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| At the top of the Anjaneya Hill, the birthplace of Hanuman as per the legends |
Hampi. One of my dreams for a very long time and now I am writing this account on the back of 2 visits to the place - the first one short and frantic, the second longer and more frantic escapades.
Lets not make this an account of how to go to Hampi, the weather there, places to see, where to eat, where to stay etc etc. There are tons of other sites and blogs for that and honestly, they are doing a great job at it. I don'e need to muck about in that universe and make a mockery of myself. Instead, let me share experiences which might be unique for some people out there.
I remember the first time I went to Hampi, it was a split second decision, almost. My friend Satyaki called me up one day and asked if I would like to go as he and some of his friends were planning a trip next weekend. I jumped and yelled yes. Well, sort of. I think I was in office at that time so the yelling part might be a little over-exaggerated and too much nostalgia. Whatever it be, next weekend I was on the bus with them destined to fulfill my long standing dream.
To be quite frank, Hampi is the Rome of India. Now, I might be jumping a tad high here but that is what I felt. When I had been in Rome I was awestruck at the volume of the historical remains that lie scattered
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| The point on the Tungabhadra where you can cross the river via boat services |
across the city, how an ancient palace sprouts up at every corner when you make a turn and it turns out to be one forum or the other. I got goosebumps walking along the main street of the Roman Forum intact with the paved stones of that era, climbing the Palatine Hill and looking across to the proud columns that are the only remnants of the structures that had once been or looking at the huge cavernous space which had once been the Temple of Venus. Many people have visited Rome and I might be stating the obvious but it gave me a huge kick to just stand there and imagine how it had been. And then there had been the Colosseum just a little way down from the Palatine... I am digressing, let Rome be reserved for some later post. This is about our very own, albeit much younger Rome.
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| Virupaksha temple from the side |
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| View from the Hemakuta hill |
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| Surrounded by the Hemakuta temples |
We witnessed the sunrise on our way from Hospet to Hampi since the bus reached the Hospet Bus Stand at around 6 in the morning and the time being the latter half of 2012, the sunrises had shifted to a later hour. Needless to say it was magical with the red sun slowly rising over the random boulders of the land, some truly of the land while some belonging to broken down ancient houses of the old. About 10 or 20 mins into the journey, you start to notice the remains of the Vijayanagar monarchy just by the road. This is what struck me and immediately brought back the memories of wandering across Rome on foot.
We stayed at a place on the other side of Tungabhadra just by the reservoir. It was
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| The bamboo huts where we stayed |
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| The road by the reservoir |
an intoxicating place with us occupying 2 of 4 bamboo huts in the middle of paddy fields with hills rising up in the distance, covered with randomly strewn boulders which seemed like they had been placed there by giant's hands and could tumble down at the slightest persuasion. At night, when the surroundings went pitch dark, the moon shone on the land like Galadriel's light and gave us such a surreal experience that we forgot the beer we had been having and got high on the sight that lay in front of us - a world of absolutely no colours and distant boulders on the hills looking like ramparts of some ancient fort.
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| View from the top of the Matunga Hill |
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Whats left of the Hampi Bazaar of old. The road leads
from the Virupaksha Temple on one end
to the Monolithic Bull at the other end
flanked by the Matunga Hill.
Beside the Monolithic bull are the stairs which lead
to the Achutyaraya temple across the hill. |
The most unnerving yet the most enriching experience of the trip came on the final day. Our bus was supposed to leave for Bangalore at around 10-11 at night (Forgot the exact time. Its been 2 years almost) and we had to reach Hospet for that which is roughly an hour's bus ride from Hampi Bazaar.
We had been wandering the whole day after checking out from the hotel and advancing at a snail's pace from the Hemakuta Hills to the Achutyaraya Temple, across the wide expanse of the old Courtesan Street and across multitudes of temples strewn en route to the Kings balance. We were headed for the Vitthalaswamy temple which, from what we had read, was the epitome of the Vijayanagar architecture. By the time we reached it was almost 6 in the evening and the temple had closed down for the public. We pleaded with the guards and they let us in for 15 mins during which we ran the entire perimeter in a last minute gasp to take in as much as we could. I remember I took snaps while on the run!!
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Climbing the stairs towards the
Achutyaraya |
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| An unnamed temple on the way |
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| The Achutyaraya temple in the distance |
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| The gate of the Achutyaraya temple complex opening to the Courtesan Street |
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| The Courtesan Street |
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| The lake (actually Tungabhadra) that played such a great part later on |
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| Temples and structures on the way to the Vitthalaswamy |
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| The King's Balance |
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| Vitthalaswamy temple complex |
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| Debuda in front of the famous chariot at the Vitthalaswamy temple |
Once the 15 mins were over, me, Satyaki and one of his friends, Debuda, we went to a nearby Shiva temple driven by an old Bengali adventure story we had read while in school. There were 2 others in the group who went to sit by a lake we had noticed on our way to Vitthalaswamy temple. When we three finally started our journey back which was a good 2 -3 km walk and included a hill to be crossed, it was already dark and Prady and Moha, the lake lovers, were well seated at the waterside. We three started walking, dazed, spellbound and drinking in the experience of walking amidst the ruins of Hampi in the dark, with no one around except a shining moon to light up the broken places making them sinister and alien at the same time. We were in a trance and we kept talking amongst ourselves about how this was one of the most beautiful and blessed trips we have ever had.
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| As darkness fell... |
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| ...over Hampi |
We reached the lake which was some way down from the walking path (We hadn't realised how far the lake actually was till we got down the shore) and started looking for the missing 2. We shouted their names but could hear no reply. We got unnerved. Previously we had been warned by the guards at the Vitthalaswamy that the path was not safe after dark. We rapidly started walking towards the shore of the lake and kept calling out their names and as we went forward we could smell incense, ghee and other assorted mixture of things which one would normally find in a cremation ground. The panic rose even more and so did the volume of our yelling and finally Prady's voice came through. Debuda was beside himself in anger and cursed aloud but we finally pulled them from their lake side reverie and started back towards the Hampi Bazaar. We still had to cross the length of the Courtesan Street, go through the empty hollow premises of the Achutyaraya and cross the hill. Unless, we took an alternative path which we had heard about.
By now, we were in a state if alarm. It was already close to 7 and the last bus for Hospet left Hampi Bus Stand at around 8-8:30. Prady and me went ahead to find out the alternative route which bypassed the places as mentioned above. We ended up at a place from where the only stairs that led anywhere were down towards the lake (which was actually the Tungabhadra which we later realised) and towards the cremation ghat which we had identified from the other side. We decided to not to explore any further and returned. We were to take the longer route after all.
We started out - Prady in the lead, part concerned, part scared and part guilty, I went behind while Satyaki and Debuda brought up the rear with Moha in tow who had by now injured her feet and had to be almost hauled by Debuda. We crossed the Courtesans quarters with their hollow shells emanating unearthly echoes in the moonlight (might have been my overworked imagination!) and passed into the Achutyaraya. Now Achutyaraya stands bang at the foothills of the Matunga Hill which we had to partially cross to get to our destination. It was shrouded in darkness and no part of the moonlight came throught except for a diffused partial glow that painted the area in a colour of death. The moment I crossed the gates of the Achutyaraya and passed in, it seemed like a bell clanged somewhere and the world went quite. There was an anger somewhere, maybe of the times past, of the glory of Vijayanagara lost on the swords of the Deccan Sultanate, or maybe simply of the fact that what was once so loved, so opulent, so beautiful now lay in ruins. It was one of the scariest 10 seconds of my life as I quickly made my way across and exited through the other gate to reach the final stairs of the hill we had to cross. Now, needless to say, my feelings overreacted and Achutyaraya has no history of being a haunted place. But that evening, that hour, that situation made it so and I am sure that this memory will be one of those which remain the most vivid till the day I die.
The rest of the journey back was less dangerous although we had to carefully navigate the hill path in the darkness but we reached the other side and saw the lights of the Hampi P.S. at around 7:30 pm. We were relieved, exhausted and overjoyed that we were back in the modern age although we all admitted later that the evening stroll was one of the singular unique trips of our lives.
