The Ministry of Tourism organised their latest webinar titled Hampi- Inspired by the past; Going into the future under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Building ‘Kalyaana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-

(a) Chalukya

(b) Chandela

(c) Rashtrakuta

(d) Vijayanagara

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.

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