Hassan to Hampi

You never know what you are going to see, especially in rural India. Here, a man ploughs his fields with two oxen.

 And another farmer moves what looks like hay or straw using his traditonal ox cart. The car behind just has to wait !

 And a farmer crushes grain using a stone weight and two oxen

Belur and Halebidu (Feb 11 & 12)

 After leaving Mysore, our first stop was the famous Jain pilgrim center at Sravanabelgola. The big attraction, quite literally, is a giant statue 57 feet tall. However, the only way to reach the statue is to climb the hill on which it stands. There are approximately 1000 steps to climb and you aren't allowed to wear shoes, although socks are tolerated - fortunately it was not a hot day. There are two sacred hills - the other hill can be seen in the picture below.

However the 57 foot tall granite statue of the Jain Saint Lord Gomateshvara is very impressive.

We stayed for two nights near Hassan at the pleasant but unremarkable Hoysala Village Resort.

On the second day, we took a tour of Belur and Halebidu, two small towns which were once at the center of The Hoysala Empire, which ruled this area between the 10th and 14th centuries. What remains are some remarkable temples which have wonderful carvings in the soft soapstone of which they are constructed, unlike the granite used in most other places

Chickmagalur (Feb 13)

 We spent one night at the Gateway Hotel near Chickmagalur, mostly because we had a problems with a hotel in Badami honoring our reservation and we needed to kill a night on our way there. The hotel was very pleasant and we spent the afternoon by the pool. 

Hampi (Feb 14 - 17)

 It was a long drive from Chickmagalur to Hampi, or more accurately, to Hospet, where we stayed at the Krishna Palace Hotel.  There was nothing special about Hospet, but a few miles away was the village of Hampi. Hampi is surrounded by temples and palaces which date back to the 14th,  15th and 16th Century when it was the capital of the Hindu empire, Vijayanagara, who ruled South India during this period. The giant boulder strewn hills, the ruins and the river which runs through the center make this an interesting place. It reminded me a lot of the Temples of Cambodia at Angkor Wat, although the landscape here is different. What was very surprising is that some of the temples are completely empty of tourists and we would have a huge temple all to ourselves. 

The Virupaska Temple is still active and is one of the most famous in Hampi 

 For a small fee, the temple elephant would give you a blessing.

 We took a coracle down the river from one temple to another and watched the locals fishing along the way.

At our next stop, one of the many palaces, we saw a huge Elephant Stable 

Close by was a building which may have been a training center (like a Gymnasium) for athletes, but no one is really sure.

Next day, we continued our exploration. Our first stop was a now inactive temple to Ganesh, the Elephant God. The statue of Ganesh is the second biggest in India and was carved from the native rock and the temple was then built around it.

Many of the temples have a chanber which surrounds the central statue, which allows the faithful to walk round the statue although they can't actually see it. One (now unused) temple we entered had a huge passageway, which was totally dark except for beams of sunlight which pierced the blackness like laser beams. Very theatrical !

And of course carvings were everywhere:

Every temple has a water tank, which is used for bathing and any other purpose for which water is required. This one is unusual because it is stepped and the stone from which it is made - black basalt - is not a local stone, so the tank was made somewhere else and then brought to this location. At the top is the aquaduct which would have been used to fill the tank.

Another unigue tank is known as The Queens Bath. This was an especially nice tank made just for the many wives ("Queens") of the King. No one knows exactly how it was named, but it is thought it was probably more of a royal pleasure palace for the king and his wives. Note the unusual balconies which extend over the water. Our guide said these were for the eunuchs who would be in charge of the bath, but I'm not sure if that's true. The bath which would have been filled with fragranced water and flowers is open to the sky. 

A third unusual tank is the Octaganol Bath, which may not be a bath at all, but it appears that it was filled with water at one time, so it's assumed that it's a tank.

 On our last day in Hampi, we asked Viru to take us to a school to meet the kids. We thought we would meet one class, but in the end, we saw almost all of them.

We caused a minor riot in the last class as we had brought everyone a pen, but they got a little excited and grabbed them from us. However, order was restored before we left. 

Our final "sight" in Hampi was the making of jaggery, a kind of fudge made from sugar cane juice.

As we drove back to the hotel, we passed through a small village where 42 weddings had taken place in one day. Apparently this is an annual tradition at this village.  We caught one bride and groom as they walked to their first lunch as a married couple.

Our next stop will be Badami and then on to Goa !