The Ministry of Tourism organised their latest webinar titled Hampi- Inspired by the past; Going into the future under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series.
Facts about Hampi
-
Its name is derived from Pampa which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built.
-
In 1336 CE, the Vijayanagara Empire arose from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom.
-
It grew into one of the famed Hindu empires of South India that ruled for over 200 years.
-
The Vijayanagara rulers fostered developments in intellectual pursuits and the arts, maintained a strong military and fought many wars with sultanates to its north and east.
-
They invested in roads, waterworks, agriculture, religious buildings and public infrastructure.
-
The site used to be multi-religious and multi-ethnic; it included Hindu and Jain monuments next to each other.
-
The buildings predominantly followed South Indian Hindu arts and architecture dating to the Aihole-Pattadakal styles.
-
The Hampi builders also used elements of Indo-Islamic architecture in the Lotus Mahal, the public bath and the elephant stables.
Major attractions
-
One of the major attractions of Hampi is the 15th Century Virupaksha temple which is one of the oldest monuments of the town.
-
The main shrine is dedicated to Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva.
-
Hemkunta Hill, south of the Virupaksha temple contains early ruins, Jain temples and a monolithic sculpture of Lord Narasimha, a form of Lord Vishnu.
-
At the eastern end, there is the large Nandi in stone; on the southern side is the larger than life Ganesha.
-
Large single stone carvings seem to have been the fashion of the day in Hampi, for there is a large image of Narasimha (6.7m high), the half-lion half-man incarnation of God, as well as a huge linga.