Fun fact: Hampi has pillars that sing!
India is known for its rich heritage and historic monuments. One such monument, rather a ruined yet historic city, is Hampi. Located near the Tungabhadra River in the Bellary district of Karnataka, this ancient city was once the capital of the prosperous Vijayanagar empire. The city of Hampi was built in 1336 by two brothers Harihara I (‘Hakka Raya’ or ‘Vira Harihara’) and Bukka (‘Bukka Raya I’) who ruled as the first two kings of the Vijayanagar dynasty. These kings were sons of Bhavana Sangama who was a member of the pastoralist cowherd community of Yadava ancestry.
Hampi was unfortunately destroyed to ruins by the Muslim sultans of Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmednagar, and Golconda after the battle of Talikota on 23rd January 1565. Nevertheless, the ruins were announced as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986 owing to the Dravidian style of art and architecture, astonishing temples, mesmerizing statues, and rich culture of the Vijayanagar kingdom. Let’s look at some lesser-known facts about Hampi and its ancient ruins.
Hampi has musical pillars that sing SAREGAMAPA
Astonished, aren’t you? Well, there exists a temple in Hampi, known for its pillars that emit music. The Vitthala Temple contains several architectural marvels that will leave you speechless, one of them being the 56 melody pillars. Built in the 14th century during the reign of King Devaraya II (1422–1446 AD), this temple, also known as the Shri Vijaya Vitthala Temple, is dedicated to Lord Vitthala, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The ceiling of the temple mandapa is supported by a set of main pillars and several smaller pillars. Each main pillar is surrounded by 7 auxiliary pillars that act as a musical instrument with each producing 7 distinct musical notes with gentle tapping. That’s just amazing, isn’t it? These musical pillars are known as ‘SAREGAMA’ and were sculpted from enormous pieces of resonant stones. There are allegedly more than 56 musical pillars in the Vitthala temple, but only 9 are active at present and produce pleasant musical tones.
The shadow of the inverted tower
Apart from the musical pillars, there is an iconic inverted tower too in Hampi. Lakkam Dandesha, a chieftain of the Vijayanagar Empire, built the Virupaksha Temple in the 14th century (1442). Dedicated to Lord Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva, this is the only unharmed temple and is still worshipped among the nearby ruins. Mathematical ideas are one of the most outstanding elements depicted in this temple, including recurring designs showing how fractals work. The temple’s architecture is such that the Raja Gopuram’s (central temple tower’s) inverted shadow can be seen falling more than 300 feet away on the Saalu Mantapa wall, which stands at the other end of the Virupaksha temple. This occurs through a tiny aperture that serves as the gateway. When beams of sunlight fall on the central tower, a shadow should have been cast in front of the Gopuram. However, the architect managed to direct the shadow to fall through a tiny aperture, which serves as a mirror to reflect and invert the picture, successfully creating a pinhole camera illusion! Incredible, isn’t it?
The story of ‘mustard seed Ganesha’
Another noteworthy aspect of Hampi is the huge Ganesha temple built in 1506 AD by a mustard merchant from Chandragiri in memory of king Narasimha II. In the local Kannada language, mustard is called as ‘Sasivekalu’. Therefore, to honour the merchant, the temple was named ‘Sasivekalu Ganesha temple’. The temple houses an 8-feet-tall, enormous statue of Lord Ganesha that was carved from a single piece of rock! The tale around this statue says that one day, Ganesha ate so many modaks that his tummy was about to burst. This explains the statue’s distinctively huge appearance! Although the glory of Hampi ended with the battle of Talikota, it still remains a prime site for historical exploration.