The romance in the ruins of Hampi

Hampi mesmerized me completely. A surreal landscape defined by rocks, gigantic boulders, craggy hills, exquisite temples and the Tungabhadra River flowing through it all like mercurial silver, the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Karnataka seems like Nature’s beauty on steroids.  

And even though most of  Hampi’s shrines and fortifications are crumbling edifices today—desecrated by Muslim invaders in the battle of Talikotain in 1565—there’s romance in its ruins. Each and every landmark here is a photo op, especially its most iconic shrine— the Virupaksha Temple. Intriguingly, the temple is fully intact even today and has been used for worship since its inception in the 7th century AD.  

Dedicated to Lord Shiva, also known as ‘Virupaksha’, and the consort of the local goddess Pampa, the sprawling shrine nestles at the foot of the Hemakuta Hill. “Once a tiny temple, it grew into a huge complex under the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya. Later, other Vijaynagara rulers invited the world’s top craftsmen, sculptors and architects by leveraging their bilateral trade relations with other countries to further enhance the temple’s beauty,” our guide Ravi informs us as we ooh and aah over Virupaksha’s elegant carvings and sky-scraping gopurams.   

The ceilings of the Ranga Mandapa showcase the rich panels of Vijayanagara paintings. The Nandi Mandapa—a square pavilion open on all sides—has an imposing statue of Nandi. The temple’s short circular pillars, doorways and ceilings are a sight to behold. Along the temple’s eastern cloister, a flight of stairs leads to an underground chamber which houses the shrine of ‘Pataleswara’, another of Shiva’s avatars. Further east is the shrine of the planetary deities where images of the Nava Grahas are arranged on an elevated platform.

Surrounding Shiva’s shrines are those of his consorts—Goddess Pampa and Bhuvaneswari. Story goes that Sati, Brahma’s granddaughter was so keen to marry Siva that she did penance for him in the jungles. Impressed with her devotion, Siva married Sati and they lived at Kailasa. However Sati’s father, Daksha, was miffed. So to insult Siva, he conducted a yajna inviting all gods but him. Sati gate crashed with Siva but Daksha insulted both of them. Humiliated, Sati jumps into the yajna. An enraged Siva performs one of his most fearful dances—the rudra tandava—  carrying Sati’s body. Different pieces of her body fell in 51 places, of which one was Pampa. With time, Pampa became Hampa, and Hampi. All 51 spots are now pilgrim centres, the most prominent being the Virupaksha Temple.

The Virupaksha temple’s main gopuram—the Kanakagiri gopura—leads to a small enclosure with subsidiary shrines and eventually to the river Tungabhadra. Interestingly, part of the river also flows along the temple’s terrace before plunging to the temple-kitchen and then petering out through the outer court.  

Another speciality is the small dark chamber behind the sanctum sanctorum, where the shadow of the main gopurum appears inverted because of the light passing through a tiny slit in the wall. The play of light makes it seem as if it is a giant-stone made pin-hole camera with the wall acting as a screen.  

After viewing the main shrines, we gravitate towards the temple’s main courtyard where the in-house elephant blesses us by patting our heads with its trunk, in lieu of a donation of course! We scramble for selfies. 

Our 2 hours temple tour over,  we exit the complex. As I turn to look over my shoulder at the temple one last time, its beauty spellbinds me yet again. The entire building is bathed in the orange luminescence of the setting sun making it appear even more ethereal if possible!