Hampi

Hampi is what remains of Vijayanagara, capital of the last great Hindu empire of South India. From 1336 until 1565 the city spread along the Tungabhadra River, and by around 1500 it may have been the second-largest city in the world after Beijing, drawing merchants from Persia and Portuguese Goa. In 1565 a coalition of Deccan sultanates defeated the empire's army, and the city was sacked and abandoned. UNESCO counts more than 1,600 surviving remains scattered across a landscape of farmland and huge piles of granite boulders: temples, market streets, palace platforms, stepped tanks, aqueducts, gateways and stables. Local tradition identifies the area with Kishkindha, the monkey kingdom of the Ramayana.

The Virupaksha Temple is the oldest shrine and still in worship. Parts of it are older than the empire, and its regularly repainted gopuram towers over the long, ruined colonnade of Hampi Bazaar. On the far side of Hemakuta Hill, which is covered in early temples, a 1515 temple to Krishna faces another market street and a stepped tank. Nearby are two of Hampi's great monoliths: a Shiva linga standing in water and a seated Narasimha, the man-lion form of Vishnu, carved from a single boulder; its blackened floor shows that someone tried to burn the shrine. The Kadalekalu Ganesha, carved in place from the living rock, sits in a pillared hall on the hill's eastern slope.

The Vitthala Temple is the most ornate complex. In its courtyard is the stone chariot, a small Garuda shrine shaped like a processional temple car, which has become the emblem of Hampi. In front of it, the hall's carved granite pillars ring with musical tones when struck; local tradition says the hall was used for music and dance. The royal centre to the south shows a different taste: the Lotus Mahal combines a Hindu plan with lobed arches and domes borrowed from Indo-Islamic building, and the long elephant stables have eleven domed chambers. There are also Jain temples and a mosque with a tomb.

The site is vast, and the sacred centre, the riverside and the royal enclosure are far apart, so plan for more than one day. Sunrise or sunset from Hemakuta or Matanga Hill, looking over the boulders, is a highlight in itself. The Virupaksha Temple holds a chariot festival each spring and Maha Shivaratri celebrations.

Getting there

Hampi village sits beside the Virupaksha Temple, about 4 km from Kamalapuram. The nearest city is Hosapete, about 13 km by road, whose Hosapete Junction station has overnight trains from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Goa; local buses run from Hosapete bus stand to Hampi every 15–20 minutes. Hubballi Airport (HBX) is about 150 km away. Jindal Vijayanagar Airport (VDY) near Toranagallu, about 35 km away, has had only limited regional service, so check current flights. The nearest major international airport is Bengaluru (BLR), about 350 km by road.