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>> Next - The Mythological Anegundi
The Splendid Vitthala Temple.
Now! Here comes the most awaited. They day i was dreaming for all these years. A visit to much awaited Vitthala temple, My mecca!
HAMPI - INDEX
Chapter 6: The Royal Centre
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The Splendid Vitthala Temple.
Now! Here comes the most awaited. They day i was dreaming for all these years. A visit to much awaited Vitthala temple, My mecca!
It was already 3:30 PM. We rushed to Vitthala temple.
This is an eco-friendly zone, so you have to travel the last 1km on electric driven vehicles. No petrol/diesel vehicles are allowed nearby to this temple.
Ticket price 10rs single way.
It takes 10 minutes from the base to reach the temple entrance. Here you have to purchase another ticket. If you have the Royal center's ticket with you, you can get a waiver.
The route traverses through some of beautiful dilapidated structures. I wanted to visit them. Especially the Bazaar lining to left called as Vitthala bazaar.
Since the time was less, my aim was to cover the temple first and then the rest.
I gushed through main gate. And the session begin.
The highlight of this temple is the "STONE CHARIOT" built entirely of stone. It is the structure we have seen on the cover pages of school history books. And what a masterpiece of art it is! I was literally blown away by this spectacle. After this, Krishnadevaraya made to my list of super heroes of History.
This stone chariot was once movable. And lord Vitthala was seated inside and paraded throughout the temple circumference in those days. The Ratha was so huge and heavy that it would take two young male elephants to pull it. Again, no space was left uncarved on the chariot, not even the wheels!
This chariot is not movable now and is displayed in front of the splendid Vitthala temple.
As you can see, the Vitthala temple was casting its shadow on the chariot. And its not a great thing for photography. I was a disappointed. The Vitthala temple was coming as silhouette and is not identifiable. It is not open for tourists and is guarded and sealed. This is the only Vitthala temple with No Vitthala idol inside.
The outer walls of Vitthala temple is carved with superb figures. Every carving is unique and attractive. I tried to squeezed a bit. The guard scolded. I pointed out a ID (Marathi news paper reporter) and he then allowed me to take photos halfheartedly. :)
The Vitthala temple features an amazing spectacle of "Musical pillars". These musical pillars have 7 cylindrical subsets represents the seven notes of Indian Music (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni), Each pillar produces a sound like original instrument and each pillar produces a sound of a different instrument! The guard stationed there said, the outer two pillars produced sound of water and Dholak respectively.
It is said that during its D-days, these acted as instruments to produce music and various dance forms were performed on it.
To the left of Vitthala temple, is the Rang-Mandap (Meeting hall). It also has beautiful carvings on it.
This is the back of Vitthala temple. The ranga mandaps aligned left to the Vitthala temple.
Few pics from the court-yard
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I was not yet happy with the results. The sun set and we headed back to our guest house.
That was not sufficient. Day 2 was to explore the other side of Tungabhadra river. Mythological Anegundi was waiting for us. To cut the story short, we covered all points in Anegundi in 4 hours. Half day was enough. There was some spare time left. We had crossed the river and ended up at Anegundi. I inquired with someone, he said, if you cross the river again at this point, you will end up at Vitthala temple!
OMG! I was so happy. But others in my group were not interested as they wanted to rest a bit. I then went alone. Loaded my bike into the Launch, and crossed over. Charges 10/-
When you reach the other end, it just 1 kms to the base of temple where the e-vehicles are placed to ferry you over to the temple. It was a long wait again. But i cant wait. Also if i traveled by these electronic vehicles, i would again end up missing those lovely bazaars and one beautiful structure. So i begin walking and Fast.
Within 10 mins, i reached the beginnings!
It was the Ranga-Mandapa!
The road to Vitthala temple!
The bazaar starts with this tiny makeshift lake!
The bazaar line-up!
Without wasting anytime, i went inside the Vitthala temple.
