Where Stones Sing: The Hemakuta Hill in Hampe

On the zenith of the Hemakuta Hill is the unassuming Moola Virupaksha Temple reflective of the formative stage of the Vijayanagara architecture style. Moola means origin, and is befitting for a shrine that is older than the Virupaksha Temple. It is as if the temple itself is meditating, the natural pond in front of it relentlessly reflecting it. Behind the Moola Virupaksha Temple is the small shrine dedicated to the mighty Hanuman, easily recognisable by the frangipani tree with its blank branches — a muse for every seeker and chronicler of beauty. From here, you can behold the vast sweep of the city now in ruins, one which is glorious even in reminiscence.

Further down on the slope are the fabled 2.4-metre-high Sasivekalu Ganesha and Kadalekalu Ganesha idols housed in somewhat open, pillared shrines. The former is carved out of an in-situ boulder, a monolith. These idols may remind you of the humbling perspective of the Italian sculpture maestro Michelangelo, that he saw a block of stone that hid a figure already and all he had to do was to chip away at the excess to access the form and reveal it for others. The two Ganeshas, although exposed to elements for centuries, have let time flow through them gracefully. Named after mustard and chickpea seeds respectively, and being so massive, they make you grin for the poetic latitudes the ancients took in naming deities.

The twin, two-storeyed gateway nearby, with all its pillars, plays hide-and-seek with the sun as the life-giving star crawls across the sky. Slanting rays of sunburst add an ethereal side to the earthly. From this archway, you get a breathtaking aerial view of the stunning Krishna Temple complex with its kalyani to the south. Beyond its presence, you can also recognise the equally popular Lakshmi Narasimha and the Badavalinga temples.

From most of the pillars of these temples and other structures emerge carvings that appear to be somewhat crude, only in comparison to the intricacy one can find in, for instance, a deity carved in the Hoysala style. But in Hampe, it is this very unapologetically pagan glory that will seep down your being and stay under your skin. Parts of the hill’s perimetre, on the other hand, retain what’s believed to be the remains of fortification, predating the Vijayanagara Empire.

Besides these things of beauty shaped by human hands, the Hemakuta Hill offers you enchanting sunrise and sunset views from a vantage point. You see the changing light once silhouetting the neighbouring temples and once revealing them in their raw glory.

From it lurks a sweeping view of this ancient city which, even in ruins, looks so glorious that you can only imagine with some pain what the days of glory might have looked like.

And thus Hemakuta Hill shines a light on Hampe, now a radiant muse, now a world of delight hemmed by a luminous ache; an ache throbbing with the flow of time but still, golden.