28 August 2009

Hampi - The Lost Kingdom of Kishkinda

This picture was taken right outside the Virupaxa temple in Hampi, operational since the 7th century, making it one of the oldest functioning temples in India.
"Hampi was once part of the Kishkinda Empire...", Swami, the young man walking in front of us was saying. I had a faint idea that this 'empire' had something to do with the Ramayana, the Indian Epic. "You mean the monkey kingdom to which Hanuman belonged?" I was trying to catch up with him. "Yes yes. The kingdom of Bali and Sugreeva... Sree Hanuman was their warrior" He hurried on to show me the next cave. I think it would be quite an understatement to say that Hampi has an old world charm of its own. The ancient city stands tall, proud and silent. In my forthcoming posts, I plan to show glimpses of this city as I saw it during my brief visit to Hampi. If you have loved your grandma's tales, I'm sure you would fall in love with Hampi.

5 comments:

  1. One of my wife's favourite places - I'm still waiting for her to take me there.

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  2. @Paul

    Its a lovely place. You shouldnt miss it for the world!

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  3. WOW! So beautiful and colorful! I have till date only seen the ruins of Hampi - this is a different pic. Lovely blog!

    Shillu
    www.thruourlens.blogspot.com
    www.aabharan.blogspot.com

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  4. @Shillu

    Thanks! Yet to explore your blogs.. Will visit soon enough..

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  5. There is one Mango Tree restaurant in Hampi behind the Virupaksha temple on the banks of Tungabhadra... When I had explored it on my visit to Hampi 5 yrs back, the place seemed something sort of only for backpackers.. Few years later it surprisingly was rated number one in annual rating of hotels and appeared on cover page of Outlook Traveller

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