Tag Archives: pictures

DAILY PHOTO: Mahanavami Dibba

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Taken November 3, 2013 at Hampi

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

The Mahanavami Dibba was a monument built to honor Emperor Krishnadevaraya’s win over the state of Kalinga. (I believe he had it built himself. The arrogance of emperors knows no bounds.) At a little over 20 foot tall, it’s the highest structure in the Royal Enclosure, and offers a nice view of the palace ruins as well as  the boulder mountains of the surrounding countryside. The sides of the platform are covered in friezes in which elephants play heavily, but also dancing-girls and hunting scenes.  We had great skies for our visit.

The Royal Center is part of Hampi that one will need to have transportation to get around because it’s quite far from the Hampi Bazaar (where the guest houses are) and the key sites (e.g. Queens Bath, Hazara Rama Temple, the Lotus Mahal, and the Royal Elephant Stables) are spread out over a large area. However, willing auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuk) drivers abound.

DAILY PHOTO: Columns at Achyutaraya Temple

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

I thought the varying colors and designs of these columns made an interesting photo. This is taken at Achyutaraya Temple, which is one of the more extensive standing structures at Hampi, though not necessarily the most well-preserved/restored.

If one is on the Hampi Bazaar, walk away from Virupaksha Temple and toward the police station. Follow the steps that lie past the large bull sculpture, and when one gets to the top of the hill, just past the little Hanuman (the Hindu monkey-god) shrine, follow the fork to the right. One will soon see Achyutaraya temple down below. After visiting Achyutaraya, one can follow the flat land toward the Vittala Temple, which is sort of the crown jewel of Hampi.

DAILY PHOTO: Reservoir Goat

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

This goat was strutting along in slow motion like he was in the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs.

Have no idea what I’m talking about? See below.

DAILY PHOTO: Climbing Lizard

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

These little lizards were one of the most common animal lifeforms at Hampi.  They blend into the rock quite well despite the broken white or yellow line of dots on their backs, which itself blends into the splotched pattern of the creature.

I believe they are called Psammaphilus Dorsalis, Peninsular Rock Agamas, or South Indian Rock Agamas. [However, I know nothing about lizards and am open to correction by a herpetologist.]

DAILY PHOTO: Stone Chariot

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

This stone chariot is one of the most iconic scenes of Hampi. The wheels on the chariot were once capable of moving, but no more. It remains an amazing sculpture. It’s in the Vittala temple complex, and is one of the first things that draws the eye when one enters through the gate that one can see in the background.

DAILY PHOTO: Towering 4-Handed Guardian

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

These guardians of the inner sanctum can be seen here and there throughout Hampi.

I assume they were meant to be guardians and not just four-handed mutant freaks doing yoga stretches to loosen up their leg abductor muscles.

DAILY PHOTO: Yellow Blossoms

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Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

Taken November 2, 2013 at Hampi.

The Hampi area is painted from a different palette than most of Karnataka. Instead of uniform green, the brownish-red of the boulders dominates, and, while green lines the spaces between the rock, the vivid yellow of these flowers decorate the base of many hills.  Of course, there remain islands of green, in the form of corn fields, banana plantations, and palm groves.

DAILY PHOTO: Sunset Over Hampi

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Taken on November 1, 2013

Taken on November 1, 2013

In the tropics the summer days seem so short and the winter days seem so long–at least if you grew up at 42°N (northern Indiana) and now you’re living at 13°N (Bangalore, India.) There’s no discernible adjustment in the length of days here. Maybe, if you’re a local. But it always gets dark around 6 at night and becomes light around 6am the next morning.

DAILY PHOTO: 1008 Linga on the Tungabhadra Bank

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Taken November 1, 2013 near the Tungabhadra river at Hampi.

Taken November 1, 2013 near the Tungabhadra river at Hampi.

I read the Wikipedia article on Shiva linga, which said that it was a grave error to think of a lingam as a phallus. However, the article went on to say that the union of the lingam and the yoni represents the inseparability of male and female and the act of creation. Therefore, I’m sticking with the neophyte view that this symbolically represents the male organ of amour.  [Note: the terms linga and yoni are used in the Kama Sutra to describe the male and female organs, respectively. The terms may have been euphemisms that distorted the true initial meaning, or this might be taken as evidence of the correctness of the neophyte view. I’m not qualified to comment.]

Shiva is one of the top-tier aspects of God in Hinduism. He’s one aspect of the Hindu trilogy. Brahma is the creator. Vishnu is the operator. And, Shiva is the destroyer. This may seem a little ominous, but it’s obvious that something must be destroyed to make way for new things to come into existence. In a more modern interpretation, matter cannot be created or destroyed but can only change forms. These two ideas may seem very different, but when one considers that there is a finite amount of matter, if you want to make something new, then something else has to give up its matter to build it.

So while Shiva’s hallmark quote is, “I am become death, destroyer of worlds,” [reiterated by Robert Oppenheimer in referring to his role in the Manhattan Project] he’s really not so bad a deity.

DAILY PHOTO: Hampi Boulders

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Taken on November 1, 2013 on the Tungabhadra River

Taken on November 1, 2013 on the Tungabhadra River.

I just got back from a trip to Hampi, India. My wife and I agreed that it’s the most spectacular Indian historic site we’ve seen to date. The reason why it edges out the–awe-inspiring–Taj Mahal for us is that even if man had never touched this land it would be a spectacle to behold due to the unique geological processes that have taken place there. (The Taj Mahal is impressive, but once you leave its gates, the glory shrivels. In Hampi, leave the ruins and the awe has just begun.)

The rocks in that region are some of the planet’s oldest, and while much of the softer rock has been entirely washed away, the harder marble remains, but has been eroded over time. It creates an otherworldly appearance that is suitable for the set of a sci-fi film. Some formations seem to defy gravity, with boulders stacked on boulders in impossible ways.

I highly recommend a trip to Hampi. It’s about 7 hours by car from Bangalore (if your driver knows where he’s going–ours was a bit longer.)

A couple of points to keep in mind.

-There’s no alcohol allowed in Hampi village.

-There’s little non-vegetarian food in Hampi (Even if you’re vegetarian, you may be a little underwhelmed. It’s bland by Indian standards, and almost every guesthouse / restaurant tries to sell every ethnic food imaginable resulting in a “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none” warmed-over mediocrity. The one exception that we found was the Mango Tree restaurant, which is generally packed. Eat at off hours if you can.)

-If you stay across the river, the ferry only runs until 6pm. We stayed in one of the many basic guesthouses in Hampi proper. Staying in a nicer hotel incurs a trade-off that one will have to travel quite a while to get to the site. (As my wife said, “30 kilometers is too far in India.”) If you miss the ferry, the trip by car is a long way around.