News: Ministry of Tourism has organised a webinar titled Hampi- Inspired by the past; Going into the future under Dekho Apna DeshWebinar series.
Facts:
- Hampi: It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka.
- Origin: Its name is derived from Pampa which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built.
- Significance: It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century.
- Trade: By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world’s second-largest medieval era city after Beijing and probably India’s richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal.
- Architecture: The buildings predominantly followed South Indian Hindu arts and architecture dating to the Aihole-Pattadakal styles.They also used elements of Indo-Islamic architecture in the Lotus Mahal, the public bath and the elephant stables.
- Important Monuments:
- Virupaksha temple( It is dedicated to Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva)
- Hemkunta Hill, south of the Virupaksha temple contains early ruins, Jain temples and a monolithic sculpture of Lord Narasimha, a form of Lord Vishnu.
- Vittal temple built in the 16th Century, is now a World Heritage monument.The columns of the temple are so balanced that they have a musical quality.
- Defeat: The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates; its capital was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins.
