Hampi Ruins That Want To Speak

Hampi, the quintennial ancient city which was the capital of Vijayanagar empire with associations to Kishkindha, the kingdom of moneys in the Ramayana. We visited this UNESCO World Heritage site last month and the place comes alive with ruins strewn all around the 25 sq. kms with the hills Anjaneya, Malyavanta and Matanga on the three sides and the fourth with the Tungabhadra river.

The ruins which show the grandeur of this city in its prime time seem to speak for themselves. The Vitthala temple has the famous Garuda in as a stone chariot in the front of the temple which faces the mandapa and is a signature picture of Hampi. The mandapa has 56 carved stone pillars of various diameters, shapes, length and surface that produce musical sounds when it is stuck. Though we are not allowed to touch the pillars these days, it sounds of wind blowing around the mandapa seem to produce a soft melody telling us that these pillars once produced different sounds used as accompaniments for dances and music happening in the temple.

The market place in front of the Vittala temple shows the grandeur of the kingdom of Vijayanagar. It shows that there were various influences in the kingdom as traders came from far and wide to showcase their goods. The other ruins like the Krishna temple with the broken down Nrusimha, the Kadalekalu and Sasivekalu Ganesha, Shiva Linga, Hazara Rama temple and many more ruins scattered across the city have a voice of their own and want to talk to you about how they stood years back and seem to want to come back to life to tell us the victories and defeats faced by the people of the Vijayanagar kingdom.

There might be a day when we could use technology like Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality to bring back the greatness of this beautiful place called Hampi. Hoping that this happens soon as people from all over the world will appreciate the greatness and richness in culture and diversity of this place.

Do visit the place if you have not already seen it.