the journey continues…

One of my mom’s favorite temples is Yantrodharaka Hanumanta temple in Hampi. Here you can see the statue of Lord Hanumaan inside Yantra.Hence the name is Yantrodharaka.There is an interesting story behind this temple.

Sri Vyasathirtha [Vyasarayaru] , a great scholar, used to meditate everyday on the banks of River Tungabhadra.One day, while he was meditating an image of Lord Hanuman kept coming to his mind. This happened only at that particular spot and nowhere else. So next time, he drew that image of Hanumaan on a nearby rock. To his surprise, a monkey came to life from the rock and jumped out of the rock and his drawing disappeared. This happened 12 times. Every time a monkey would come alive,jump out and his drawing would disappear. Finally he drew a Yantra around the picture so that the monkey will not go out of the rock. He bound the Lord Hanumaan inside the Yantra.Here the Lord Hanumaan is in sitting position inside the Yantra.This is probably the only temple of Lord Hanuman in a sitting position which is generally in a flying or blessing position.
The temple is considered to be very sacred and it is also special as Shri Vishwesha Teertha Swamiji of Udupi Pejavar mutt given SanyasaDeeksha here.
Apart from this there is Purandaradasara Mantapa,Sugreev’s Cave and Nava Vrindavana about them I would be writing shortly with photos.
I have shared the Yantrodharaka Anjaneya Stotra here http://bit.ly/cq7l9h which is in Kannada.
Also I have found the English Translation of that in net.
Picture Courtesy : http://www.hampionline.com/

When ever we go to Mantralaya, we will try to visit Hampi also.Its around 150kms from Mantralaya.
You would need complete 3 days to visit whole Hampi.There are good accommodations available in hospet which is around 12km form hampi.Summers would be very bad here. August – January is the best time to visit Hampi.
Hampi, the capital city of Vijayanagara Empire, was founded by two brothers Harihara and Bukkaraya (more popularly known as Hakka and Bukka), under the guidance of their Guru Vidyaranya. The markets in Hampi were always crowded with merchants from all over the world to barter their goods in exchange of spices and cotton, grown abundantly in the area. Rubies, diamonds and all precious stones were sold on the streets in the scale of seers.

As the saying goes, everything that goes up must come down. It was true in case of Hampi also. After seeing its golden period, Hampi fell down to the attacks of the five Sultans of Deccan – Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar and Berar . The city was looted for a period of 6 months. The temples were destroyed and the markets were plundered. The golden empire had come to an end.

Virupaksha Temple,Hampi

Virupaksha temple is the oldest and the principal temple in Hampi.This is the only one temple which has been survived from the attacks of Muslim kings.The reason is that Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Kings has a pig in that and it has been carved in the entrance of the temple.Pigs are considered to be auspicious for muslims and they stepped back from here.So every temple/structure has been destroyed by Muslim Kings in Hampi except this.

Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Kings

Below picture is shows a bull/nandi which had 3 heads.

3 headed nandi in Virupaksha Temple,Hampi

Can you figure out the pig in the royal emblem?

Royal emblem

Mantapam inside the temple

Apart from many architectural places, Hampi is also famous for Ramayan History.
We can see a small hill where Sugreeva used to stay during the period of Ramayan.Also there is a small river which is called Chakrateertha.

Chitrakoota,Hampi

Chakra teertha,Hampi

There are 2 main temples to visit here.One is Kodandarama temple and the other one is Yantroddharaka Anjaneya Temple.My mom is a great devotee of Yantroddharaka Anjaneya and we will never miss a visit to this temple.The temple has a very interesting story behind its origin which you can find in this link.

http://ashwini.logukrishnan.net/2010/05/24/yantrodharaka-hanumantahampi

Kodandarama Temple,Hampi

Yantrdharaka Hanumanta Temple,Hampi

Kadale kalu Ganesha,Hampi

Akka Tangi Kallu,Hampi

Ugra Narasimha,Hampi

Badavi Linga,Hampi

Lotus Mahal,Hampi

Elephants Stable,Hampi

Mahanavami Dibba,Hampi

Vijaya vittal temple is one of the key attaractions in Hampi.Its built by KrishnaDevaraya.
The temple has around 56 musical pillars. When tapped gently, these pillars produce musical sounds. These pillars are popularly known as Musical Pillars or SaReGaMa pillars.
Inside the vijaya vittal temple we can find the stone chariot.We can find only 2 stone chariots in India one is in Hampi and the in Konark Sun Temple,Bhuvaneshwar.

Vijaya vittala Temple,Hampi

Musical Pillars,Hampi

StoneCart,Hampi

Stepped Tank,Hampi

There are several useful links about Hampi where you can get all the information.
http://www.hampionline.com/
http://www.hampi.in