I was in Hampi for about 4 days. Right after a whirlwind trip through Kerala, I came back with heat stroke and got on an overnight train to Hampi with Amma. We stayed for 4 days of touring and took another train back. It was amazing, grueling, inspiring, frustrating, and everything in between. The Vijayanagara Empire has been my focus of research ever since I had a real focus for researching South Indian medieval culture. Since I'm certain that the quality of pictures varied with my experience while I was there, here's a brief account of my time:
Day 1 -
I was a bit of a mess. I was still recovering from heat stroke, I'd been traveling a bit too fast, and I was a little disconnected. I was overwhelmed at being some place so amazing, and I hadn't really gotten my bearings. We had a wonderful driver throughout and he and Amma did the planning for the day while I mostly kept my head from falling off my neck. This is the hardest day of pictures, since I hadn't quite figured out what I was looking for, and my camera was far too limited on space.
Day 2 -
Day 2 tried to start early morning. This would have been the smart thing, but my camera ran out of charge. We had carefully gotten a CD burn of my camera's contents the night before, so I could take more pictures the next day, but I didn't have my charger. It turned out to be a blessing. Although the new camera was NOT cheap, it was wonderful - faster, bigger and better. So I got far more pictures the second day, and with no heat stroke and a better sense of the scenery, I got a great collection of pictures. We managed about 1/2 a day of Hampi and then took a break to see more of Hospet.
- Zenana Enclosure
- Elephant Stables and Museum
- Jain Temple
- Vishnu Temple
- Madhava Temple
- Ellammana Temple and Temple District walk
- Hazarama Temple
- Madhavami Dibba
- Queen's Bath
Day 3 -
Day 3 was arguably the best day. Although there were great finds Day 2, by Day 3 I was getting really good at this. Every day was a wonderful adventure, but on Day 3, Amma and I had a really good pace down. She's a fabulous "museum friend" and we really scoured several areas for references to dance and dancers, so the pictures are quite good. We did, however, bore the living daylights out of driver by this point, since he had really never seen two ladies get so hot and bothered over the ruins that are practically in his backyard. You never appreciate the treasures you have at home!
- King's Balance
- Purandara Mantapa
- Sita's Cave
- Temple
- Varaha Temple
- Sule Bazaar and Pushkarne
- Achutaraya Temple
- Coracle Ride
- Vitthala Temple
- Pushkarani
- Gejala Mandapa
- Museum
- Malyvanta Raghunatha Temple
- Krishna Temple
Day 4 ???
I know I said 4 days, but day 4 was not a Vijayanagara history day. It was culturally rich, but not historically accurate. We visited sites in Anagundi and other areas around Hampi. These sites have a history of their own, equally lofty but often overlooked. The stuff we saw would be very hard to date to Vijayanagara, because actual people are actually using the areas. But from a cultural perspective, it was probably more useful than seeing the dead but pristine ruins of Viyanagara, since it showed me small town life in Karnataka in a way I hadn't seen elsewhere. Also, I got to meet royalty, have a god's eye view of Hampi, and visit my favorite diety - Vishnu Ranganatha. Hard to beat that in a day. When I have it up, I'll link to an account of all that.