"Come this way…There is a carving on that boulder and its incredible!” He was all excited and on his way back from behind the boulders. For a moment we were startled a bit because we were not expecting anyone else on those boulders. The guy, whose photo/name is not available, is from UK. He was on a very long (6 months, if I remember correctly) tour to India and has so far covered almost all southern states of India. He is accompanied by his wife, who chose not to jump over the boulders and was waiting somewhere nearby. So we both carried on, on our on ways and what was waiting for us was an amazing carving of lord vishnu in “anantha sayanam” posture coloured with some powder. We took a look back and the guy who we just met has found his ways up through all the river side ruins.
Right after the stone carving was a small temple made out of stone that had some deity inside and someone had lighted a diya inside. The structure is so close to the river that some river water has managed to enter inside.
Proceeding as per our plan, we moved along the river side exploring the riverside ruins. Looked like ancient architects didn’t leave even one stone untouched. Any side you turn and you can see several carvings on the stones around you. Walking further we arrived behind the Sugriva’s cave. Hampi, if we go back in time, has connections to the ancient Indian mythology the “Ramayana”. From readings, this is where Sugriva hid during the fight with his brother and the king of Kishkindha, Baali. Stopping there for some time taking a few extra breaths, we proceeded with our trek.
Back on wheels, our next destination was Vitthala temple. The temple where the famous stone chariot is resting. Don’t know whether it was an addition to our fun or our pains, one of our cycles got a puncture. Deciding we would take turns in getting it back and that we would fall very well beyond our schedule if we turn back now, we moved on.
Vitthala is the Krishna aspect of Lord Vishnu. The temple houses the famous musical pillars which, made out of single blocks of granite blocks, will produce a musical note when tapped gently. Unfortunate we were, the section was closed for some maintenance activities. The entire temple complex is rich with their carvings, ancient style mandapas around and a dark underground kind of pathway which would take you from one side of the temple to other. It was all a sight to watch. Time to return back.
WHERE EVER YOU GO, GO WITH ALL YOUR HEART… CONFUCIUS
Instead of taking the same way for our return, we thought we’d complete a circle and made our way out through the long bazaar in-front of the vitthala temple hoping to cover some of the unplanned locations en route. Well…this decision turned out to be a hectic one because of the condition of our cycle mentioned before. A little longer distance we pedaled to reach back in Hampi and we decide we’d cover the queen’s bath and the royal enclosure.
Thanks to our tired selves and the navigational skills, we missed the closer to the road queen’s bath and went directly to the octagonal bath. It is a big building made in the shape of an octagon and small pool kind of area at the center. We took a walk around the structure and when about to leave the place, met with a group of ladies.
Its always a great feeling when you meet someone who speaks your own language when you are out of you home. Well, here both the groups were happy that they just heared Malayalam from outside their own groups. They were from different parts of Kerala, all studies together and is on a get together trip here in Hampi. The interesting part of their story was that they have made a decision that they’ll all be meeting on a trip like this every year and they haven’t broken chain for the previous few years. Truly inspiring set of friends.
After some chat with them, we prcoeeded to the Royal Enclosure, the large royal complex of the kings. Most of the sites in Hampi closes down with sunset as it get dark. We entered the enclosure after 5.45 and we were highly doubtful of completing it that day. We were welcomed by several tourist guides on our way in. If you are keen on knowing the history, you better hire one of them because there are a lot of stories inside that enclosure. We chose to go on our on and went in and clicked a few pictures. But it was late and we had to push ourselves back to our rooms.
That was day 1 at Hampi, meeting lots of new people and hearing many stories about the place. Wait for the next post for our day 2 adventures.
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