Captivating, Creative Hampi

chillibreeze writer — Padmini Jaikrishnan

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A traveler is sometimes fortunate to chance upon a place where time stands still and yet, paradoxically, where the thread of history, weaving together century after century, is palpable in the landscape and its people. In such a place, rock and water, earth and air speak of days long gone, of wealth beyond imagination, of battles and festivities, of ancient narratives and fables and of artistic endeavor that could turn stone into the living, moving flesh of goblins and elephants, of amorous couples, of gods and goddesses, feared and revered.

The landscape of Hampi is surreal. A serpentine river weaves its way through rocky terrain. Large boulders, like huge cannonballs or the eggs of an extinct bird, perch precariously on hill slopes bearing mute testimony to the passage of time.

As far as eye can see, the land is dotted with remnants of what was once, during it’s time, the wealthiest kingdom of Southern India, the Vijayanagar Empire. It was a kingdom so extensive in reach and so powerful in wealth and force that travelers came from lands far away to witness its glory. The Persian Ambassador Abdu’r Razak, who visited the capital in 1443, speaks of market places where stalls were heaped with expensive silk, precious gems and flowers.

The foundation of this vast empire, the kingdom of Vijaynagar, was laid in the year 1336 and for over two hundred years its presence towered over the political and cultural landscape of Asia until it came to an abrupt end in 1565, when the warring Muslim states to the North laid siege to and plundered the empire, reducing much of it to rubble and dust. During the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, the empire extended from Salcette in the West to Vishakhapatnam in the East and Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent, in the South.

The ruins of Vijaynagar are reflective of the political, cultural and personal ambitions of the rulers and embrace many faiths and religions. There are Hindu and Jain temples as well as very marked Islamic influences in the architecture of this period. Across an area of 26 sq kilometers, one also encounters watch-towers, step wells, private enclosures for women, elephant stables and giant aqueducts. A huge, monolithic statue of a Hindu deity, the Ugra Narasimha, a fierce half- man, half- lion, reaches for the sky, from the midst of lush green sugarcane fields and banana groves. The temples themselves are awe-inspiring specimens of Indian architecture. Surrounded by courtyards, the walls and colonnades are covered with exquisite sculpture. Lovers entwine like jasmine creepers, a mahout and his elephant are engaged in moving logs of wood, gods and demons, musicians and dancers cover every inch of the temple walls, bringing to life an era of astounding beauty and creativity.

In the light of the setting sun, the land turns to burnished gold and in the light of the full moon, it is transformed into a giant stage as if awaiting, once again, the royal procession and pageantry.

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Captivating, Creative Hampi

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