Rebuilding An Empire

Hampi is a national treasure. The ruins really are quite amazing – it’s the sheer scale and extent of them. The Indian government are currently doing lots of archaelogical digs around the area in an attempt to uncover more of the ruins. Slowly they are rebuilding more and more of the temples, bazaars and palaces. Unfortunately, much of the city is now under banana plantations, so some of it will never be uncovered. The rebuild has only been going on since the 1980’s, before then Hampi was deserted, but now it’s a thriving little village again. I can’t imagine how amazing this place will be in another 20 years.

For the locals, the main source of income is the tourists, so there’s lots of begging too, especially in the low season. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “do you want a rickshaw madam?”, “like to buy some stickers?” and “hello, bananas?”. They certainly try hard!

A Temple Blessing

The following morning we went to the Hindu Temple at the end of the bazaar. It’s one of the few working temples in Hampi and one of the largest. On entering the temple we took the services of a guide, who showed us into all the nooks and crannies and gave us a thorough explanation of each section of the working temple. In and around us, the locals bustled, giving their offerings to their gods and receiving blessings from the priest in return. Stuart and I both got blessings from one of the priests and wore our bindis with pride for the next few hours.

As we entered the courtyard, Lakshmi, the temple elephant came out. The beautifully painted elephant gave a bow at the front of the temple and then made her way to the entrance. She gives blessings to people who give her a coin. The blessings are given by patting you on the head with her trunk and then she rings the bell around her neck. A perfect way to end our temple tour.

The End Of An Empire

Hampi was once the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires which reined about 500 years ago. Originally it had 500,000 residents, spread out over a huge area and it controlled the spice trade between Europe to the West and China to the East. Originally there were 3,000 temples within the area, but Muslims came in the 14th century and distroyed most of them, leaving only a few and destroying the empire in the same swift sweep.




A fascinating place with numerous ruined temples, rock carvings and statues. It takes about 3 days to fully see all the sites and we needed a moped and a guide to get between the sites. The area is really quite incredible and you really get a sense of the glory days of one of India’s strongest empires.

The Hindu Ruins Of Hampi

After a day’s train ride we arrived at Hospet, the nearest town with a station to Hampi. We had met a guy on the train, so the three of us and our big backpacks hopped in a rickshaw. I sat next to the driver, clinging on for dear life so I didn’t fall out! Lucky for me, he was a fairly calm driver, so the ride was painless (beside the ache in my arm from holding myself inside the rickshaw).

As we drove into the small village of Hampi we passed several old ruins. The sun was going down and casting a beautiful orangy light over the granite boulders and ruined temples. As we swung round the corner into the main bazaar, the village came alive with people and cows everywhere. At the top of the bazaar the main temple stood proud in the air. A few Hindu priests loitered outside in their robes and the sacred bull ambled past the grand entrance to the temple. The aromas, sights and sounds created a magical scene – and a typical India that I had imagined.


That evening we went for dinner and had the compulsory thali - a special India ‘dish of the day’. You get a selection of little curries, a soup, rice, pickle, chapathis and a popadom. Quick, easy and it always delivers! It’s been our stable lunch time food since we got here.