Besides the central hall room, there was also a lower section in the Maha Mantapa, which took us around the inner perimeters of the building, through a narrow route that probably was used for irrigation. Light had hard time entering the place and the darkness made us feel we would be lost here amongst centuries of hidden echoes, if we stay here any longer.
There were a few more things to visit nearby the temple complex, but most of us were succumbing to the heat, so we decided to travel back to area we had seen earlier. Although, purely from a distance perspective, the Vittala temple was quite close to where we started from, but due to some mountains blocking what should have been the short route, the only vehicular road was a huge detour to get from one point to another.
Anyway, we stopped at another cluster of ruins on our way, which included some very interesting city areas, e.g. the palace of the king Krishna Devaraya, underground Siva’s temple, Zenana enclosure, stepped tank, king’s audience hall and many more.
We quickly walked through most of the adjacent areas to have a feel of what they used to be when Hampi was a bustling city of dreams. The underground Siva’s temple was particularly fun, as a portion of its underground corridor was literally pitch dark and gave us a chilly thrill. I loved the stepped tank (cover image at the top) and the surrounding drainage ways, which was an excellent example of ancient irrigation technologies. Most of the architecture was similar, but equally rich, and the areas kind of overlapped each other, blurring their borders.
The sun had taken cover beyond the horizon, so we ended our sightseeing and slowly moved back towards our hotel. Most of our evening passed in arranging food and revisiting the things we had seen. We had noticed that the Tungabhadra river passed right by the Virupaksha temple, next to the colony behind the old Hampi market. We wanted to sit by the river banks on this moonlit night, so we came out after dinner.
The Virupaksha temple was still awake, with many wayfarers taking shelter in the temple yards for the night. After a quick peek, we walked towards the colony. The colony looked long and people who were still awake didn’t feel good about 6 strangers walking down at so late in the night. We felt uncomfortable as well and turned around, deciding to postpone this to next morning.
In the morning, we got a better look at the colony. It wasn’t just a residential place, but a wide array of souvenir shops, restaurants and cosy homestays as well. We walked through the lively area and made our way to Tungabhadra river. Contrary to how we had pictured, it was a very accessible area with large cemented staircase going straight down the river. The river in this area wasn’t wide, but rocky… and a large crowd of tourists bathed in there.
We appreciated the beauty from far and turned back to find a good breakfast joint. We found one quickly – Mango Tree – an aptly themed, spiritual and comforting restaurant, giving emphasis to both food & ambience. After a heavy & delicious breakfast, we headed back to our hotel, all set to check out.
Having seen the major attractions in Hampi, and a little saturated with all the stone structures (some more than others), we drove out of the Hampi ruins complex, without any plans to stop. As I probably keep saying, I absolutely love water and the fact that we couldn’t have a relaxing sitting by the Tungabhadra was itching in the back of my head.
But what’s that shining there? Like a long silver plate, only partly visible through the slightly dense row of green trees? I asked to stop the car and they joined in my curiosity. Is that… a lake?
Of course, it is! Oh, thank God! My thirst for a water body was finally quenched! We quickly left the main road and took the narrow foot-road through the wood and arrived at the Kamalapur lake.
We had a lot of time in our hand, so nobody seemed to be in a hurry. We took off our shoes, rolled our pants up and went right in. The water was comfortable, but the lake floor was uneven and didn’t have good visibility. So, even after being the most enthusiastic, I went only till knee-deep water.
After spending a good relaxing half-an-hour, we resumed our return journey. It was a long one, as we took a different route than yesterday, which also wasn’t well maintained. But the scenic views kept us going and we chatted away the rest of the road.
I sure had missed a lot of Hampi, but I also had caught the primary essence of it, through its major attractions. Hopefully, I will be back there again someday, to finish what I started. Hopefully... soon.
(P.S. Borrowed a few pictures from Arjun, friend & co-traveller for this trip.)