Hampi the city of ruins: Where the hippie meets the Gypsie

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Hampi (ಹಂಪೆ) is a village at the nort at the Karnataka state 13 km's far from the actual city called Hospet and It is only 9 hours from hyderabad where I live. You can reach there by train and as well as by bus. Which we took the second option and went there by a very comfortable sleeping bus.
The name of Hampi is a corruption of Pampa, which is the puranic name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built. The river seperates this little town to two and you can spend one day to see around for each part. So in one side there is the Hampi gate and the most wellknown monument the Virupaksha temple and the bazar. And the other side hosts the hippie colony, lake , some more temples and the lake. The locals more likely to bee seemed like gypsies ( you can figure that out from their colourfull clothes and accesories) wherelse the visitors are more likely to be hippies from all over the world. Gypsies travel to southern states like to GOA and Kerala for tradeing ( a part of their nomadic lifes) the hand make works they do,including skirts,carpets, dupartas and many nice jewelery as well as Hippies. They also travel and live in Goa during the summer. I can say that these two kinds have a lot in common.

Hampi is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara empire. Possibly predating the city of Vijayanagara, this village continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple. The village of Hampi contains several other monuments belonging to the old city. It extends into some of the old ceremonial streets of Vijayanagara. As the village is at the original centre of Vijayanagara, it is sometimes confused with this ruined city. Hampi is also called "The City of Ruins". The Vijayanagara ruins are listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE.
Hampi is identified with the mythological Kishkindha, the Vanara (monkey) kingdom which finds mention in the Ramayana. That why you can find a lot of monkeys everywhere, especially around and in the temples.
The first historical settlements in Hampi date back to 1 CE.
Hampi formed one of the cores of the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. It was destroyed by Moslem emperors. Hampi was chosen because of its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra river on one side and surrounded by defensible hills on the other three sides.
The site is of great importance in terms of architecture and historical significance. The demography is abundant with large stones which have been utilized to make larger than life statues of god. One can see a structure of historic importance every quarter of a mile.
Sadly the city is in ruins as it was not able to defend itself against Islamic aggressions who treat Idol worship as blasphemy, 'all' the idols have been destroyed or damaged, the successive governments have not been able to keep the place free from treasure seekers who claim further damage.
To stay on the other side of the river at the hippe colony where we listened to the amazing music they make and rent a motorbike for all the day, was the highlight of our travel to "hippie, gypsie Hampi ''😊

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