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Published: February 17th 2006
I was both alive and unbitten when I surfaced this morning, which I celebrated by having a cold shower. After breakfast I caught an auto to Kamalapuram, the nearby town from which I intended walking back, visiting the southern ruins along the way. I paid a quick visit to the Archaeological Museum in Kamalapuram, which contained a useful 3D model of how Hampi (aka Vijayanagar) must have looked in its prime, as well as a map of the extant ruins.
The southern ruins are spread over a large area which is quite lacking in shade, so I took regular breaks in whatever shelter I could find, guzzling on my water bottle. Sensible people, who overtook me at regular intervals, had hired either bicycles or an auto for the day. Though the sheer number of ruins was impressive, again I found that they suffered by comparison with some of my previous destinations, despite being more recent (14th Century) than, say, Khajuraho. One of the high points is the Lotus Mahal complex, which can be seen using the same ticket as the Vitthala Temple (theoretically on the same day, but because I'd seen the Vitthala Temple so late yesterday evening, they grudgingly
Mahanavami Dibba
Colourful climberslet me into the Lotus Mahal on the same ticket - I should add that this bending of the rules was the idea of the ticket seller at the Vitthala Temple, not me). The Lotus Mahal itself didn't excite me too much, but the elephant stables were interesting and gave an idea of just how highly these animals were regarded in Vijayanagar society.
Just before reaching the outskirts of Hampi village, I briefly diverted to see the statue of Vishnu as Narashima, which was one of the best things I saw today. By this point I was exceptionally weary and so parched I could barely speak, so I returned to the hotel for a siesta.
Had another light dinner to assist my recovery, and then repeated the anti-mossie preparations. Worryingly, my ceiling fan packed in for a few minutes but after giving it a whirl in the manner of starting a prop plane, it came back to life. Settled in for another night in the trenches.
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Colourful Climbers
India's landscape is so uninviting at times but the juxtaposition of colourful images like this one is rather beautiful.