Hampi, city of the monkey god

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Our Hampi story begins with a 12 hour night bus from Mapusa. A comfy affair with full on double beds enclosed in compartments. After a bit too much 'fizzy pop' it wasn't long before we forced the bus to stop for a comfort break. As we were getting out Caz misjudged the steps and carried on going into the ditch. For a while Mark was confused and couldn't understand where Caz had gone. Comedy - it was time for bed I think...

Waking up early in Hampi, we rolled off the bus, past the hastle of rickshaw hawkers and into the nearest nice looking guest house. For the rest of the trip we we in the hands of a 'rickshaw mafia', we had an amazing time and wouldn't change it for the world but in the course of 24 hours from the same (extended) family we had a hostel with a rooftop view of Virupaksha Temple, rickshaws with loud dance music, a knowledgeable tour guide and unbelievably tastey lunch. It saved time and hastle, wasn't that expensive but it did however go against our year long travelling principle of 'sharing the love'. Hey ho absolutely no complaints though.

...What can I say about Hampi without quoting too many boring facts. Well here goes - the ruined city of Vijayanaga (Hampi) is now a large collection of delicately carved Hindu temples and palaces situated within a stunning series of boulder strewn dusty brown granite mountains. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries it was the most powerful Hindu capital of the Deccan. This only came to an end after the city was sacked following a sixth month seige by the muslim armies of the north. Importantly it's the home of Hanuman, India's great monkey god.

Anyway we spent the whole of the day gawping at stunning buildings and beautiful scenery with the help of two rickshaws and our guide Shiva. We got a full rundown on the story of Rama (the seventh incarnation of Vishnu) and his links to Hampi, his chief aide Hanuman and their fight against the Shri Lankan demonon-king of Lanka. Of the many temples we visited, including the largest sculpure of Ganesh in existence, the best and most memerable was the Vitthala temple. This contains dozens of pillars, each producing their own musical note when struck. Outer columns have intricate carvings with friezes of lions, elephants and horses which can be tranformed from one beast to another simply by masking one portion of the image. At the front of the temple sits a stone chariot housing Vishnu's bird vehicle.

For sunset we climbed Hemakuta Hill and with bags of nuts fed cheeky monkeys while taking in the stunning views of hill, temples and boulders before the sun fell asleep.

Back to Goa the next day by train...

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Comments

[asf]

dunno why you foreigners are obssessed with monkeys. But that pic is funny!!1