The world heritage site of UNESCO informs us that
“Hampi’s spectacular setting is dominated by river Tungabhadra, craggy hill ranges and open plains, with widespread physical remains. The sophistication of the varied urban, royal and sacred systems is evident from the more than 1600 surviving remains that include forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, Mandapas memorial structures, gateways, defence check posts, stables, water structures, etc.”
To visit the 1600 remains is a daunting task that cannot be accomplished in the couple of days that we spent there. But we did manage to take in some of the most spectacular ones. Our minds were filled with visions of how life must have been in those times and we wandered past the intricately carved pillars and walls trying to imagine the people who created these marvels. What had they been thinking, those craftsmen as they went about their life’s work? Do their souls reside here still? Or do they visit and look over our shoulders; smiling with pleasure as we admire their efforts?
And do they sigh in despair when vandals carve ugly graffiti alongside what could only have been a labour of love for them?
How heart-wrenching it must have been for them, when their city was desecrated and destroyed by invaders. When they had to abandon their homes and flee for their lives, never to return.
The centuries passed, children played among the boulders of Hampi, dived off ruined monuments and pillars to splash in the waters of the Tungabhadra. The locals lived their lives among what remained of those marvelous structures. It was nearly 500 years later, in the 1980s that excavations began in an attempt to rediscover the glories of this forgotten kingdom.
The Vijaynagar empire is lost forever. But it has left behind a wealth of history and beauty that we can visit again and again. It’s a fascinating link to our heritage, our past.
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