Hampi - A land of mystery and wonder

I visited the beautiful city of Hampi on my birthday a week ago. The place amazed me. The gorgeous citadel of Hampi, right from the Hampi boulders to the mind-blowing architecture, the dynasties that lived here, the stories prevalent and the hidden mysteries made for a perfect trip at just the right time of the year.

This article is long, but please understand that if I wrote this in two parts, I would never finish the second part! 😛

Origins – Name and Mythology
Hampi earned its name from Pampa – the original name of the river Tungabadra that separates the main temple area from the northern side of the river. The place was called Pampa-kshetra (kshetra meaning patch, field or area) or Kishkinda-kshetra. In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Kishkinda is the name of the monkey kingdom ruled by monkey king Sugriva, whose brother was Vali.

Pampa is also the name of Brahma’s daughter, the creator in Hindu mythology. Pampa worshipped Shiva and when Shiva noticed her dedication, he rewarded her with one blessing. Pampa chose to marry the God himself! All the Gods were very pleased with Shiva and Pampa’s union in marriage. They showered gold over the place of their wedding, giving the Hemakuta hill its name. Hemakuta literally means ‘Heap of Gold’.

A confused Hanuman carrying the Kailash parvat

The landscape in Hampi is associated a lot with the Ramayana. The monkey kingdom ‘Kishkinda’ is portrayed as the region around Hampi, mostly the northern region. Anjayaneya Hill, located across the river Tungabhadra, is believed to be the birthplace of lord Hanuman.
In the Ramayana, Rama and Lakshman travelled south and reached Kishkinda. Hanuman was the leader of Sugriva’s army at the time. After Hanuman realised the truth about Rama and Lakshman identity, he becomes an staunch follower of Rama. Sugriva and Rama made a deal wherein Rama would destroy Vali and return the kingdom to Sugriva in peace. In return, Sugriva would support Rama by leading the monkey kingdom into battle to rescue Sita who was held captive in Lanka. Hanuman flew south in pursuit of rescuing Sita, and the Vanaras (a breed of monkeys) followed Rama to Lanka.

Hampi was also referred to as the Vijayanagara capital from 1343 to 1565. The Sangama king was advised to choose Hampi because of its strategic location, with the Tungabhadra river on one side and hills on all other sides. Hampi was the second richest city in the world after Peking (China) during its peak. It hosted 0.1% of the world’s population at the time.

The emperor Ashoka’s minor rock edicts found in Bellary district lead us to infer that this region was within the Ashokan kingdom during the 3rd century BCE. A Brahmi inscription and a terracotta seal dating to the 2nd century CE were also discovered from the excavation site. The first settlements in this area date back to as far as 1 CE.

Our rickshaw driver (Raja) who took us around on a thorough one-day tour told us that Ugra Narasimha (the avtar of lord Vishnu with features of a lion and human) sprung out from behind a shivling after a father (don’t quite remember who) who was a Vaishnava (follower of Lord Vishnu) urged his son against praying to lord Shiva. This form of Vishnu got hold of the father, ripped him apart and ate him. Brutal indeed.

Statue of Ugra Narasimha

Rock formations and the Hampi boulders
Hampi is one of those few places on the earth whose surface has been exposed for the longest time, with no sign of any modifications that could have been caused by tectonic interference or modification of the natural rocks. Over the centuries, they’ve been subject to constant weathering and metamorphosis – erosion, rain, harsh sun and varying climate. The reason there are so many boulders is because weathering and erosion caused the stones and mountains to crack and split. Some are even seen at odd places like rolling down the mountains, balancing themselves halfway, bigger stones balancing on smaller ones, etc.

That’s me!

Geologically speaking, Hampi falls on something called the Eastern Dharwar Craton. A craton is a stretch of the earth’s surface that has remained the same for years and centuries without any modification. Some parts of the Dharwar Craton are said to be more than 3.0 Ga, or 3 BILLION years old!

Mythology states the odd positions of the rocks date back to when Vali and Sugriva were at war to claim the throne of the monkey kingdom.

What’s even more fascinating is the way these buggers cut the stone and placed these massive blocks to make some of the most beautiful temples in the world!

Some well cut and fitted rocks

Rock cutting technique – work with what you have!
The people of the Vijaynagara empire were intelligent. Not only did they manage to use the rocks from their surrounding to build something so wonderful, but they also used very smart techniques to get things done. Raja told us they would cut squares that were 2 inches deep and 3 sq. inches wide, fill this up with an ayurvedic medicine and cold water, after which the stone would cut itself. Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong. The process didn’t involve using ayurvedic medicine, but it was similar.

After making holes in the rocks in a line, they used to hammer a wooden wedge into each of the holes and poured hot water over it, after which the wood expanded. Obviously this wasn’t enough to cut the stone, but imagine shoving a series of these blocks over and over again to a point where the rock actually splits into half! Watch here.

Blocks cut in stones before wooden wedges were shoved into them.

One fact remains. As Raja told me, if the stones cut well, they used them. If they didn’t, they’d just leave them. There were a lot of stones that were just left because they did not split into the desired fashion or suit the necessity.

However, this isn’t true with when we take a look a the Sister Stone. One of the rocks fell apparently when someone was attempting rock climbing. They seem to be balancing themselves and are perfectly cut.

Sister stone

These advanced rock cutting techniques first began with the Pallavas of South India.

A game of thrones
Four dynasties ruled the kingdom of Hampi – The Sangama dynasty (1336 – 1485 AD), the Saluva dynasty (1485 – 1505 AD), the Tuluva dynasty (1505-1570 AD) and the Araveedu Dynasty (1570 – 1644 AD)

Please DO NOT refer to Wikipedia for the lineage and timelines. When I have the time, I will request to edit changes on the site. I have notes from an official chart that is present at Virupaksha temple.

Satyavan K. Naik, who also wrote a paper on the Origins and History of Vijayanagara clarifies that the mighty king Krishnadevaraya of the Tuluva dynasty, during whose reign the kingdom flourished, was NOT son of Narasa Nayaka.

As I know it, Narasa Nayaka has three sons – Tapanna Nayaka, Naganna Nayaka and Obam Nayaka. They were also known as Tippambike, Nagalambike and Obambike respectively. They are not mentioned in any popular media sources, including Wikipedia.

I’m also not sure why their nicknames sound so African. The Tuluva dynasty did originate from the west coast of India in Karnataka, close to Kerala so it is possible for them to have been of foreign origin, more specifically African. But I have absolutely no proof of this haha!
If you think about it, the Siddis who inhabit many parts of India today, are said to be of African origin and are a mix of African and Indian blood. They are said to have landed in India somewhere around 600 AD. The first documented record of the Siddis was around 1100 AD. They were said to have arrived by sea. Vasco De Gama was NOT the first man to reach India by sea, that too in the 16th century AD. It’s nice that historians wanted to see India as a land discovered by a European. African and Indian connections can be seen at the sun temple in Konark too. Many unwritten accounts of travel across the seas was possible.

What makes me question their origin even more is the fact that they were so simply omitted. Shame? Another father? Everyone skips to the part where after Narasa Nayaka, Veera Narasimha claimed the throne for four years (1505 – 1509 AD) followed by Krishnadevaraya (1509 – 1530 AD). No one really says Veera Narasimha was son of Tippambike and Krishnadevaraya was son of Nagalambike. They were cousins, not brothers.
Obambike had two sons – Achuta (was king from 1530 – 1542 AD) and Ranga. Achuta was Krishnadevaraya’s cousin, not brother.

More on African connections in India before Vasco De Gama here. Some people say India was indeed connected to Africa and Australia via Kumari Kandam (the lost sunken continent). But that’s a discussion for another time.

The musical pillars of Sabha Mantap

Sabha mantap, Vitthala temple complex

Wasn’t this fascinating! I’m glad my better half is also a musician. The Sabha mantap in the Vitthala temple complex had an area with musical pillars that we spent a good 40 minutes at. Of course, out of curiosity, we went all out to decipher the musical notes of each of the pillars. It was plain crazy.

When the British found out about this place, they wanted to know the secret of these musical pillars, breaking two of them to see if there was anything inside. All they got was hollow pillars! So imagine.. To make these pillars sound a precise note, they would have to remove an exact amount of rock – not more not less – for them to sound the exact note, that too, after being mounted!

We decoded the central mantap area, which looked something like this.

Two Ds, two D#, two Bs and two Es correspond.

Many of the pillars have been tampered with. The Archaeological Survey of India, in the hope of saving the temple from ruination, has built walls to support the foundation and ceiling of this area. We can’t be sure if the notes are the same any more, because with this, the sound from the pillars would have changed making the notes sound different. There is a fault in the sequence that has now ceased to exist because of external interference.

The pinhole effect of the gopuram at Virupaksha temple
I didn’t really get a chance to take a good picture, but there’s a place in the Virupaksha temple where you can see the gopuram (a monumental tower at the entrance of temples – mostly in South India) of the Virupaksha temple inverted as light passes through a small hole made through the wall. A touristy thing, this really fascinates people for some reason, whereas it follows the simple principle of a pinhole camera and even the way our eyes capture an image.

The pinhole effect

How we see

What is fascinating though, is they knew EXACTLY how big the hole had to be, the distance at which the gopuram was constructed from the main temple and determine how it would capture only the gopuram upside down on the wall inside. Someone did the math.

The inverted gopuram of the Virupaksha temple

The first account of the pinhole effect was noted in 5th century BC in China. This knowledge may have travelled, or we discovered it a long time ago.

Sacred Geometry, rather, sonic geometry
If you’ve read my blog before, you know what cymatics is. Cymatics is basically the visible form of sound and vibration. Once you understand cymatics, you’ll know where all the mandalas, rangoli designs and decorative shapes used in our everyday life comes from!

The room behind the main Vitthala temple mantap had so many drawings describing the lifestyle of people, but more importantly, prominence was given to particular shapes and designs.

Flower of Life behind the Vitthala temple, Hampi

Here’s the Flower of Life. A lot of these drawings aren’t accurate and look as though they’ve been copied from somewhere or were carved a bit differently, adding an artist’s touch to them.

Many people say the flower of life represents the earth’s energy grid. It is also a design that has been repeatedly found for centuries all across the world. Besides the flower of life, I was a bit surprised with what I spotted. I thought I’d go back and have a look at some cymatics and then, the cymaglyphs (cymatic glyphs) started making sense. There were pillars with cymaglyphs all over.

Cymaglyph of the note C

Above is the cymatic formation of the C note at 32.70 Hz, popularly known as C1. The design has evolved over time, but the concept remains the same. Here’s another one. Couldn’t decipher the note though.

There were other shapes that looked like other cymaglyphs as well, some I couldn’t decipher because they’re too worn out like this one.

An unidentified cymaglyph

The picture above this could be any one of these

I’m assuming even the people who were left to construct this temple were unaware of the symbolism. These formations can be seen only when there is sound. They would have been seen at either a significant event, which is what made it so important to note, or were something ancestors passed down to them. They were prettified because after all, they were a part of the design too.

Extensive markets
One thing about Hampi is how many markets/bazaars there were. There were markets everywhere, markets where people sold gold and silver by the kilo. Some were animal markets, others for food, vegetables and also the ‘Sule bazaar’, the popular whore market that was home to thousands of women. Apparently, even the king Krishnadevaraya visited the market.

Market near the Vitthala temple complex

Chutney chutney cup-marks
I believe Hampi as a place is an energy hub. As much as I was dissuaded about the cup-marks, there was no denying they existed because there were circular marks on the floor at many places. These marks were unlike the others that were described to me as something created in the ground as support ‘for erecting temporary mantaps’ or for ‘making chutney’ (seriously man?). I am not denying there were some for these purposes, because I came across many in locations where making chutney and erecting mandaps was possible!

After reading David Cowan’s ‘Leylines and Earth Energies’ a few months ago, I recognized them as soon as I saw them. Cup-marks are indentations in rocks carved in the shape of cups. Normally cup-marks are way more intense. Some have rings around them. They’re usually drawn on rocks near rivers and creating cup-marks in stone is a very good way of eliminating unhealthy energies. Seeing this on the Hemakuta hill (the place showered with gold by the Gods – Gold is a good conductor of electric and electromagnetic energy) made me think it was even more possible. Cup-marks, to mainstream archaeologists, is fancy rock art. They can align energy and energy can flow through them. Cup-marks have been discovered in Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh back in 290,000-700,000 BCE too.

I found cup-marks in two places around the same region. One place was in the Virupaksha temple compound, the other was up on the Hemakuta hill, south of Virupaksha. They were in places where it was impossible to erect mandaps or grind chutney for crying out loud! The cup-marks were drawn from north to south.

Cup-marks in a place where you can’t make chutney

The Mahanavami Dibba and landing pads
For the occasional landing and hurried take-off

A mystery indeed. These huge platforms have been built in a complex of only platforms and a few baths including the fancy stepped tank or pushkarani. There was a water system in place for this Pushkarani, make of the same rock where water can be transported to the two baths in the area. The stepped tank is built out of one stone, and if turned upside down, looks like an inverted pyramid. It’s about 25-30 ft. deep for sure. The tank was used for bathing or swimming. What I wasn’t quite convinced about were these raised platforms next to the Hazararama temple.

The Mahanavami dibba

The Mahanavami dibba was built on the occasion of Krishnadevaraya’s victory against the Orissa Gajapathis. He used it to watch processions, make offerings to the almighty and host programmes. But such a high raised platform? My first doubt is – Why build such a frequently used platform to erect temporary mantaps (as there were holes in the dibba on top as well), build a fancy staircase for the king and queen to walk down and access the stepped tanks? Along the way down the stairs, you literally take a mini-tour of drawings depicting the life of the people, visitors from foreign countries, and more.

There are two or three other platforms in the vicinity, which no one really mentions.

View from the Mahanavami dibba

The surface of the Mahanavami dibba

My second doubt is – Why build three platforms, with two public tanks/baths, two underground chambers and one Hazararama temple that depicts the entire Ramayana?

There was also a secret chamber, dark as hell, for the king to host his meetings and important discussions underground. There is a small diversion within the chamber too, for the king to be able to make a hurried escape in case someone came rushing through the normal path from the entrance. The door of this secret chamber is straight in front of a platform that has a stairway to nothing!

A stairway in front of a platform that leads to nothing really!

I was surprised the moment I spotted the staircase, moreover because it leads to nothing! I looked in wonder for 10 seconds and told Vignesh, “Doesn’t this resemble a launchpad?” The stairs led to a good height of around 15-20 feet. It is strange for me to assume even now, but I looked around, asked the rickshaw driver cum tour guide what it was for and got no answer. It didn’t make sense to anyone. A good way to make a quick escape by hopping to a vimana and flying away!

Here’s what this fascinating staircase resembles. Rukma vimanas, maybe? Remember, Rukma vimanas resemble modern-day rockets and people the world over have referred to texts like the Vymaanika Shastra and Puranas to build flying crafts.

Let’s compare this to our modern-day launchpads.

Stairway to nothing – view from the side

Stairway to nothing – View from the platform

Take those stairs and get onto that rocket

A vimana was tested in the late 1800s (1895 to be precise) on Girgaon chowpatty in Mumbai by a Sanskrit scholar who wasn’t even a rocket scientist (read up on Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, watch this video). I’m sure it wasn’t something extremely out of the ordinary in the 16th century because we know about flying vehicles and vimanas that were used back in the day. We have books and written account on these vimanas. To support this, let’s take a look at the Hazararama temple.

Assuming we had visitors who flew down or up, there is nothing like the Hazararama temple (that depicts the entire Ramayana) to serve as a museum for visitors from outside, maybe even our foreign visitors who travelled by land. Made in honour of Lord Vishnu’s avatar ‘Rama’, this is the only temple where I spotted a giant 13-inch long millipede, a snake and some of those swag lizards. This is also the only temple in the whole place that is an example of a compact dravida vimana type of temple (ancient architecture).

The Hazararama temple (Notice the carvings on top)

Pillar in the Hazararama temple

Drawings depicting an Indian journey of flight

There are numerous drawings around the temple and inside the temple of pillars made of a different material that describe people standing or sitting in these decorative structures that look like mantaps. There is no sign of this at any other temple. As you know, the Pushkar vimana was a frequently used flying craft in the Ramayana, so this should come as no surprise to anyone.

________________________

With the ringing bells of the Virupaksha temple as we sat on the terrace of Gopi Guesthouse, followed by the cows yelling and breeze travelling from West to East all of a sudden, the trip was amazing.

The good people of Hampi even today let villagers from 200km away live here for six months so they can harvest crop, sell animals and trade. They do suffer from external interference. The UNESCO and ASI, in their view of making the town more ‘tourist-friendly’ have began to create their own landscape in places, which makes the few residents of Hampi very sad. But they live among the ruins of one of the most powerful empires of the world and are yet to discover the mysteries this place holds.
________________________

More random comparisons