Hampi

HAMPI Hampi ( a.k.a Humpi or Hampe ) is both a historic & religious place in India.
This was the capital of the Hindu empire, Vijayanagara, who ruled the south India during 14th to 16th century AD. Hampi is located in Karnataka state , a southwestern province of India. Its about 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Bangalore, the state capital. The ruins of Hampi, as it is known today, is a vast open museum of history, architecture and religion. Spread over an area more than 25 sq.km (10 sq. miles), Hampi ruins is packed with giant temples, palaces, market streets, aquatic structures , fortifications and an abundance of other ancient monuments.
The natural landscape The array of huge granite boulders rounded and seemingly detached from one another are haphazardly arranged to give unending hues of pink, ochre and grey in a landscape that is the result of some three thousand million years of erosion. The wind and rain has continuously swept away the soft soil, exposing the hard rocky outcrops. In fact, Hampi has one of the oldest surfaces one can see on earth. Due to the elements, and the fault lines on these rocky surfaces, cracks formed and the never-ending boulder formation started. The natural erosion polished boulders into bizarre shapes. Unlike how pebbles are polished in the flowing water of a river, Hampis boulders were formed by blowing wind. The strongly blowing sandy wind was something like rubbing a hard surface with sandpaper. This continued for many thousands of years, crafting the landscape of Hampi.
The Tungabhadra River flowing north-easterly adds its own dimension to this landscape.. Its valley is rich in boulders and scattered with lagoons, islands and smaller pools of water. Large tracts under banana and coconut plantations add manmade texture to the landscape. Cascades and rapids in the upper reaches versus continuous flooding and a gentler course in the lower areas make this river an inseparable element of the natural landscape of Hampi. Mythological landscape According to mythology, Hampi is the setting of some parts of Ramayana, the Hindu epic poem. The place was a monkey kingdom. Two monkey brothers, Vali and Sugreeva , were at war over the throne of the kingdom. The boulders strewn all over Hampi is what they threw at each other during the battles. Besides the legendary associations, the historic value of the site is further reinforced by the presence of prehistoric rock shelters that thrive in this region and evidence of Megalithic burial chambers a few kilometres west of the settlement of Anegondi Hydraulic works The great majority of the water features is inside the walled area of the Royal Centre. The Royal centre was provided with an elaborate water supply system, which exploited the principles of gravity flow and the siphon to convey relatively small quantities of water by pipeline and open channel. The kamalapura tank, with a backup system of wells. And rain water collection tanks, mainly supplied the system. The destination of supply taken into the royal centre was a complex series of baths , tanks, and fountains. The greatest concentration of these features was in and around the south east walled enclosure and area associated with the
performance and demonstration of royal ritual powers. The water features of the south east enclosure of the royal centre contain the Stepped Tank. This feature, which measures 22sq.m and some 7m deep, is fashioned entirely of finely finished, chlorite schist slabs arranged in a symmetrical formation, with steps and landings descending to the water on four sides. This design shows strong affinities with geometric temple tanks of the late Chalukya and Hoysala period found at other sites at Karnataka. On the basis of the kannada inscriptions carved into the slabs it is said that the chlorite schist blocks forming the tank were brought from elsewhere an re-assembled in site. The conservation of the rainfall and recycling of domestic water was undoubtedly an important factor. Small plastered conduits, which run around some of the structures of the royal centre, appear to have conserved rainwater; well preserved storage tanks are also scattered throughout the zone. The use of siphon and gravity flow enabled water to be fed in to fountains and basin at different levels. The best example of the siphon use at the Royal Centre is the pipe inlet near the Octagonal Fountain. This forms the west side of the large control tank feeding at least 6 separate pipelines. The purpose of this feature seems to have been to prevent silt from entering the sealed pipelines. Sculptures: Among the innumerable sculptures carved onto rocks and boulders scattered all over the Vijayanagara site , are memorial stones commemorating death by some heroic action. Four main types of memorial stones can be distinguished; the sati-stone (satikal), sati-cumhero- stone (sati-virakal), hero-stone (veerakal) and suicide memorial. The sun and the crescent moon that often appear the top of the memorial indicate the lasting glory of the sati or hero.
Boundaries and Feature of The Temple District Of Vitthalapura: The district of Vitthalapura is clearly defined geographically. The Thungabhadra river flows in a north-easterly direction approximately 100mt west of the Vitthala temple. Boulder y granite ridges constraint the district to the north and south. A two storied pavilion like gateway on the path running beside Thugabhadra from Hampi marks the southern entrance to the district. Another gopura style gateway is found to the north. As for the eastern extremity of the Vitthalapura this is represented by the ornate utsava (festival) mandapa at the end of the long colonnade street that runs eastward from the Vitthala temple.

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HAMPI Hampi ( a.k.a Humpi or Hampe ) is both a historic & religious place in India.

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