History of Hampi

Hampi enters history a little before the foundation of the Vijayanagar empire. Harihara and Bukka established it as a bulwark against the on rush of Islam, and Vijayanagar’s significance is that it preserved Hinduism at a time when it was in mortal danger. They began with a small kingdom centred on Hampi and, in a few years, extended their conquests widely. Their preceptor was Vidyaranya, the Pontiff of Sringeri (see below), and it was after him that they named their capital. It was completed by 1343. Opposite to it, on the northern bank of the Tungabhadra was the older fortress of Anegondi (incidentally, Anegondi is still largely unexplored). As the empire waxed, the capital became a glorious city.

The Vijayanagar monuments, vast in number, consist mainly of religious civil and military buildings. Many belong to Krishnadeva’s reign, but there are others ranging in date from that of Harihara II (1377-1404) to that of Sadasiva (1542-1576).

Art of Vijayanagar

Vijayanagar art is both distinctive and a fruit of past influences. For the first time in history, there was a pan-south Indian power, and its art was bound to reflect the influences and traditions of the constituent provinces. The typical Vijayanagar temple has many of the features of the Tamil Nadu ones. These include a covered circambulatory path around the sanctum and the mandapa in front, and a separate shrine for the Goddess. But its ornate pillars owe their origin to Chalukyan, Kakatiya and Hoysala examples.

These pillars are a feature of Vijayanagar art. They are to be found in the mahamandapa and the kalyanamandapa. The latter is usually an open mandapa with a raised platform at the centre. The pillas are marvelous sculptural art, many of the decorations carried to an extreme point. The ceilings, likewise, are carved and decorated with remarkable brilliance.

The mahamandapa of the Vittala temple in Hampi contains the most superb examples of the art lavished on columns. Generally Vijayanagar pillars are of two types: composite and ordinary, as determined by the position in the mandapa. Those in the interior, generally, have corbels with or without connecting bands. Those on the façade are often massive and complicated. They consist of a shaft and attached to it, a column where the most marvelous fancy is carved. This attached shaft might carry the mythical beasts called yalis, rearing horses or portrait sculpture. Those with rearing horses are rare in Hampi, but they are very notable in a mandapa in Srirangam. Those with portrait sculptures are absent in Hampi. The columnettes may vary in number from one to as many fifteen.

The steps leading to the mandapas are often flanked by elephant balustrades. The main cornice above is a moulding with a reversed curve; there is simulated wood-work beneath it. There used to be chains made of stones at the corners. Most of these have disappeared now.

The monuments are located in Hampi and Kamalapuram, and along the banks of the river. Along or near the road connecting the two villages, there are a number of monuments and striking images. In Hampi there are the temples of Virupaksha, still under worship, and a large number of early fanes. East from Hampi, along the south bank, stand the Kodandarama temple, the Achyuta Raya temple and, finally, the Vittala temple. The remains of a palace and a number of temples are inside the citadel and nearby areas in Kamalapuram. The monuments mentioned here are only some of the leading ones. There is a whole host of them. The more important are briefly discussed here according to their geographical location; in the citadel and its vicinity, by the road from Kamalapuram to Hampi, along the river banks, and in the environs of the vast site.

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Mahanavami Dibba

The most striking object in the citadel area in the Mahanavami Dibba. This is a massive stone basement, apparently what remains of a pillared hall of many storeys where the great festival of Vijayanagar, the Navaratri, was celebrated gorgeously. According to Paes, it was erected by Krishnadeva after a victorious campaign. It was from here that the Raya watched the celebrations.

The basement is in three diminishing tiers. The façade is covered over with splendid bas reliefs. There are horizontal friezes of the dancer, the musician, the warrior, the elephant and the horse. Interestingly, many foreigners also are represented on the basement and on the walls of a little chamber that still stands on the platform. The foreigners are Arab horse dealers and, probably, also members of a Chinese embassy. Exotic animals also are carved. Nearby is a huge monolithic stone door closely imitating a wooden one.

There is another large granite base in the citadel area, probably a relic of a royal palace. Here too there are some fine friezes. Nearby is an underground chamber. Made of green chlorite, it consists of a pillared aisle around an area in which there are the bases of four pillars. What this structure was used for is not known.

The Audience Hall, according to Razzak, was the loftiest structure within the citadel. It seems to have held a hundred pillars. Nearby are the remains of a stone aqueduct. Similar remains are found all over the site.

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The Lotus Mahal

The Lotus Mahal is one of the handsomest buildings in Hampi. It is an open pavilion of two storeys, a type rather common in Vijayanagar. On the ground floor there are twenty-four square pillars bearing arches. On the ceiling are many vaults and domes faced in symmetry. A flight of steps leads to the first floor. This has a number of balconies. In the centre of the ceiling there is an elaborately ornamented clerestory. The climax, as it were, is an inverted lotus. It is from this that the structure takes its name.

A long and lofty building with eleven big stalls is taken to be the elephants' stables, though some scholars dispute this identification. There is a square turret above the centre, with two staircases leading upto it. There are lotus motifs on the ceilings of the stalls.

Three temples, among many in the citadel area, deserve particular attention. They are the Hazara Rama, the Pattabhirama, and the Ganigitti, or "the oil woman’s temple". This last expression is to be compared with the Malagitti Sivalaya, or the "temple of the female garland maker", in Badami and with the Olakkanesvara, or the temple of the Lord of an "ollock (a measure) of oil", in Mamallapuram.

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