With mixed feelings I write about my last big trip in India, taken during our Spring Break in March. While there will be other posts and short trips, this was my last long vacation, and it was amazing. Some friends and I visited Hampi, Ellora Caves and Ajanta caves. While these locations are not easy to reach, they are well worth the effort.
We flew into the closest airport and settled into the three-hour drive to the town of Hampi. There were, of course, interesting moments along the way. Most fascinating (no photo) was that while driving on a major highway, one could see local residents placed dung on the road to dry (!) – and yes, the drivers ensured the dung was safe and drove around the piles!
I also loved looking at this ‘local laundromat’:
We arrived at our posh hotel. When Lynn was researching hotels, she saw one had cabanas with private pools and insisted we stay in one! There were three of us sharing the room (I got the roll away bed since I have the CPAP machine) so the cost was quite reasonable. It was a lot of fun being able to skinny dip and hang out by the pool in private.
Hampi is an archaeological, historical and geological wonder located on the Deccan Plateau, the third oldest plateau in the world. There were boulders everywhere, placed when the volcanic rocks would be thrown out into the air falling on top of each other creating interesting formations. The landscape is dotted with these smooth boulders that look like there were artistically placed into creative combinations. However, these granite rocks are all natural, none of the formations have been created by man or by disasters, but rather millions of years of erosion and volcanic activity! These photos show some of the more interesting combinations that caught my eye during our time here.
There are many myths connected with the gods of India residing in the Hampi area, including the daughter of Brahma the creator becoming betrothed to Shiva here. Of more important value is Hampi being identified as the forest domain of the monkeys where Rama and Lakshmana arrived to find his abducted wife and met the Monkey warrior Hanuman. Rama helped Hanuman defeat an enemy while Hanuman found where the missing wife was being held.
Of interest to me is more contemporary history. The city of Vijayanagara was established here in the 14th century and at one time was the second largest city in the WORLD and of course was a powerful Indian state. Fascinating is that by 1565, it was sacked and deserted. After it was looted by the conquering moghuls it was abandoned by them as all the rocks made it hard to build a mosque facing Mecca.
The land was a great place to build an empire because it had the mountains for protection and the river for trade and transport. There was much trade with Portugal and China so these cultures influenced architecture and culture, and remnants of pottery and other goods can still be found.
The 200 years of wealth and power of Vijayanagara can be seen in how the ruins are scattered around for miles. In the local museum, one can see a large 3D map which shows all the areas thus far excavated. Our guide, Ravi, is one of the archaeologists working on the continued excavations. It was fascinating to learn such tidbits like they can only dig from March-April. November through February there are too many tourists, and starting in May the rains begin. As a matter of fact, the digging discovered during this brief period is covered up for protection in April before the rains begin. Ravi told us scientists from China and Egypt are coming on March 13th with the same technology used in Xi’an to uncover parts of the Terra Cotta warriors. The purpose is to scan the ground in certain areas to determine where to dig.
Our touring began at the Krishna bazaar, located across the street from the Krishna temple. We learned that each temple had huge market place attached to it, the heart of trade and commerce. Here Ravi was able to show us some of the more recent excavation work being done.
This and other 16th century bazaars had two floors, with the top being for storage and the ground floor for trading. The grooves seen in the columns below were for the planks that merchants placed their wares on.
The prevalence of rocks resulted in their use for construction. You can still these cut cubes all around, the first step in cutting a stone into smaller pieces.
The photos below are of the water tank associated with the Krishna temple and bazaar, as well as a water trough found at the road crossing from the temple to the bazaar, used by weary travelers.
Our next stop was across the small road to the Krishna Temple. Built in 1513 this temple has some great examples of renovated and unrenovated work.
The temple has a typical layout, with a center shrine with carved columns and several smaller square structures around the four corners of the compound, all surrounded by a wall. Inside the temple, the columns show the various incarnations of Vishnu. The entry gate was originally was 36 m tall and had seven big windows.
Here I saw my first carving of a prostrating man on the floor, which represents how one should properly venerate the idol. I have seen this behavior in temples around India even today. There were several of these floor carvings here and in other temples around Hampi.
In the photos below you can see renovated pieces (red) of the temple. Ravi’s friend is the one doing most of the work (funded by the World Bank). What was fascinating to learn is that the women who sweep the temple save the rocky dust and that is used for the renovation work. This work is a representation of the defeat of the Gajapati rulers of Orissa. I could have spent hours looking at all the details.
Below, the temple on the left is totally renovated. The image on the right is what it looked like before renovation. Below that is a black and while photo of the unrestored compound.
The women sweeping the temple were taking a break and playing Indian chess. One of the women were very nervous to be photographed playing during her break because Ravi was there, who translated her worry that she would get into trouble for playing in the temple. The other woman was thrilled to be the subject of my photos.
Next, we walked up the road to the huge monolithic Sasivekalu Ganesha statue. This was built in 1506 by a trader in memory of Narasimha II (1491-1505). The pavilion surrounding Ganesha was an afterthought, not part of the original structure. Ganesha is 2.5 meters tall and as the name indicates carved from a single rock. Most interesting is that he is sitting on this mother’s lap. It was hard to get a photo of the actual Ganesha due to the lighting and barricades, but the back had a great view. Sasivekalu means mustard seed in the local Kanaada language. In 2009 the women cleaning the road found the inscription detailing the story of this statue. They called the archaeologist to come see and that’s how they learned about the mustard seed story that gave the statue its name. One legend is that Ganesha’s stomach resembles a mustard seed!
While walking we passed this chart of the current excavated sites. Ravi explained to us that they are always adding to this list. Archaeologists estimate it will take 45 yers to find all the monuments.
We continued our walk towards the Sacred Hemakuta Hill, which is dotted with shrines including the enclosure wall of the Virupaksha temple below. Bearing in mind that we all had 3 hours of sleep, I truly was done and wasn’t going to proceed. The guide politely said this was very interesting (and later I found out it was also because we were not returning in the same direction!). It was WELL worth the effort as the area had stunning views of Hampi as well as presented a unique atmosphere.
I learned a lot here. First, if you look at the pole below, this is a critical component of the temple building process. The first item built on a proposed site, this massive column was used to see how the stone behaved. If the land could take it, the temple building proceeded.
These structures precede the heyday of the Vijayanagara era and are the earliest structures in the area, dating from the 9th to the 14th centuries. The dramatic layout, with manmade temples competing with huge, smooth boulders leaves quite an impression. It is believed Lord Shiva meditated here.
Another fascinating tidbit I learned can be seen here. These carvings in the wall were done by students. They were not allowed to carve on the pillars (since most of them were part of a solid structure) so they practiced on such unimportant places until they earned the right to carve on the actual columns and temple walls. It really struck home how you can’t make a mistake on such work!
We insisted on a stop in a cafe to rest, where mango shakes fortified us for the last stop on our tour: Virupaksha Temple, the most sacred, active temple in Hampi. Walking towards the temple the intricate carving became clearer and clearer, when suddenly the erotic sculptures popped into my view. Pretty graphic! Such carvings come from the times before western influences, when love, sex and reproduction were an accepted and normal part of Hindu life.
While the centerpiece of the temple complex is the 50-meter tower, the temple was full of interesting carvings and details – including priests lounging and taking a break from the intensity within, it was getting late in the day after all!
Then one of those magical traveling moments happened. The temple elephant was coming home. Seeing an elephant close up is special enough, but a temple elephant is revered. It was special to see devotes touch him for a blessing. Of course, one could pay and get a blessing from the elephant. It was amazing to watch – the elephant took your money, gave it to the handler and then blessed you. Yes, I did it.
We headed back to the car as the sun was setting and projecting a golden glow on the temple.
We passed the Hampi Bazaar, which was a small street in the 1100s and expanded during the heyday of the 1400s and 1500s. Here the second floor of the bazaar was still standing so it gave a more detailed impression than what we saw before. It is believed gems and pearls were sold here.
There was a final ending to our exhausting day as our hotel hosted an ethic drum and dance show. We were too tired to stay for the whole event, but managed to watch some interesting moments.
