Impressions – Places to Visit in Hampi

Vittala Temple

This is the temple of the elusive Stone Chariot and musical pillars that adorn every travelogue written on Indian tourism. The ‘temple’ is actually a sprawling campus with temples, halls and pavilions. And oh! the details on the carving, the symmetry and the proportion! My eyes kept straying for hours and I wished if I could just take a deep breath and with it take it all in.

Underground Shiva Temple

The temple was a good place to warm up for Hampi. It is called so as it is many meters below the ground level. Because of the same reason its sanctum is always dark and filled with foot-deep water. However that’s its beauty – a dark core with streams of light passing through the broken ceiling here and there; numerous tadpoles swimming in the water and a glance of the Shiva Linga that you might or might not get in that darkness.

Hazara Rama Temple

Hazara Rama Temple gets its name from the multitude of panels carved with stories from Ramayana.

No doubt that the grandeur of Vittala’s ruins is comparable to none, but it was here at the Hazara Rama Temple that I found solace and a sense of belonging. Luckily, when we went there, it was absolutely empty. The experience was actually quite surreal for me – it seemed that there was just me and the carvings present there. I tried not just seeing but even touching each carving. I was in awe and fell in love right away.