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We set off from Mysore in
early January 2005. Our destination was going to be Tamil Nadu. We
wanted to immerse ourselves in Tamil Nadu’s cultural identity with the
Dravidians, and by driving the whole length of the state we were going
to step in the domain of the three dynasties which by the fourth
century BC ruled Tamil Nadu: the Cholas, the Pandiyas and the Cheras.
In fact the Pallavas dynasty of the fourth century AD and their port
of Mahabalipuram was at the top of our itinerary.
 The
tsunami hit Tamil Nadu a few days before we were to start our journey.
We had to change our plans drastically. Instead of driving southeast,
we started out heading toward the depths of northern Karnataka,
crossing the intensively cultivated plains of the Western Plateau or
Ghats. These northern districts are the home of the distinctive
architectural styles of the Chalukyan and Hoysala temples found in
Pattadakal, Belur and Halebid, while Hampi, the capital of the
Vijaynagara kings, is a reminder of the brief glory of that dynasty,
of the further refinement in temple architecture, and of the spread of
Islam so far south.
The early morning drive
took us through villages where the daily domestic rituals were already
well under way. Goats and cows were led to distant pastures, women
swept the ground around their huts, men and women threshed cereal
crops either by beating the stocks with long wooden sticks or by
spreading them wide on the road as if on a long threshing-floor . The
traffic of each passing vehicle acted as an endless threshing stone;
the weight of the cars separated the grain from the straw or husk.
Then, they would place the husks on a shallow straw platter, and hold
it high above their heads. Slowly they let the grain pour on the
ground, while the breeze blew away the empty husks. The younger girls
would then sweep up the valuable grain and store it at home in a safe
place.
Some 93 kilometres north
of Mysore, we made our first stop, at the sacred Jain site of
SRAVANABELAGOLA, which consists of two hills. On top of one of the
hills, named Indragiri, and reached from the town by 620 steps cut
into the granite, stands an extraordinary 18-metre tenth-century AD
monolithic statue of GOMATESHVARA, a naked male figure visible
for miles around. He was the son of the legendary King Rishabdev of
Ayodhya. Gomateshvara had a fierce fight over inheritance with his
elder brother Bharat. As he was about to throw Bharat on the ground,
he was gripped by remorse and resolved to reject the world of greed,
jealousy and violence by meditating until he achieved moksha,
release from attachment and rebirth.
Sravanabelagola is linked
in tradition with the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta, who is
believed to have become a Jain, starved himself to death on the second
hill in around 300 BC and is buried here. The hill was renamed
Chandragiri, thus marking the arrival of Jainism in southern
India. There are 14 shrines on Chandragiri, all in the Dravidian
style. Every twelve years, at an auspicious astrological conjunction
of certain planets, the Gomateshvara statue is ritually anointed in
the Mahamastakabhisheka ceremony. The next ceremony is taking
place some time between September and December 2005. The process lasts
for several days. In the most recent ceremony, in 1993, the climax was
reached when a helicopter dropped 20kg of gold leaf and 200 litres of
milk on the colossus, along with showers of marigold, gemstones and
colour powders.
 About
an hour away from Sravanabelagola and near the town of modern Hassan
are the ancient capitals of the Hoysala Empire, BELUR
and HALEBID. The Hoysalas, who ruled a large kingdom between
the rivers Krishna and the Kaveri, were great warriors, but also
patronized the arts. The artisans were encouraged to rival each other
and even to sign their names on their artworks. Belur was the first
capital of the dynasty. Its temples stand in a courtyard, the
Chennakeshava Temple (1116) in the centre. The steatite soapstone
gave the sculptors the opportunity to work with intricate detail since
the rock is initially comparatively soft when quarried, but hardens to
a glassy, highly polished surface when exposed to air. Exquisite
sculptures cover the exterior with friezes. A line of 650 elephants
surrounds the base, with rows of figures and foliage above. Inside the
temple superb carving decorates the lathe-turned pillars, reminiscent
of the wooden temples of Kerala. The detail on the Narasimha (Vishnu
as man-lion) pillar at the centre of the hall is particularly fine and
could originally be rotated.
The second capital of the
Hoysala dynasty was founded in the early 11th century and
it was named Dvarasamudra. It held sway over south Karnataka
from the eleventh until the early fourteenth centuries. It was
destroyed by the armies of the Delhi Sultanate in 1311 and 1327, after
which it was deserted and later renamed Halebidu or HALEBID (Old or
Dead City). Fortunately the great Hoysalesvara Temple survived.
It was started in 1141, but remained unfinished. In structure it is
similar to the one in Belur, but its superstructure was never
completed. It is no longer known which deities were originally
worshipped, though the double shrine is thought to have been devoted
at one time to Shiva and his consort. Half-life-size Hindu deities
with minute details surround the temple, with lines of elephants,
lions and horsemen relating incidents from the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. Of the original 84 female figures (like the ones
in Belur) only 14 remain. Adjoining the temple are two linked, partly
enclosed mandapa hallways in which stand Nandi bulls.
We stopped for the night
in a nature reserve near Chikmagalur, a town at the centre of one of
India’s major coffee growing areas. We seemed to have the entire hotel
to ourselves. At the end of the evening, as we made our way back to
our room, the receptionist asked us if we wanted a magician to
entertain us. So, we sat in the empty lobby and Sardar, who a few
hours earlier had carried our luggage, appeared in a resplendent hat
and clothes, having morphed himself from a hotel employee to a
graceful magician.
He looked as if he had
just stepped out of a Hoysalesvara Temple frieze, a figure from the
Ramayana. Out of his beautiful red bag he produced the humble wares of
his trade: a couple of tin cups, three small balls made of fabric, a
bottle of water, a torn piece of cloth. He made things disappear and
reappear, played tunes on a 2-string instrument, “ate” fire, produced
reams of string from his mouth, spewed out dozens of 2-inch-long
nails! At dawn, after a refreshing hour-long walk in the hills, we
set off for the long drive to HAMPI, some eight hours to the north.
It was the harvest time
for chilli peppers. The road passed along miles of fields, stooped
figures of women picking peppers while the men balanced on their
bicycles the sacks bursting with the crop on their way to the drying
process. They dry the peppers by spreading them either on the ground
or on rooftops and terraces. The otherwise arid landscape turns
colourful with these brilliant patches of red, as the chillies lie in
the sun. As we crossed a railroad line, we came across an even more
colourful patchwork display: the women had spread their freshly washed
saris to dry along the rails for a distance of half a kilometer.
After some eight hours of
driving further north into Karnataka, granite boulders of varying
tones of grey, ochre and pink start dominating the landscape,
distributed either as hills and long ridges or as piles of rock strewn
around as far as the eye can see. These hill-sized piles of rock
formations, caused by some three thousand million years of erosion,
conceal and dwarf the monuments, and the eye has to adjust in order to
start seeing the ruins of HAMPI. It is as if the rocks still
stand guard and protect the remains of the ancient city of
Vijayanagar, “the City of Victory”, a more glorious name than the
present name of Hampi, which in fact is the name of a local village.
Abdul Razzaq, an
envoy from the Persian court of Shahrukh in Herat, travelled through
South India in 1442-44, making an official visit to Vijayanagara in
1443 during the reign of Devaraya II: “The city….is such that the
pupil of the eye has never seen a place like it, and the ear of
intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to
equal it in the world. It is built in such a manner that seven
citadels and the same number of walls enclose each other…………The kings
are fond of displaying their pride, pomp, power and ploy, in holding
every year a stately and magnificent festival, which they call
Mahanavami.”
Nicolo Conti,
an Italian traveller, is the author
of the earliest known description (c.1420) of Vijayanagara by a
foreign visitor. He was at the capital just after the accession of
Devaraya I: “The circumference of the city is sixty miles; its walls
are carried up to the mountains and enclose the valleys at their foot.
In this city there are estimated to be ninety thousand men fit to bear
arms. Their king is more powerful than all the other kings of India.
He takes to himself twelve thousand wives, of whom four thousand
follow him on foot wherever he may go, and are employed solely in the
service of the kitchen. A like number, more handsomely equipped, ride
on horseback.”
The Tungabhadra river
flows through the rocky landscape forming cascades and rapids as it
passes over the granite boulders. The river and its pools and hills
are linked with ancient legends. They are associated with the goddess
Pampa, the ‘mind-born’ daughter of Brahma. She married Shiva, whereby
she became identified with his consort Parvati, while he became known
as ‘Pampa’s Lord’ or Pampapati.
The site as a whole is
connected with the Ramayana, as is mentioned in the Fritz and
Michell account on Hampi: “The Hampi region is identified as
the forest domain of the monkeys, or Kishkindha. According to
well-known episodes it is here that Rama and Lakshmana arrive in their
quest for Rama’s abducted wife, Sita. They encounter the monkey
warrior Hanuman, who introduces them to his master, Sugriva”. Many of
these events are identified with specific locations in the scenery
around Hampi.
In historical terms the
great city of Vijayanagara was established here in the middle of the
14th century. Its foundation was a consequence of the
invasions of southern India by the armies of the Delhi sultans, who,
having vanquished the existing Hindu kingdoms of the region, were
unable to hold onto their conquered lands, thus creating a power
vacuum. This was filled by local chiefs, such as Sangama and his five
sons, and particularly the two Sangama brothers Hukka, or Harihara I
(1336-56), and Bukka (1356-77), who established their legitimacy as
leaders. They were so successful in recapturing lost territory, that
within a few decades they had brought the major part of South India
under their control, as far as Tamil Nadu.
Four dynasties in total
ruled the Vijayanagara empire in its brief span of just over two
centuries. It reached the climax of its power and extent under
Krishnadevaraya (1509-29) and his successor half-brother Achyutaraya
(1529-42). The fortunes of the empire turned when the regent Ramaraya
antagonized the Deccan sultans, which led to the catastrophic battle
of January 1565, fought about 100 kilometres north of the capital. The
city was abandoned to sultanate forces, and judging from the
destruction of most of the important buildings in the city, the
conquering troops must have spent months pillaging, looting and
burning. The fourth and last Vijayanagara dynasty, that of the
Aravidus, ruled over a steadily diminishing kingdom for another
hundred years.
Excavation and
restoration work have been in progress for 18 years. As one wanders in
the silence of the ruins, there is a yearning to be able to experience
the space as it must have been, a city which was enormously wealthy,
with a market full of jewels and palaces plated with gold, having held
a monopoly of trade in spices and cotton. What remains of the
architectural masterpieces blend with the rocky landscape and are
evocative echoes from the past: in the Royal Enclosure there is the
elegant Zenana or ladies’ quarter screened off by high walls and
ruined watchtowers, the domed stables for 10 elephants, and the
exceptional excavated system of aqueducts, tanks, sluices and canals
leading to the attractive stepped tank. Once-world-famous market
places or bazaars lead to temples, such as the beautiful Vitthala
Temple, a World Heritage Monument dedicated to Vishnu, its 56 slender
pillars producing musical notes when struck.
At sunset we climbed
Malyavanta Hill. At our feet the megaliths turned to reddish-gold, and
apart from a shepherd returning with his goats to the village, the
palaces and temples prepared for the evening in the empty spaces. We
read the words of another traveller, Burton Stein, and the buildings
below filled with people once more: “What was viewed was a combination
of great durbar with its offerings of homage and wealth to the King
and return of gifts from the King………darshana and puja of
the King’s tutelary (the goddess) as well as his closest kinsmen, and
a variety of athletic contests, dancing and singing processions……..and
fireworks display. The focus of these diverse and magnificent
entertainments was always the King as glorious and conquering warrior,
as the possessor of vast riches lavishly displayed by him and his
women (queens and their maids of honour) and distributed to his
followers.”
We ended our journey in
Karnataka with the capitals of the Chalukya Empire, which ruled
much of the Deccan between the fourth and eighth centuries. The
Chalukyan kings extended their empire from the Pallava capital of
Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to Maharashtra in the north, the Konkan
coast on the west and the whole of what is now Karnataka. Now quiet
villages, BADAMI, AIHOLE and PATTADAKAL (a World Heritage site)
display an astonishing profusion of temples. In fact Badami and
Aihole’s cave temples are related stylistically to those at Ellora. It
is possible to see both northern (nagari) and southern
(Dravidian) architectural styles next to each other. The earliest cave
and structural temples date to the period of the Chalukya rise to
power in the mid-sixth century, and are mostly Hindu, with a few Jain
examples as well as evidence of Buddhist activity.
Badami’s sixth
century four cave temples are cut into the hill’s red sandstone, each
connected by steps leading up the hillside. The largest of the group
has a façade measuring 21m and is considered to be the finest for the
quality of its sculptural decoration. In Aihole there are some
125 temples (sixth to twelfth centuries), some of them remarkably well
preserved. They lie in clusters within the village, in surrounding
fields and on rocky outcrops. One of the most unusual and elaborate is
the Durga temple, a series of pillars—many featuring amorous
couples—forming an open ambulatory continue from the porch around the
whole building. Pattadakal served as the site of Chalukyan
coronations between the seventh and eighth centuries. The main group
of monuments stand together in a pleasant, well-maintained compound.
In this small area alone it is possible to see examples of temples
built in the ‘Nagari’ principles of North India and six temples built
according to South Indian ‘Dravida’ lines. The Virupaksha temple was
considered to be the largest and most elaborate in India at the time,
along with the Kanchipuram temple in Tamil Nadu.
The tsunami stopped us
from visiting the cultural heritage of the Coromandel coast or Tamil
Nadu, a state that boasts of a language and poetry more than 2,000
years old. We discovered, however, the richness of Karnataka and its
role as a border territory, where north India temple architecture grew
alongside the development of the Dravidian temples. In Hampi, the
Vijayanagara kings advanced temple and palace architecture to blend
with the rocky landscape, and one of their greatest kings,
Krishnadevaraya (1509-29) was also a poet in Telugu and Sanskrit. In
fact, relative to the size of India, the diversity of landscape,
culture and history of the small area we visited is astonishing and
more than one visit would be necessary.
References:
John M Fritz & George
Michell: Hampi (India Book House Pvt Ltd).
Alain Danielou: A
Brief History of India (Inner Traditions India 2003).
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