Page 538 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

536  SOUTHWESTERN INDIA

Hampi: Vitthala Temple

The grandest of all the religious monuments in the Sacred
Centre, the Vitthala Temple represents the high point of
Vijayanagar art and architecture. Though its founder remains
unknown, it was enlarged in the 16th century by two of
Vijayanagar’s greatest rulers, Krishnadeva
Raya and Achyuta Raya. Preceding
the main shrine is the great open
hall, or mahamandapa, built on
a low platform and supported by
intricately carved pillars. This was . Yalis
the gift of a military commander in Leaping yalis (mythical
1554, just 11 years before the city leonine beasts), many with
was sacked and abandoned. riders, adorn the outer piers
of the temple.

Reconstruction of
the Tower
This shows the pyramidal Relief
vimana (tower), over the A niche in a stone
main sanctuary of the Vitthala pillar has a superb
Temple, as it looked when it rendering of Garuda,
was built in the 16th century. the eagle mount
of Vishnu.

Exploring Hampi Lakshman carved on to a village of Kamalapuram, where
The fabled city of the Vijaya nagar boulder inside the sanctuary. the Archaeological Museum is
kings (see pp534–5), covering The bathing ghats here are located. En route is a gateway
an area of around 20 sq km considered to be the holiest with a damaged façade of
(8 sq miles), sprawls across a at the site. windows and battlements.
spectacular barren and boulder- Beyond lies the Temple of The road that runs south
strewn landscape. Achyuta Raya, one of the major from Hampi village, through
The Sacred Centre, on Hindu complexes at Hampi, the Sacred Centre, leads up
the southern bank of the dating from 1534 and dedicated Hemakuta Hill, scattered
Tungabhadra river, is dominated to Tiruvengalanatha, the form with numerous pre- and early
by the impressive Virupaksha of Vishnu that is venerated at Vijayanagar shrines, many with
Temple. It is dedicated to a form Tirupati (see p682). Its perfect small pyramidal towers. A large
of Shiva (Virupaksha), known plan of two concentric image of the elephant god,
here as Pampapati (the “Lord enclosures, each entered Ganesha, carved on a boulder,
of Pampa”), and commemorates by a towering
his wedding to Pampa, the gopura to the
goddesss of the Tungabhadra. north, is clearly
In front is the colonnaded visible from the
Bazaar Street that dates mainly summit of
from the 16th to the mid-17th Matanga Hill.
centuries, when it teemed with The riverside
pilgrims and travellers in search path continues
of exotic wares. A path beside to the Vitthala
the river leads past the Temple, from
Kodandarama Temple, with where a road
its figures of Rama, Sita and proceeds to the Lush greenery around Matanga Hill
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp701–702 and pp716–17

536-537_EW_India.indd 536 26/04/17 11:48 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm