The Vijayanagara Ruins of Hampi

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After a rollicking overnight bus from Banglore, we arrived in the town of Hampi this morning as the sun was just filling the sky. We stumbled out of the bus and pushed by men offering us rickshaw services, and wandered into the temple square, still somewhat sleepy.

At that time of morning, the air felt cool; the sky was tinged with pink. At the far end of the square, the temple rose gracefully into the air in filigreed layers. Once, its stone may have been white, but, after centuries, it had achieved the patina of age; the outer walls were faded to a golden yellow. Its walls narrowed as it climbed higher, like a pyramid, but with a flat top. On each layer, carved figures from Hindu mythology cavorted, stepping into the sky.

The square was active with people absorbed in their work of preparing for the day. Women in shiny purple and magenta saris, children at their skirts, bent over baskets. The men beckoning to each other wore white tunics, wrapped between their legs to create a kind of short skirt. I noticed a monkey shimmying up a pole with a Western-style rugby shirt in his paw. A crowd gathered clamoring at him from below as a group. The monkey (weighing his options, I thought) dropped the shirt. More monkeys zig zagged about the courtyard, tails swaying.

Walking down a winding path according to the Lonely Planet map, we saw spread out in front of us a landscape of flat, green rice patties, palm trees, and a slow moving river. Men were swimming in the river, diving from a platform of stone; women were laying out wet clothes on the banks. What looked like a row boat was docked on the other side. A row of backpackers, mostly European and some East Asian, sat on stone steps above the river waiting for the boat to come over.

A man motored the boat across, and we piled in with the other backpackers. We're staying now at this kind of backpackers resort filled with small, charming hotels that include restaurants, as well as offering massage, ayuredic medicine, and yoga (although there are many Indians touring Vijayanagara as well; they must stay on the other side of the river). The short building that houses our little room looks out onto a rice patty, and we have a swinging platform out front.

Today we walked acres and acres, wandering around and into the Vijayanagara ruins. The Virupaksha temple (dedicated to Shiva) which I described above is at the center of the ruins, but it is currently in use. Most of the former Hindu empire consists of now partially disintegrated stone buildings. It seemed that, at every turn, we saw the hulk of another temple, to Ganesh, to Krishna, and, again, to Shiva.

We will be here for at least one more day.

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