This, however, was not only destroyed by the sultans. Locals used car keys, sticks or anything they could find to try and hear the sounds.

Amidst all of this temple’s history, the British also destroyed parts of this temple (of course the British come into the picture 🙄)

To satisfy their curiosity, they cut two pillars to see if there was anything inside the pillars that caused the musical notes to be played. However, they found nothing inside.

The two cut pillars can still be seen today.

Still in awe of the beauty, we went back to our hotel where we rested for the rest of the day.

We visited Aihole, Pattadkal and Badami on the next day, which was also as fascinating.
They are architectural marvels that were built by kings to please the divine Gods and show their humility to them.
While Aihole and Pattadkal were temples and even small houses, Badami was a set of caves filled with the priceless sculptures of perfection.

My parents and I came back home, satisfied with our beautifully precious memories.