Hampi - A Travelogue
Hampi is
one of those places in India which seem to exist only in history books (another
being Daulatabad). One reads about it,
but very few actually get down to visit it.
The place vaguely exists somewhere in Karnataka, but being off the beaten track
is hard to pin-point exactly where.
I had lived in Bangalore for more than five
years, during which time I thought I had explored all the places worth visiting
which were, say, within one day driving distance. Mysore, Srirangapatnam,
Ramnagaram, Shravanbelagola, Halebid, Belur,
Yercaud, Pondicherry, Tirupati,
Jog Falls, Mekedaauti, Mahabalipuram, Bannerghatta National Park, Shiva Samundra, Nandi Hills, et al. You just have to name it. The
drive to Mysore used to be the most
frequent. Every time we had friends and relatives visiting us, a trip to Mysore was invariably thrown in. But over this
period, not once did it cross my mind to visit Hampi.
It was neither that I had not heard of the place, nor was it due to lack of
interest in historical places or new places to visit. The importance and fame
of the Vijayanagar empire was also very
much etched in my memory. It just did not happen.
But let me assure you that Hampi is well worth the visit. The area is
simply stunning and you will be in awe of not just the magnificient ruins but also the stunning
landscape with millions of boulders surrounding the area. Within this
landscape lie lush palm, banana, and mango plantations, quiet winding roads, colourful local temples, sky blue lakes, and
the Tungabhadra River and Dam. Moreover,
the fields were verdant green with paddy during the season of our trip. Hampi is a great place to spend a few days
wandering around and discovering the rich, vibrant history while also having a
bit of 'your' time. It is a visual delight, especially due to its stark
contrast from most other places. Rocks are all you see whichever direction you
look at. Vegetation is visible in the wet months; but again it never dominates
the landscape.
A small part of the Padras clan in front of the Narasimha statue in Hampi
One of those colourful local temples on the road from Hospet to Hampi.
The musical bars. These are carved out of a single rock and give out the
Sa, Re Ga ... musical notes on being struck
Sa, Re Ga ... musical notes on being struck
Hospet Railway Station
Outside Hotel Malligi - where we stayed in Hospet
Rocks & Gardens!
More Rocks & Gardens!
A Chinese visitor to 14th century Vijayanagar.
Some still to be excavated temples
Restoration of an excavated temple in progress.
Lounge of Hotel Mallige.
The electric golf cart for visiting some of the far flung temples from the car park.
Hampi was
the capital of Vijayanagar (14th century
empire). The ruins of the capital is spread over and area of
25-30 sq km and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is said that before the
fall of Vijayanagar empire, diamonds were sold on the streets. The
main street selling diamonds and other precious stones,
was surprisingly called Pan Supaari
Street ( Betel-leaf Betel-nut street ). A visitor can still see the exact
location of Pan Supaari Street in Hampi, which has been marked with a board by
Archaeological Survey of India.
Hampi
hosts 'Hampi Utsav' every year during first week of
November. It is supposed to be a visual delight as all the monuments/ruins are
lighted in the night and it is a cultural extravaganza of dance and music.
The best part is
that the place is very easily accessible from Bangalore (through an over-night
train), has some nice places to stay, a friendly and helpful local populace,
well maintained monuments, while being relatively light on the purse. Being
spread over a very large area, one needs to be ready to do a lot of walking,
though if the weather is nice the walking is not strenuous.
The nearest railhead and urban centre is Hospet, which is connected to Bangalore by the
Hampi Express. We left Bangalore late at
night (around 10 pm) and reached Hospet
early next morning by 7.30 am. Having called up a local hotel, we had a taxi
waiting at the station who took us to the hotel where we freshened ourselves
and had a lovely breakfast before leaving for Hampi
by the same Taxi. The taxi driver was well versed in the geography and history
of the place and we did not have to take a separate guide. We spent the day
exploring Hampi and returned to the
hotel in the evening by 5 pm, rested for a couple of hours before being dropped
at the station by the same taxi to catch the train back to Bangalore by 9 pm,
reaching Bangalore early the next day.
Hampi is
about 15 kms from Hospet, and an alternative way (with
hind-sight I would say a better way) of exploring Hampi is to take a local bus from Hospet to Hampi.
After reaching Hampi, one can take
motorcycles or mopeds on rent for about Rs.150 per day (excluding fuel). The modalities for taking the bikes on rent is
simple. Just hand over some photo-identity card such as your driving licence, or pan card if you are carrying one.
Once on a bike, you can explore all the
places at your own pace. The real pleasure in exploring Hampi comes from riding a bicycle or by
walking around. Virtually every rock in Hampi
has a story to say. This story is best heard if you give it time and walk
around from rock to rock. As I mentioned earlier, the ruins of Hampi are located over 25-30 sq km area. The
nice thing is that most of the famous places
have motorable roads leading upto them, and at one place there is an electric powered
toy train run by local girls. You can buy a local map costing Rs
15, and cover all the places on your own at your own pace by bike / scooty.
Hospet is a very small town and the Railway Station, most hotels, and the bus
station are within a couple of kms along
one main street from each other. There is no danger of getting lost! One can
easily walk it, or take an rickshaw for
max. Rs.20 from moving from one end of Hospet to
another.
Another place worth visiting is the Tungbhadra dam which is another 16 km from Hampi. Unfortunately, due to our tight
schedule we were not able to see the Tungabhadra
Dam.
To do justice to all the sites, one needs at
least 2 – 3 full days of sight seeing. To discover all the ruins, it may take
much more than 3 days - may be months.
1 Comments:
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