The most memorable journey in my life has been my visit to Hampi, also called the Group of Monuments at Hampi which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka. I visited along with my parents and neighbours for just one day when I was studying in the eighth standard. My joy knew no bounds as this was the first new place I was going to visit other than my grandparents’ town.
We prepared a complete schedule of our trip ten days in advance which included the arrangements for food, means of travel, budget and so on. My excitement to visit a new place of historical importance increased day by day. Finally, the day of visit arrived and I woke up at 5 a.m. for the first time in my life. We travelled Hampi by train. I was constantly peeping out of the window of the train until we finally arrived at the Hospet station.
We hired a taxi to see all the places of historical importance in Hampi. This marked the beginning of our journey. At first, we visited the largest monolithic Siva Linga and Yoga Narasimha avatar of Vishnu. The Siva Linga stands in water in a cubical chamber with a majestic look.
After this, we quickly moved towards the Virupaksha temple, considered as the oldest temple in Hampi. It is the principal destination for pilgrims and tourists, that remains an active Hindu worship site. Parts of the Shiva Pamapa and Durga temples existed in the 11th century, which was extended during the Vijayanagara era. The temple is a coalition of smaller temples, a regularly repainted, 50-metre high gopuram with a Nandi shining on the eastern end.
Then we visited the Vittala temple in Hampi famously known as the musical pillars temple. This is an ancient monument that is well known for its exceptional architecture and unmatched craftsmanship. It is considered to be one of the largest and the most famous structures in Hampi located near the banks of the Tungabhadra River. It has 56 musical pillars also known as the ‘SaReGaMa Pillars’. These pillars produce musical tones when struck with a thumb and sound like bells ringing. They were constructed out of huge pieces of a single resonant stone. Often Hampi is represented by the chariot present in this temple.
Finally we visited the most significant Tungabhadra Dam constructed across the Tungabhadra River. It is a multi-purpose dam serving irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, etc. This was a joint project of erstwhile Hyderabad state and erstwhile Madras Presidency when the construction was started; later it became a joint project of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh States after its completion in 1953. Tungbhadra Dam is one of the most significant tourist places in Karnataka because of its rich flora and fauna. We saw some of the animals kept there. The scenic beauty of trees, plants and bushes always flashes in my mind whenever I remember Hospet. In this way, my trip to Hampi and Tungbhadra dam turned out to be the most memorable one.