Hampi is an ancient village in the south Indian state of Karnataka. It’s sprinkled with frequent ruined temple complexes from the Vijayanagara Empire. On the south bank of the River Tungabhadra is the 7th-century Hindu Virupaksha Temple, near the revived Hampi Bazaar. A carved stone chariot stands in front of the huge Vittala Temple site. Southeast of Hampi, Daroji Bear Sanctuary is home to the Indian sloth bear.

Hampi, also referred to as the Group of Monuments. It is located in Karnataka near the modern-era city of Hosapete, Hampi’s ruins are spread over 4,100 hectares (16 sq mi) and it has been described by UNESCO as an “austere, grandiose site” of more than 1,600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India that includes “forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, mandapas, memorial structures, water structures and others”. Hampi predates the Vijayanagara Empire; there is evidence of Ashokan epigraphy, and it is mentioned in the Ramayana and the Puranas of Hinduism as Pampaa Devi TirthaKshetra. Hampi continues to be an important religious centre, housing the VirupakshaTemple, an active AdiShankara-linked monastery and various monuments belonging to the old city.

During the winter, overnight buses and trains connect Hampi with Goa, Secunderabad and Bangalore. It is 140 kilometres (87 mi) southeast of the Badami and Aiholearchaeological sites.

 According to mythology, the maiden Parvati resolves to marry the loner ascetic Shiva.

The site was an early medieval era pilgrimage place known as Pampakshetra. Its fame came from the Kishkindha chapters of the Hindu epic Ramayana,

where Rama and Lakshmana meet Hanuman, Sugriva and the monkey army in their search for kidnapped Sita. The Hampi area has many close resemblances to the place described in the epic. The regional tradition believes that it is that place mentioned in the Ramayana, attracting pilgrims.

Hampi and its nearby region remained a contested and fought-over region claimed by the local chiefs, the Hyderabad Muslim nizams, the Maratha Hindu kings, and Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan of Mysore through the

The Hampi site remained largely ignored until the mid-19th century, when Alexander Greenlaw visited and photographed the site in 1856.  He created an archive of 60 calotype photographs of temples and royal structures that were standing in 1856. These photographs were held in a private collection in the United Kingdom and were not published until 1980. They are the most valuable source of the mid-19th-century state of Hampi monuments to scholars.

By LawZ Bureau,