HAMPI
Hampi, the seat of the great Pampapati or Virupaksha temple of Lord Siva ,
the patron-deity and family God of the Kings of Vijayanagar, stands on the
southern bank of river Tungabhadra in the Bellary
district and is about nine miles from the town of Hospet in Karnataka. It was the oldest and
the most sacred temple
of Vijayanagar . It has
miraculously escaped destruction, which was the fate of Vijayanagar after the
battle of Talikota in 1565 A.D.
This
great and ancient temple
of Hampi originally had a
small village around it. Long before the grand Vijayanagar Empire, it was a
spot where there was nothing but nature in one of her wildest moods. On one
side there were huge boulders and lofty hills scattered and on the other there
were green trees and grass. River Tungabhadra flowed nearby.The majesty of huge
tumbled boulders, the river, isolation, solitude and wild nature attracted a
number of sages and ascetics to this spot.
Sage Vidyaranya used the place for his meditation.
For
about three hundred years Vijayanagar empire remained as a bulwark against the
onrush of alien culture and ideas, and stood up in support of the traditional
religion and culture of the country. Vijayanagar became the Dakshina Kasi and
Virupaksha was famous as one of the 108 Divya Kshetras of Bharat. The first
dynasty of Vijayanagar is named after Sangama, who was the father of Harihara I
and Bukka 1.Bukka I was succeeded by Harihara II who assumed imperial titles.
He is eulogized for making sixteen great gifts to various temples situated in
places ranging from Kurnool
to Kumbakonam.
He extended his sway over the whole of South India . He was a devout worshipper of Lord Siva,
Virupaksha, though tolerant of other faiths. There were constant fights between
the Vijayanagar Empire and the Badami
Kingdom . There were nine
kings in his first Sangama dynasty which had come to power after the decline of
Hoysalas and Yadavas and it remained in power from 1336 to 1486 A.D.The last Saluva ruler was deposed
by Vira Narasimha, Narsa Naik’s son of the Taluva dynasty who was succeeded by
his younger half-brother, Krishna Deva Raya, the greatest among Vijayanagar
rulers and one of the most distinguished kings of India.
In his reign, Vijayanagar Empire was at its zenith of
glory and prosperity. He was a great patron of Sanskrit and Telugu literature
and he himself wrote his great work Amuktamalyada in Telugu in which he refers
to his other five works in Sanskirt. In his court there were eight famous poets
called the Ashtagiggajas and the Poet Laureate was Peddana. Dhurjati was
another famous poet. It is said that Krishna Deva Raya desired to know from
other poets as to how it was that Dhurjati could bring extraordinary sweetness
to his poetic compositions.
One of the court poets, Tenali
Ramakrishna, a humorous writer and the author of “Panduranga Mahatyam”
investigated the “secret” an reported in the open court that the sweetness was
traceable to the constant contact of Poet Dhurjati with the sweet lips of his
mistress! On Krishna Deva Raya’s
death, his half-brother Achyuta Raya ascended the throne. After Achyuta Raya
came Venkata Raya I and then Sadasiva Raya, but the power was wih Rama Raya,
the Minister. Rama Raya was the virtual ruler and he possessed great abilities.
He became over-confident and haughty and by his changing alliances, he
alienated the sympathies of the people of his neighbouring states.
The Muslim States of Bijapur, Golkonda,
Ahmednagar and Bidar formed a coalition; the long-standing hostility ended in a
combined attack on Vijayanagar and on the 23rd January, 1665 A.D.,
the battle of Talikotta was fought near the villages of Raksas and Tagdi. It
resulted in the defeat of the Vijayanagar armies.
Hussain Nizam Shah killed Rama Raya
and the invading army enriched itself fabulously by plunder. The highly
developed and magnificent city of Vijayanagar
was systematically destroyed by the invading army. From the third day after the
battle up to the next five months the destruction was carried out relentlessly
and completely. “Never perhaps in the history of the world had such havoc been
wrought and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city; teeming with a wealthy
and industrious population in the full plentitude of prosperity one day, and on the next day
seized, pillaged and reduced to ruins”.
The
UNESCO reports – nestle within them almost every highlight of classical Indian
architecture. Palaces, temples, marketplaces, watch towers, stables, baths and
monoliths lie scattered amidst enormous boulders, which complement the rugged
look and historic feel of the place. To complete the picture is the Tungabhadra
river, its flow providing a much-needed sense of movement in the ambience that
has remained frozen in time for long. Built as the capital of the Vijaynagar
empire, Hampi has all the elements that would make any royal proud of his
abode. Horses, elephants and dancing girls carved in stone, musical pillars,
cusped arches, a lotus-shaped fountain, a stepped water tank, an underground
chamber, a massive chariot.
The
ruins that lay in about 25 sq km area elicit exclamations after every short
distance. The Virupaksha
Temple has a nine-tiered
50-metre gopuram. The Vithala temple has 56 stone pillars that produce musical
notes when tapped. Then there is the 6.7 meter Narasimha monolith. The jewels may have been plundered, the
city abandoned a couple of hundred years after it was founded, but the grandeur
of the last Vijayanagar capital has to be seen to be believed even today.
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