Hampi Village

Hampi is located in the state of Karnataka, India. Hampi was the capital to the Vijayanagar Dynasty during the medieval period. Hampi village is also a religious place, which has the historic Virupaksha Temple belonging to the 7th century. In addition Hampi has several Hindu Temples belonging to the ancient past. UNESCO listed some of Hampi’s monuments as the world heritage site.

Hampi is recognized as the Ramayana (Sanskrit epic), where Hampi was the empire of King Sugriva (belonging to Vanara dynasty). Hampi has the historical settlements since 1 C.E. Hampi is situated close to the Tungabhadra River bounded by the hills on all three sides.

Hampi is famous for its history and ancient architecture, Hampi displays a large number of Hindu idols statues, which were built on a single large stone. These statues are so big that one can still see it from a half kilometer distance. Most of the historical belongings are in ruins, a large number of structures are destroyed.

Hampi has several historical places, among them is the historical Virupaksha Temple. The Virupaksha temple was built in the 7th century, which is devoted to Lord Shiva. The temple is about 49 meters high. In addition there are Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari (Hindu Goddess) sub temples within the Virupaksha temple building.

In the present day, Hampi is a great tourist spot, which is visited by the people from all parts of India. The languages spoken at Hampi are Telugu and Kannada. Hampi is the greatest producer of Manganese and Iron ore. The Karnataka government organizes a festival every year in November known as “Vijayanagar Festival”, which conveys the traditions and life style of the Vijayanagar kings.

There are several sights seeing place in Hampi which are listed below.

* Akka Tangi Gudda

* Kamalapura Archaeological Museum

* Anegondi

* Tiruvengalanatha Temple

* The Underground temple

* Tungabhadra River

Traveling

Hampi can be reached by using the Bellary airport. Only Air Deccan airways operate its services from Bangalore (the capital city of Karnataka state).

The closest railway station to Hampi is the Hospet railway station which is 13 km away. In addition there are several train services available from Goa, Hyderabad (the capital city of Andhra Pradesh state, India), which costs about 700Rs, which is a reasonable price.

The Karnataka road transport operates frequent bus services from Bangalore, Mysore, Hospet and Gokarna cities.