Pillars of Hampi: July 2015

In the previous post, the pictures of carvings from Achyutaraya Temple of Hampi were posted. In this post you will see the pillar carvings (and some other artifacts) from other locations in Hampi. I have mentioned the specific monument wherever I could.

Enjoy.........

Krishna's Flute has cows spellbound

A scene from the story of Ramayana: Sita in Ashok Vatika giving her ornaments to Hanuman, to be passed on to Rama

Many Portuguese travellers and traders had visited the court of Vijaynagara empire. This statue (seen in Hampi museum) shows a group of Portuguese presenting a horse to the king.

Ravana with full contingent of heads and arms!

Man-animal conflict in Hampi

Given the almost continuous state of war between Vijaynagara and neighbouring states, physical fitness and war-readiness was crucial. This set of carvings were seen in the Royal Enclosure, the administrative nerve center of the empire.

The king (Krishnadevraya?) and his court

Profusely carved outer wall of Hazaar (1000) Rama Temple

A closer view of the walls of Hazaar Rama temple

Auspicious sound of conch shell must have sounded nice over Hemkunth Hills.

Warriors of Hampi included both women and...

men!

and then there was time for dance and.....

music!

to be continued ...................

Hampi was capital of Vijaynagara empire in South India in 15th and 16 century AD.This 25 square kilometer area had everything that a city needs to have, viz the houses, markets, palaces, temples, baths, administrative buildings and of course a river! During our first visit to Hampi in June 2015, one feature that appealed to me the most was huge number of pillar carvings, both religious and secular. This blog is an small attempt to document some of these. Please note that we are not historians or archaeologists. The interpretation of carvings is entirely based on our knowledge of Hindu mythology and/or commonsense. It could be off in some cases.

The first time we began noticing pillar carvings was when we reached Achyutaraya temple. This temple is about 1.2 kilometers from famous Virupaksha temple of Hampi, short distance behind Ekshila Nandi.

As on today, this blog only shows carvings from Achyutaraya temple. There are about 90-100 pictures more that need to edited and uploaded. So do watch this space as and when you can!

Enjoy.........

The first glimpse of Achyutaraya Temple

One of the temples in Achyutaraya Temple Complex. This is where we started noticing the pillar carvings.Also notice Matunga Hill in the background. You can see a hint of Veerabhadra temple on its top!

Hampi apparently had a fairly large number of elephants in the days of Vijaynagara empire. This engraving shows an elephant being blessed by the God (Vishnu?).

Royalty seems to receiving some advice from a wandering mendicant

A beggar or a monk?

A View of the adjoining Sule Bazaar

Musician and the dancer

A Hunting Scene

Enraptured dancer and Lady with the Mirror

Dancer and the Show-off (could be a snake-charmer)!

Vijaynagara kings were visited by a number of Portuguese travellers. Could the bearded dancer on the right be of one of those? Or is he a travelling salesman, with basket and all?