In & around the ruins of Hampi. Review on Hampi

I visited Hospet to attend a marriage. We friends decided to spend a day in Hampi and left to Hampi the next morning. We reached Hampi and were amazed at what we saw.

The ruins of a bygone era. The memories of a bygone dynasty. As per Hindu epic Ramayana, this was suppossed to be the site of Kishkinda, a monkey kingdom.

We visited the ruins of Raghunathaswamy Temple

Hampi Bazaar. It is said that jewels were sold in the bazaars here in those periods.

Virupaksha Temple

Big Monolith of Ugra Narasimha which is carved / hewn from a single boulder

Vithala Temple Complex which has around 56 musical pillars

A Stone Chariot with stone wheels that actually revolve.

House of Victory built by Sri Krishnadeva Raya

A path leading through two ruined gates, to the Hazara Ramaswami temple.

The King's Balance where kings were weighed against grain, gold or money which was then distributed to the poor

The Queen's Bath which was a swimming pool which was 50 ft.long and 6 ft.deep, has arched corridors on all four sides with projecting balconies and lotus-shaped fountains that once sprouted perfumed water. There is a moat outside the queens bath which had crocodiles in it during those periods to ward of intruders or who knows peekers.

The two-storeyed Lotus Mahal which was an air-cooled summer palace for the queen. It is shaped like a lotus flower from top and has beautiful arch ways

Huge Elephant Stables

Pushkarini Tank

Mahanavami Dibba from where the royalty viewed Hampi with pomp, colour and revelry during festivals

Sasivekalu [Mustard] Ganesh, a huge a 9 feet tall single stone statue.

Dont miss the carvings in the temples. The Tungabhadra River flowing adds to the ambiance.

There was more to see, but we had little time.

BEWARE

A incident which disturbed us. We were going with a group of foreigners who were our friends. When we went together there, attention was paid more to them and we were not even cared for. When they came to know that all of us are together, only then did they come to us and we interacted with them.

My friend & I were wearing bandanas along with two of my foreign friends. We went to a temple and the priest there pointed to us some carvings on the temple and said, Rama, Ravana, Sita, Rama & Ravana Fighting. Then he stretched his hand towards us and asked 'Give Money'. I replied back to him in the local language Kannada and he kept quite.