It is said that at its peak, under Krishna Deva Raaya, half a million people used to leave in this city and that it was the second largest city in the world at that time (after Beijing); circa 1500s. It is not too hard to imagine this looking at the vast expanse of the ruins. From big market places to the King's Palace, the ruins are well spread out and some of them are still in use to this day. The highlights are of course those that project the imperial grandiose and the God like stature that the kings wanted to project : Achutraaya temple built by the namesake king for himself, Zainana enclosure, housing the King and his Queen and the Royal Enclosure from where the king used to run his empire and the massive Virupaksha temple which is used for worship till this date.
Hampi is a photographer's delight. The stark landscape is just complemented by the fact that all the monuments are carved out of solid rocks. Although the architecture is predominantly Hindu and Jain style, its interesting to see influences of Islamic architecture in the forms of domes and arches.
The ruins at Hampi are magnificent. But here's the thing about
Hampi: its strange mixture of grandness and desolation fill you with a sense pf melancholy, a feeling that what was once a mighty empire and a great city, thriving with imperial majesty, art and all manners of human activity has also withered and has been reduced to its present state of ruins. And on the last evening, as I was sitting and watching a beautiful sunset (and for some unfathomable reason listening to Trent Reznor's haunting score for The Social Network obsessively) it felt as if the Sun in its act of setting was mocking the folly of human desire to build for permanence while ironically at the same time showing just how beautiful that folly can be nevertheless.P.S. Photos courtesy Bhandara
