It has been years since I've been planning a trip to Hampi. For some reason, the travel eluded me - until now. The inaccessibility of the place is one big reason. There is no direct train connection from Chennai, there are no airports nearby serviced from Chennai and the drive is too long to enjoy the pleasures of the place. And of course, the consideration to go somewhere the kids would like to go and many other reasons meant that it was always in the bottom of the bucket list.
So it was until this year, when we decided to visit - come what may. Of course, the exam dates, the summer classes for the kids and the yearly trips to Madurai and all meant a tiny window to go for a vacation and we did exactly that (although Sibi ended up losing the first day of class!).
The onward journey was nothing exciting - got a connection at Guntakal to go to Hosepeta. It is a small mining station with nothing to go for it and luckily we booked our stay in a village called Kamalapura near Hampi. Kamalapura is what you can call a village's village and there is a ASI museum and that's that. But as an entry point into Hampi, it has its advantages.
Hampi, on the first look, is not very impressive. The mountains full of boulders and the ruins - here and there - look nothing out of the ordinary. However, knowing the history a little, it is easy to understand what it all meant a few hundreds of years back and the place enchants the moment you start walking around the ruins.
The ruins were the result of the desertion of the city by the Vijayanagara ruling class , once the war at Talikota was lost. The allied Sultan's armies took their time to reach the gates and plunder the city for six months ensuring that there never will be another such city in the same place. It is impossible not to think of the fate of Carthage when that story is told.
Day one, after the travel , we decided to visit just the Virupaksha temple and the surroundings. The weather was hot and keeping everyone hydrated was the major task in the 3-4 hours we spent.
Virupaksha temple, to say it mildly, was a huge disappointment. The old temple has been pretty much lost in the conservation efforts of the ASI and what is now passing for the Virupaksha temple has probably nothing to do with the one from the times of Vijayanagara.
What makes me mad is that, if the ASI thinks it can conserve the temples and ruins by giving them a new color and 'repairing' the sculptures, they should at least do it in an aesthetically sensible way. The yellow color of the Virupaksha temple towers is such that, the moment you see it, you are just revolted. The same travesty that has ruined the great Chola temples in Tirubuvanam is just happening again here. However, as we found out later, ASI is doing a better job at other places in Hampi.
So, the moment I saw the temple, all I wanted was to get out of the place. However, we saw a marriage party entering the temple and the marriage mandapa in the temple was quite beautifully decorated. So, we decided to watch the marriage a little to see how it is done here.
What was shocking though was that the bride was incessantly crying standing near the mandapa. Tears were flowing down the cheeks and there is no one else who seem to be bothered about it. The groom seem to be a middle-aged person and the lady, probably in her late teens. The initial thought was some kind of a local tradition for the bride to cry but that does not make any sense. We were intrigued and watched the ceremony with unease and left the place before the ceremonies were complete.
It was easy to be judgemental in that place but without knowing what was going on , it was difficult to be that as well. For the next 3 days in Hampi, we kept inquiring the auto drivers, the car drivers, the guides about this and everyone seems to be saying that it may be a second marriage for the guy or the bride may be genuinely unhappy with the match - there was no good reason we could find to feel good about it. It was something that lingers on even after the trip is done.
So after Virupaksha, we walked down the huge Hampi bazaar and saw the huge monolithic bull. By this time, the kids have rented a couple of bikes and in the middle of the day heat, were happily riding around the empty bazaar. It was something to imagine the bazaar filled with merchants selling various stuffs in its heyday. Again, the bazaar is being maintained badly with no care taken and at some places, it is on the verge of collapse.
We took to the mountain seeing the directions to the Vitthala temple and saw the majestic Tungabadra flowing in between the mountains of boulders. When we tried to go near the water, this sweet old man warned us in Kannada that there was a death at the same place last week and not to get into the water. We thanked him and walked back.
After that 4 hours spent in the middle of the day in scorching sun, there was no energy left and we just took a stroll in the Kamalapura village - which was an euphemistic way of saying that we took a 10 minute walk. So after spending an hour in the hotel pool, the day ended.
So it was until this year, when we decided to visit - come what may. Of course, the exam dates, the summer classes for the kids and the yearly trips to Madurai and all meant a tiny window to go for a vacation and we did exactly that (although Sibi ended up losing the first day of class!).
The onward journey was nothing exciting - got a connection at Guntakal to go to Hosepeta. It is a small mining station with nothing to go for it and luckily we booked our stay in a village called Kamalapura near Hampi. Kamalapura is what you can call a village's village and there is a ASI museum and that's that. But as an entry point into Hampi, it has its advantages.
Hampi, on the first look, is not very impressive. The mountains full of boulders and the ruins - here and there - look nothing out of the ordinary. However, knowing the history a little, it is easy to understand what it all meant a few hundreds of years back and the place enchants the moment you start walking around the ruins.
The ruins were the result of the desertion of the city by the Vijayanagara ruling class , once the war at Talikota was lost. The allied Sultan's armies took their time to reach the gates and plunder the city for six months ensuring that there never will be another such city in the same place. It is impossible not to think of the fate of Carthage when that story is told.
Day one, after the travel , we decided to visit just the Virupaksha temple and the surroundings. The weather was hot and keeping everyone hydrated was the major task in the 3-4 hours we spent.
What makes me mad is that, if the ASI thinks it can conserve the temples and ruins by giving them a new color and 'repairing' the sculptures, they should at least do it in an aesthetically sensible way. The yellow color of the Virupaksha temple towers is such that, the moment you see it, you are just revolted. The same travesty that has ruined the great Chola temples in Tirubuvanam is just happening again here. However, as we found out later, ASI is doing a better job at other places in Hampi.
So, the moment I saw the temple, all I wanted was to get out of the place. However, we saw a marriage party entering the temple and the marriage mandapa in the temple was quite beautifully decorated. So, we decided to watch the marriage a little to see how it is done here.
What was shocking though was that the bride was incessantly crying standing near the mandapa. Tears were flowing down the cheeks and there is no one else who seem to be bothered about it. The groom seem to be a middle-aged person and the lady, probably in her late teens. The initial thought was some kind of a local tradition for the bride to cry but that does not make any sense. We were intrigued and watched the ceremony with unease and left the place before the ceremonies were complete.
It was easy to be judgemental in that place but without knowing what was going on , it was difficult to be that as well. For the next 3 days in Hampi, we kept inquiring the auto drivers, the car drivers, the guides about this and everyone seems to be saying that it may be a second marriage for the guy or the bride may be genuinely unhappy with the match - there was no good reason we could find to feel good about it. It was something that lingers on even after the trip is done.
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