To the south of Hemakuta Hill and the two Ganesha temples is the Krishna Temple, one of four major shrines in the sacred centre of Hampi. You enter the temple via a partially ruined gateway that still has some impressive carvings. Inside you reach an inner courtyard with the […]
Immediately to the north of the Virupaksha Temple is an enormous rock face with steps cut into it, known as Hemakuta Hill. This is not one of the tallest hills in Hampi, but it’s a wonderful location to get splendid views of the sprawling ruins, in particular the […]
Thought to date back to the 7th century and attracting large numbers of Hindu pilgrims, the Virupaksha Temple is likely to be your starting point for any exploration of Hampi. It’s a good choice too, I found Hampi a little disorientating at first as the city is so large […]
Introduction to Hampi in Karnataka. Also known as Vijayanagar, Hampi is one of India’s most important archaeological sites, and one of exceptional beauty.
Pattadakal is one of India’s most artistically impressive Hindu temple complexes, located 15km east of Badami in Karnataka. In total there are nine shrines of differing sizes, in a complex about the size of a football pitch next to the Malaprabha river. Almost all of them are from […]
Having done the obligatory tour of the monuments of Badami, I decided to break away from all of that and immerse myself into the daily life of the small town. So off I headed into the back streets of Badami, armed with my camera (of course) and a […]
Badami is a small town 105km south of Bijapur and just 100km north-west of Hampi in Karnataka. Set at the western end of a lake almost completely surrounded by a horseshoe of sandstone hills, for me it’s possibly one of India’s prettiest archaeological sites. There are rock-cut and free […]
Aihole is a pretty village 10km north-east of Pattadakal and 25km from Badami in Karnataka. It’s well worth combining Aihole with a trip to the other perhaps more well known temple sites. Here is an extensive collection of Jain and Hindu shrines in various architectural styles dating from […]
Kevin Standage 
Comments